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ON THE MOVE A CELEBRATION OF RICK BURNIGHT Rick Burnight, AIA, O’Connell Robertson ’s former president/ CEO, has transitioned from his full-time position to a principal-level consulting role within the firm. He will continue, in 2021, to work on several key projects with existing clients and in other special areas. Burnight’s transition to retirement has been a thoughtful, planned process over the last several years during which time he has provided valued
leadership and shared wisdom to the firm’s senior leadership team. Burnight has been with O’Connell Robertson for more than 30 years, and in that time his team have most appreciated his dedication, professionalism, knowledge, integrity, and leadership. The positive impact Burnight has had on the clients and communities O’Connel Robertson serves through a focus on solutions- oriented design has been tremendous.
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PHIL KEIL, from page 1
Financial Performance Survey . It is extremely difficult to engage more than one of the three profit segments above, further necessitating a focus on the value creation framework. If you asked business leaders in general, many would share that they are focused on shareholder/stakeholder value creation, yet they struggle with falling fees and a commoditization of their services while simultaneously struggling in recruiting because, “We can’t compete with what other firms are offering in compensation.” Therefore, when evaluating strategic initiatives, they are only worthwhile if they do one of the following: ❚ ❚ Create value for clients by raising their willingness to pay (WTP). This shouldn’t be confused with price or fee. WTP is the most a client would be willing to pay for your services. If we are only focused on revenue growth, you’ll likely ask questions such as, “How can I sell more?” If we are focused on increasing value and WTP, however, the goal is to delight and excite customers with the service provided. We are focused on increasing trust and loyalty at every interaction and stage within the client experience. It has to be every interaction with every client. Additionally, when putting this into action, these firms are not overly concerned on short-term profitability in sacrifice to the longer term value creation. ❚ ❚ Create value for employees by making work more appealing. This one has nothing to do with compensation. According to Zweig Group research, people are significantly more concerned with interesting, purpose-driven, motivating, and flexible work than they are industry-leading compensation. Perhaps you feel it is counterintuitive, but pursuing these ideas not only generally leads to the ability for a firm to pay more compensation, but as a Best Firm To Work For, you simultaneously lower the minimum compensation you’ll need to offer to attract talent. As you know, this is not an easy feat and requires leaders to think holistically about the needs of their employees. ❚ ❚ Create value for suppliers/subcontractors by reducing their operating cost. A relatively simple idea, your suppliers/subs expect a minimum level of compensation for their efforts as well. If you can find ways to increase their productivity, they will often share the increase in profitability with your firm indirectly. These ideas can be visualized in the following graphic:
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Chad Clinehens | Publisher cclinehens@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Senior Editor & Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Christina Zweig | Contributing Editor czweig@zweiggroup.com Liisa Andreassen | Correspondent landreassen@zweiggroup.com
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In conclusion, leadership that is focused on creating value and using that as a framework in which to narrow their focus on strategic initiatives view everything through the lens of creation of that value. Anything not creating value for clients, employees, or suppliers/subs isn’t worth doing. PHIL KEIL is director of strategy services at Zweig Group. Contact him at pkeil@zweiggroup.com.
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THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 26, 2021, ISSUE 1389
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