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ON THE MOVE WARE MALCOMB ADRIAN MCDERMOTT HAS JOINEDAS DIRECTOR, DESIGN IN OAK BROOK OFFICE Ware Malcomb , an award- winning international design firm, announced Adrian McDermott has joined Ware Malcomb as director of design in the Oak Brook office. McDermott joins Ware Malcomb with more than 15 years of experience in architectural design. He brings leadership and design experience in mixed-use, multifamily, office, retail, hospitality, healthcare, sports facilities, and cultural project types. He is well-versed in leading a design team and has in-depth experience mentoring others in his field. In his new role, McDermott will assist in the growth and evolution of Ware Malcomb’s national design platform, specifically within the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast ANNOUNCES
regions. His technical knowledge and creative inventiveness implemented in each project, from concept through construction documents, continuously positions him as a design leader in the industry. “Adrian is an excellent team mentor and inspiring leader,” said Jinger Tapia, principal of design at Ware Malcomb. “His innate design talent and multi-faceted approach to projects will further strengthen our team for growth and success across North America.” McDermott holds a master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in Design from Northern Illinois University. Throughout his career, he has held various adjunct and visiting teaching positions in the University of Illinois Chicago, School of the Art Institute
of Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Established in 1972, Ware Malcomb is a contemporary and expanding full service design firm providing professional architecture, planning, interior design, civil engineering, branding and building measurement services to corporate, commercial/residential developer and public/institutional clients throughout the world. With office locations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, the firm specializes in the design of commercial office, corporate, industrial, science & technology, healthcare, retail, auto, public/ institutional facilities and renovation projects. Ware Malcomb is recognized as an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company and a Hot Firm by Zweig Group.
MARK ZWEIG, from page 11
a different way of thinking. Get them involved in coming up with new ways to do things. They don’t have all the mental constraints that some of us who have been doing this stuff for a longer time probably have. Never underestimate the power of youth to come up with new solutions to old problems. 4)Regularly conduct some small experiments and see what happens. Experimentation has to be part of your culture. It’s OK to fail at small things that don’t risk your company. Try things out in small ways to see what happens. You just may make some new discoveries. “Being innovative – not just in what you are selling but in your business practices – may be the way to break out from the pack. Not following the herd is something to consider. How can you be more innovative in your business practices?” 5)Make your management mantra, “If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway.” Again, see point No. 4 above. I can’t tell you how many people have told me they are doing something using all the best practices and still having poor results. It’s because “best” really isn’t the best. The best for you and your clients and your employees based on your culture, history, and resources may not be what it is for everyone else. 6)Surround yourself with people who challenge you. Too much “cultural compatibility” in hiring and the wrong leadership that doesn’t want to be challenged is a recipe for lack of innovation. That will eventually lead to death of the business. Value those who disagree with you. Try to understand their viewpoints. Listen to them. And maybe you need to let them try some new things to solve the problem or capitalize on the opportunity that they see and you don’t. I could probably go on here but you get the idea. If you truly want “best practices,” that means real innovation versus following the pack. What are you doing right now to lead versus follow? MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com .
that being different – especially when you are talking about business practices – certainly isn’t always better! There are so many things that so many small companies do in this business that hurt them. I used to like to say, “Improving how AEC firms do things is like shooting fish in a barrel.” In other words, most firms in this business – particularly the smallest ones – are doing so many things wrong, it wouldn’t be hard to make progress quickly if they wanted to. Sometimes different is just plain wrong. But being innovative – not just in what you are selling but in your business practices – may be the way to break out from the pack. Not following the herd – not being a lemming jumping off the cliff with the rest of the lemmings – is something to consider. How can you be more innovative in your business practices? Here are some thoughts: 1)Learn about how businesses in some other industries are doing things. If I have learned one thing over the past 17 years since the first time we sold in 2004 the firm that is now Zweig Group, it’s this: Other industries may be ahead of ours in how they do things. I’m talking about high tech firms. Consumer product firms. Other businesses in industries that are full of creative and smart people and that have a lot of money to spend making things better. I don’t want to say that some of these businesses have smarter people than we have in ours – the people who own AEC firms are not dumb – but these other industries have different people and may be thinking about things differently than we do. Find out what they are doing, what their strategies are, how they are dealing with their people, raising capital, marketing themselves, and more. You may get some new ideas. 2)Get some diversity in your management. Sorry if I offend anyone, but the fact is we have way too many middle-aged white guys just like me in all of our management jobs and on our BODs. It’s not to say us old white guys don’t have plenty to offer, however, these other people do, too. And different ethnic backgrounds, sexes, and experience backgrounds will result in more innovation. 3)Reach way, way down in the ranks for input. Younger people have been exposed to some different tools and have
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THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 11, 2021, ISSUE 1412
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