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BUSINESS NEWS JACOBS RECEIVES EXPANDED MASTER SERVICES AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT FOR CHEVRON’S U.S. REFINERIES AND TERMINALS Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. signed a master services agreement expansion amendment with Chevron Products Company to provide elective construction management services on an as-needed basis at the company’s refineries located in El Segundo and Richmond, California, Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Salt Lake City, as well as at various terminals throughout the U.S. In addition to providing existing engineering and procurement services, the MSA amendment enables Jacobs to provide integrated project delivery solutions to Chevron at these locations. IPD is a project delivery approach that integrates people, systems, business structures, and innovative practices into a process that optimizes project results, increases value to facility owners, reduces hours in the field and rework, and maximizes efficiencies through all phases of the project. “As an experienced integrated project delivery provider of innovative end-to-end solutions, we will support Chevron’s facility and business objectives while delivering engineering, procurement, and construction management services at the company’s U.S. refineries and

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terminals,” said Jacobs Global Field Services Senior Vice President and General Manager Valerie Roberts. FLUOR ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH TEXAS CENTRAL Fluor Corporation announced that an agreement was reached with Texas Central Rail Holdings, LLC, to advance the preliminary development of the 240-mile high-speed passenger rail line connecting Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. “Fluor’s global expertise in developing the world’s largest megaprojects, matched with its ability to provide integrated solutions to clients across the globe, position the company well with Texas Central,” said Hans Dekker, president of Fluor’s infrastructure business line. “We will use our industry experience and proven track record of delivering high-speed rail projects to provide high-value services for this significant infrastructure project.” Fluor will support Texas Central during the preliminary development by refining the project’s engineering, design-build cost estimate, schedule and construction planning, and potentially further phases of development. Under this agreement, after the development phase and financial close, Fluor and its partners would be the preferred design-builder of the project connecting North Texas and Houston.

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MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

1200 North College Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72703 Mark Zweig | Publisher mzweig@zweiggroup.com Richard Massey | Managing Editor rmassey@zweiggroup.com Christina Zweig | Contributing Editor christinaz@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Editor and Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Liisa Andreassen | Correspondent landreassen@zweiggroup.com

only care about how much they make.” This is so untrue! People really DO care what they do. They want interesting work and they want meaningful jobs and lives and will, in fact, work for LESS to have those things. Companies that think their people work only for the money really underestimate them and will undoubtedly have other morale and motivation problems to contend with. 4)“Run every single personal expense that you can through the company.” More bad advice from small-minded accountants who think owners should treat their firms like personal playgrounds. Avoid taxes at all costs by treating non-business expenses as business expenses. Not good! Not only in some cases do these people run afoul of the tax laws (i.e., evasion is not legal), they again show their employees that there is proba- bly a better place to work where the firm’s resources are treated like the firm’s resources. 5)“Get your wife/kids/mother in law/parents on the payroll.” Another bit of bad ad- vice to save on taxes that is commonly followed in small firms (or even mid-sized ones). The rest of the people in the company love seeing a bunch of non-working relatives who in some cases never even show up but get a check every week. Absolute morale-killer. 6)“Don’t worry about having fancy offices – no one will ever see them.” Your em- ployees will see them. YOU will see them. A nice workplace (not necessarily “fancy”) can be important to your recruitment, employee motivation, and employee welfare. People need plenty of natural light, lots of common area for collaboration, and good bath- rooms. We spend a lot of time in the office – more waking hours there than at home for some of us. Why is that a waste of money? 7)“Spending money on marketing is a waste. Your best marketing is word-of- mouth.” This is bad advice that can really hurt you. How will anyone get a chance to say good things about you and your firm if they never use you in the first place? You have to spend marketing dollars – consistently – to create demand for what you do. And the ideal situation is to drive demand beyond your ability to supply it. That’s when you can say “no” to bad clients AND raise your fees. MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER October 9, 2017, ISSUE 1219

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