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O P I N I O N
F all of 2020 is an interesting time. It seems to me that the firms in this business are quickly sorting themselves into two categories – those that are doing better than ever post-COVID-19, and those that are doing worse. Firms in this business are quickly sorting themselves into two categories – those that are doing better than ever post-COVID-19, and those that are doing worse. What I would be doing if I owned an A/E firm
a remote workforce. This has to be number one before anything else. This means you have to be able to get the work done without getting everyone together and keep everyone motivated and feeling like they are a part of the company in the meantime. It’s not easy. This takes both the technology and the awareness that people not in an office need a lot more communication and personal attention to keep going productively. 2)Management has a plan of attack. The firm has a business plan that it is following. Everyone has had a chance to give input to it in the best cases but even if not, everyone knows that the plan exists and what the plan is, and is working together to follow it. The business plan is now more crucial than ever! It is not just an academic exercise.
What is separating these companies? They are both in the same business. Shouldn’t external market conditions affect them each in the same way? Not necessarily. How each firm’s management is responding to the crisis is determining the direction they will go – that being up – or down. I’m really most interested in the firms that are going up right now. What are their management teams doing that is making them succeed? There are some marked differences between the firms that are doing well from the others, and I would learn from their example and apply what they are doing to my own A/E firm. And here are my observations about THOSE companies: 1)Management has figured out how to manage
Mark Zweig
See MARK ZWEIG, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 5, 2020, ISSUE 1362
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