3
O P I N I O N
Diversify, soon
Z weig Group’s new mission to Elevate the Industry was unveiled at the 2018 Hot Firm & A/E Industry Awards Conference in Dallas in September. This mission has five focus areas – promote, diversify, educate, change, and celebrate – all of which I’m sure you’ll hear more about in the coming months. We need a comprehensive approach to encourage heterogeneity in our firms. It starts, but certainly does not end, with simple awareness.
are quite homogenous. According to the 2018 Principals, Partners & Owners Survey , 93 percent of this group is Caucasian, 87 percent are male, and just 4 percent are under the age of 40. While 62 percent of respondents feel there is a problem with a lack of diversity amongst principals, the hard part is figuring out what to do about it. Our industry is an ethical one. Ironically, that “Zweig Group’s data shows that the leadership-level demographics are quite homogenous ... 93 percent of this group is Caucasian, 87 percent are male, and just 4 percent are under the age of 40.”
Christina Zweig Niehues
I’m excited to be championing the Diversify task force. Diversity in all its forms – age, experience, gender, race, and ethnicity, among others – represents a clear competitive advantage. It’s time we embrace it, within our firms and in the greater world in which we do business. For pure bottom-line reasons, diversity makes sense. McKinsey research finds companies that have a high level of gender, racial, and ethnic diversity are more likely to have above average financial returns. More diverse companies are more creative, have higher employee satisfaction, and are better able to win top talent – something that is so important right now for AEC firms. Let’s face it, our business is not, and has never been, a diverse one. Or, in the words of one of our clients, it’s “stale, male, and pale.” Zweig Group’s data shows that the leadership-level demographics
See CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER December 10, 2018, ISSUE 1275
Made with FlippingBook Annual report