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FROM THE FOUNDER
The joys of simply doing work
Where are you now in terms of billable work versus business stuff? Are you happy with the mix?
I have always felt there was something wrong about how so many architects, engineers, planners, surveyors, and others with a technical or design discipline background want to get out of doing what they do as quickly as possible so they can become managers. It just doesn’t seem right to me. It’s not that I don’t understand the value of being a good manager and the skills it takes to manage people and a business. I do. I have devoted my entire professional career to helping people develop those skills so they and their companies can be more successful.
Mark Zweig
But the problem – when I see firm principals who are only 10-20 percent working on “billable” projects – is multifaceted. Here are my thoughts: 1. It’s hard to know how long things take if you don’t do it yourself. This makes budgeting and setting fees more difficult. 2. It’s hard to know who in the business is really good at what they do if you don’t work with them and alongside of them. This makes deciding who gets paid how much or who to promote more difficult. 3. It’s hard to inspire the people who are doing the work if you don’t demonstrate both a
competence in it yourself and a willingness to do whatever it is you will ask someone else to do. Leading by example is always the most powerful form of leadership. 4. It’s hard to stay current in your discipline and in knowledge of the tools for doing the work if you don’t do it yourself. That could lead to obsolescence. 5. Work could become less satisfying. Projects have a beginning and an end. That is very gratifying. Management of a firm, however, never has an end. It just goes on forever until
See MARK ZWEIG, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER JUNE 6, 2022, ISSUE 1444
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