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F R OM T H E F O U N D E R
Focus on these things in 2022
W hile I am no longer an owner in an AEC firm (other than the design/build/ development company I have with my wife, which is down to a single commercial center), I spent more than 40 years in this industry and keep my eye on it closely. In the new year, remember that we’re responsible for creating our own luck. You can start by focusing on these five things.
Here are the things I would be focusing on in my firm in 2022 if I still was an owner in one: 1. People. It’s a cliche, but people are everything in a professional service business (well, almost everything – people, brand, and reputation!). I would be working on how to keep making my business a better place to work – a more caring place, a place with real opportunities, a place that constantly reinforces the idea that good people can build a career there without feeling like they are compromising their opportunities, standards, or personal ethics to work there. That is a big, big challenge. Money is part of it – and that won’t be there if the firm isn’t profitable – but it certainly isn’t all of it. Flexibility in when and where one works is critical. A real sense of purpose for the business is crucial. And lots and lots of feedback for people is essential. I also firmly believe there is no way to have real trust between employees
and management if you are not an open-book management company. 2. Costs. Everything is going up in price. That is going to strain profitability. But profits are essential if you want to provide real opportunities and rewards for your people. So costs have to be managed very closely. One of the bigger costs is office space. Don’t have too much of it. Another is overhead staff. Don’t let that get out of control. Firms in this business have a tendency to add too many non-billable staff when things are going well. I have seen it forever. Don’t do it. Work on your processes and systems so that it takes FEWER people to run the place. Get rid of all unnecessary steps in everything. Simplify. And cut back on meetings because they absolutely destroy your productive capacity and hurt morale at the same time.
Mark Zweig
See MARK ZWEIG, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 10, 2022, ISSUE 1423
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