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Conference call: Michael Sheerin CEO of TLC Engineering Solutions, an Orlando, Florida-based firm pushing its way into the future.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
A s the firm’s CEO, Sheerin’s role is to lead the company’s team of principal owners and staff and to remain true to the firm’s mission: Think. Listen. Create. TLC Engineer- ing Solutions, recently known as TLC Engineering for Archi- tecture, recently updated the firm’s name to summarize the evolution of TLC’s differentiators, and builds on the firm’s promise of “Fostering teams of skilled listeners driven by intellectual curiosity.” “You can’t just beat people over the head with metrics, you need to give them the tools and training to get them and their teams to the next level,” Sheerin says. A CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL SHEERIN. The Zweig Letter: How many years of experience – or large enough book of business – is enough to become a principal in your firm? Are you naming principals in their 20s or 30s? Michael Sheerin: Yes. We’ve welcomed several young- er shareholders and value their contributions to our firm. Future shareholders are nominated by the current group of
shareholders. In those nominations, we encourage discus- sion of how this individual has and will continue to contrib- ute to the firm’s success. Age isn’t a factor; it’s more about the leadership and initiative that the candidate demon- strates. “We are flexible to employees moving amongst places where TLC has offices (and where we don’t), and reward beyond market based on their performance as an individual and within a team.” TZL: Internal transition is expensive. How do you “sell” this investment opportunity to your next generation of principals? How do you prepare them for the next step? MS: As a widely held firm, we describe that we are perpet- ually in ownership transition. While that makes for some busy work, it also ensures that we avoid the intensity and
THE ZWEIG LETTER Jun
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