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BUSINESS NEWS USACE NAMES WOOLPERT TO $49M AEG MAPPING CONTRACT Woolpert was selected for a $49 million shared capacity contract for architecture and engineering services to provide survey and mapping for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Atlantic Division, Mobile District. This contract will support civil, military, and interagency programs within the Mobile District and South Atlantic Division’s Area of Operation. Woolpert Vice President and National Security Market Practice Leader Darius Hensley said the firm was awarded a prime contract and will serve on the teams of other awarded firms to deliver geospatial mapping services

for the U.S. military around the world. This contract continues Woolpert’s long-standing relationship with the USACE. “We’ve been working with the Mobile District for many years and have developed a good, strong relationship,” Hensley said. “There’s a lot of trust and responsiveness on both sides. If there’s an issue, they can pick up the phone and we can resolve it quickly.” Woolpert is the fastest growing architecture, engineering, and geospatial firm in the country, delivering value to clients in all 50 states and around the world by strategically blending innovative design and engineering excellence with leading-edge technology and geospatial

applications. With a dynamic research and development department, Woolpert works with inventive business partners such as Google and Esri; operates a fleet of planes, sensors, and unmanned aircraft systems; and continually pushes industry boundaries by working with advanced water technologies, asset management, BIM, and sustainable design. The firm supports a mission to help its clients progress and become more progressive. For more than 100 years and with 26 offices across the U.S., Woolpert serves federal, state and local governments; private and public companies and universities; energy and transportation departments; and the U.S. Armed Forces.

JULIE BENEZET, from page 11

Knowing what an organization wants to achieve is a critical driver of results. In a 2017 Partners in Leadership Workplace Accountability Study, 85 percent of more than 40,000 par- ticipants across all ages could not answer that question for their organizations. Millennials particularly want to know the “why” behind an organization’s priorities to make sense of what they do. Engaging them requires winning buy-in for company initiatives, allowing them to view their participation as a personal choice. 3)Start ceding territory. Millennials want to be hands-on, col- laborative, and involved. They value openness, transparency, and a say in decision-making. These priorities threaten lead- ers accustomed to protecting their turf, selectively involving younger workers or limiting information to maintain control. Leadership development involves a phased transfer of con- trol. For executives who over-identify with their leadership roles, that can be challenging. They equate surrendering au- thority with a loss of power and identity. To rediscover who they are as people rather than leaders is important to leader- ship transition. In the meantime, failure to start an orderly transfer of authority can impair the emergence of new lead- ers, and the best candidates might leave. 4)Accelerate sharing the wisdom of experience. In a culture biased toward youth and instant gratification, older genera- tions underestimate the importance of experience. Living through multiple project blow-ups, unhappy clients, and dys- functional behavior is a great teacher. Too often, in an effort to move on, they forget what those experiences taught them. Current leaders have much to share, as long as they don’t sound like parents when they do so. Emerging leadership pro- grams that focus on building experience with cross-function- alized “action learning” have been shown to enjoy a high rate of retention and promotions. They also reinforce the idea that experience has not lost its value. Millennials will eventually lead the business world. Seeing their emergence as an opportunity to learn and evolve will benefit not just them, but all generations. JULIE BENEZET spent 25 years in law and business, and for the past 16 years has coached and consulted with executives from virtually every industry. She earned her stripes for leading in the discomfort and excitement of the new as Amazon’s first global real estate executive. She is an award-winning author of The Journey of Not Knowing: How 21st Century Leaders Can Chart a Course Where There Is None and The Journal of Not Knowing . She can be reached at juliebenezet.com.

millennials into leadership roles in organizations where traditional lines of authority, years in service, and deferential communication have guided leadership behaviors and choices? “Millennials grew up in the hyperconnected world of the internet. They invented social media, giving individuals unprecedented power to share information, offer opinions, and solicit support for favorite causes. They also, to the chagrin of their elders, demand authority to make decisions that affect them.” BRINGING UP MILLENNIAL LEADERS. Here are some ideas to em- brace and optimize millennial leadership development: 1)Cultivate the art of listening. Developing talent starts with understanding what motivates people. That means effective communication. It’s one thing to hear, it’s another to listen without prejudicial filters. Everyone is influenced in what they hear by their needs, experiences, and fears. Younger generation members don’t buy the argument that leadership roles require years of experience. That upsets cur- rent leaders. It dampens their hearing, cutting them off from promising ideas offered by fast-moving, information-hungry millennials. Millennials want their opinions heard. Leaders who ignore them discourage emerging talent. They can also find their refusal to listen described in unflattering terms throughout social media. No doubt, the rules of interaction have changed. While the older workers have worked in chain of command cultures where leaders ruled the day, millennials prize engagement at all levels. It can lead to healthy, albeit sometimes painful, dia- logue. It also generates information, learning, and fresh ideas. 2)Don’t assume they don’t care about business results. Today’s leaders often assume business results don’t matter to millennials, much less leading the charge to achieve them. In reality, results do interest millennials, given the right condi- tions.

THE ZWEIG LETTER November 5, 2018, ISSUE 1271

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