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Sam Schwartz Consulting, LLC was hired by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to find ways to help relieve congestion at LaGuardia airport as it undergoes an $8 billion renovation.
Conference call: Sam Schwartz CEO and founder of Sam Schwartz Consulting, LLC (Hot Firm #67 for 2018), a 130-person transportation planning firm based in New York City.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“O wnership transitions, especially from found- ers to the next generation, are quite person- al,” Schwartz says. “It’s never too early or too late to start thinking of the future company leaders as the founders’ investment and influence wanes.” A CONVERSATION WITH SAM SCHWARTZ. The Zweig Letter: There are A/E leaders who say profit centers create corrosive internal competi- tion for firm resources. What’s your opinion on profit centers? Sam Schwartz: There’s always the possibility of profit center structures resulting in unhealthy competition and undermining teamwork affect- ing the health of an organization. We struggle with this, but find by making the overall company per- formance the number one goal and fully sharing credit when offices assist each other, even to the detriment of their bottom line. We need not sac- rifice teamwork or company achievements. We use the basketball metaphor – we don’t just count shots made, but how many assists each player makes. TZL: What’s your policy on sharing the firm’s
financials with your staff? Weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually? And how far down into the org chart is financial information shared? SS: We share general company financials with all staff monthly. We also have monthly executive meetings where we do a deeper dive into the fi- nancials. Quarterly, we meet with a wider group of company leaders to give them the full picture. TZL: The talent war in the A/E industry is here. What steps do you take to create the leadership pipeline needed to retain your top people and not lose them to other firms? “This year has brought some turnover. Fortunately, we have a strong ‘bench,’ so that we haven’t lost a beat going forward. We’ve found that this movement works both ways. As we post top positions, higher quality people are applying.”
Sam Schwartz, CEO & Founder, Sam Schwartz Consulting, LLC
THE ZWEIG LETTER Octo
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