TZL 1368 (web)

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ONL INE LEARNING OPPORTUNI TY

BUILDING A STRONG AEC BRAND THROUGH EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE This is a two-week program of one hour each week of a live Zoom meeting with our seminar instructors. This seminar will take a deeper look at what it takes to build a strong brand in the AEC industry. This seminar includes a unique perspective that focuses broadly on the employee experience as the driver of the brand and the client experience. From recruits to the community, all audiences are examined with tangible tactics and strategies to build a brand that drives firm performance.

PDH/LU: 2 Price: $299

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JAMIE CLAIRE KISER, from page 1

were moving to where they wanted to live, not where a company drew them. Whether the result was to work remotely for their company or to find a job once they arrived, the labor market made it easy for workers to have great mobility. We saw areas of the country become magnets due to quality of life, cost, and job markets. After COVID, this has been accelerated, but in different ways. Many – like myself – found themselves unable to focus in a small apartment in a dense city and retreated (temporarily, in my case) to the suburbs as the walls crept in. Lack of space and mobility in dense cities have also resulted in cross-country moves to be closer to family, within driving versus flying distance. Research indicates that we will see new cities emerge, others that have a forecasted drop in demand for the next few years, and others that will likely come back (think New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington, D.C.). John Burns Real Estate Consulting identified several “Boom Towns” to watch for high demand and rapid price appreciation, noting that these cities have pro- growth governments and industries that were least effected by COVID). Current “Boom Towns” include Austin, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Tampa. Some emerging “Boom Towns” have already started to recover from COVID and have proven successful in attracting educated, younger workers, including Charlotte, Denver, Dallas, Nashville, Portland, and, somewhat surprisingly, parts of Seattle. Climate risk has also contributed as an influencer to the migration trend, as hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes have all increased and affected various areas in the U.S. While predictions vary on how significant of an influencer this will be in the medium term, recent wildfires have already caused migration patterns that are being compared to post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana and post-Hurricane Sandy New York. This has caused cities to start positioning themselves as attractive havens for what we are seeing referred to as “climate migrants” or “climate refugees,” including less climate-vulnerable metros like Buffalo and Cincinnati, as well as less-populated areas in the interior southern states. Tying back to M&A, companies would be well-served to rethink the traditional market research process and be cognizant of new thinking regarding geographic priorities and what risks and opportunities may be on the brink of driving major change in ways that were, perhaps, not driving the conversation just a year ago, before so many things have changed in our country. JAMIE CLAIRE KISER is managing principal and director of advisory services at Zweig Group. Contact her at jkiser@zweiggroup.com.

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© Copyright 2020. Zweig Group. All rights reserved.

THE ZWEIG LETTER NOVEMBER 16, 2020, ISSUE 1368

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