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A culture of entrepreneurship You don’t want to lose sight of your current business, but fostering ideas and innovation with your staff is increasingly essential.
A chieving the seemingly impossible could be one way to sum up several epic sporting events over the past few months. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time since 1908. The Clemson Tigers beat Alabama in the final second of the College Football National Championship. And then, there was Super Bowl 51 – the only Super Bowl to end in overtime with a Patriots comeback win over the Falcons. Although there were moments during these events in which each of the winning teams was behind, it was the never-give-up attitude and the unwavering belief in achieving the impossible that allowed them to succeed.
Jim Williams GUEST SPEAKER
on it, but also for the emerging talent who expect to be part of creating it. Can you have a culture of innovation without entrepreneurship? Yes, and that’s much of what we’ve seen over the past several years. Innovation can introduce new ideas and foster creativity, but a culture of entrepreneurship transforms a great idea into a valuable business opportunity.
This belief is also what fuels a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship – a culture that, based on increased competition for work and the brightest talent, is no longer a “nice to have” for the AEC industry. It used to be that design firms could tweak existing services or open offices in new markets to substantially grow, adjusting to the opportunities that arise. Now, we must focus on creating and maintaining innovative new businesses – not only for clients who are relying
See JIM WILLIAMS, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER April 10, 2017, ISSUE 1195
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