5
FROM THE FOUNDER
Strategic uses for your CEO
Here are some ways your CEO could be even more helpful to your company than they already are.
I have known and worked with hundreds and maybe thousands of CEOs, managing partners, and presidents of AEC firms over my 44-year career in this business. And the conclusion I have come to is that many of them are underutilized. And I’m not talking about underutilized in terms of how much of their time is charged to billable projects. I’m talking about using their position and talents surgically to help make their businesses be more successful.
Mark Zweig
Obviously some CEOs of firms in our business are crazy busy and do a good job on many of these things. But maybe they could be used even more effectively. Here are some ways your CEO could potentially be even more helpful to your company than they already are: ■ Selling a project. It’s surprising to me how often I hear about large project opportunities for a firm where the CEO has not been at all engaged to help sell the job. Whether it’s calls to people inside the client organization to show interest, or visiting the client and going to any presentations to assure full commitment of the firm to the
project, having your top person involved can increase the chances of selling the job. And by the way – the larger your firm is, the more valuable having your CEO show interest is going to be. It impresses the client. ■ Solving problems on a project. Your top person in the firm is likely one of the most experienced people at doing what your firm does. That could be solving design problems but could also be solving problems with regulatory agencies or relationships between people inside and outside of the organization. Don’t be afraid to employ them when needed. I think sometimes the next
See MARK ZWEIG, page 6
THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 5, 2024, ISSUE 1548
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