1208

T R E N D L I N E S W W W . T H E Z W E I G L E T T E R . C O M J u l y 1 7 , 2 0 1 7 , I s s u e 1 2 0 8

Average base salary

What your employees really love

According to Zweig Group’s 2017 Principals, Partners & Owners Survey , architects have a higher base salary and total compensation package than engineers and business management professionals. As owners in these firms, the average base salary for a principal level architect was $163,930. The base salary for engineers was $157,060, and business management professionals averaged $125,522.

I t’s hard to find outstanding people to work in your AEC firm. It’s also hard to keep them working for you these days when they have so many other options. What are some things you can do that they will love and will REALLY keep them there? Here are my thoughts: ❚ ❚ Participation – real life participation – in the business planning process. Everyone wants to feel like they can have an impact on the direction of the business. The more you show you care about what they think by asking for their input and then following up with ac- tion – the more likely they will be raving fans of their employer. No one wants to feel like they are powerless victims of bad management they have no influence over. ❚ ❚ Open book management reports. Open book means sharing the key financial perfor- mance metrics you use to run your business with everyone (not just a small group of man- agers), all the time (not just when the news is good or bad). Doing this greatly increases trust between employees and managers. Employees like being trusted with this information and it helps educate all of them on how the business makes or loses money. ❚ ❚ Free food! Simply one of the best benefits there is – and especially valued by younger workers – is free food. Give them breakfast foods, lunch foods, snack foods – whatever they want. Drinks, too. It amazes me that some companies still charge their employees for coffee! The payback should come in higher energy levels and happier workers who aren’t

“The more you show you care about what they think by asking for their input and then following up with action – the more likely they will be raving fans of their employer.”

Mark Zweig

OPEN FOR PARTICIPATION zweiggroup.com/survey-participation/

F I R M I N D E X Coffman Engineers..................................6 Hart Howerton......................................12 Jacobs Engineering Group Inc................4 Michael Baker International. ....................2 Mithun | Solomon..................................10 SVA Architects, Inc................................10

MORE COLUMNS xz BRAND BUILDING: The optics Page 3 xz CONTINUING ED: Personality assessments Page 9 xz GUEST SPEAKER: The New Grand Strategy, extended Page 11

See MARK ZWEIG, page 2

Conference call: David Gardner

Page 6

T H E V O I C E O F R E A S O N F O R A / E / P & E N V I R O N M E N TA L C O N S U L T I N G F I R M S

ON THE MOVE MICHAEL BAKER INTERNATIONAL PROMOTES RICK ROBYAK, P.E., TO SVP AND OFFICE EXECUTIVE Michael Baker International , a global leader in engineering, planning, and consulting services, announced that Rick Robyak, P.E., has been promoted to senior vice president and office executive in the firm’s Moon Township, Pennsylvania, office. This position was created to further drive the firm’s strategic growth in the region, and increase client engagement through the delivery of projects that incorporate the most relevant industry innovations. Robyak will report to H. Daniel Cessna, P.E., senior vice president and Pennsylvania headquarters regional director, and will be based in the Moon Township office. “Rick’s leadership capabilities, combined with his expertise developing and executing strategic plans and managing client projects, make him the perfect choice for the position of office executive,” said Cessna. “I look forward to collaborating with him and leveraging the firm’s breadth of expertise and capabilities for clients as evidence of the ways we make a difference in this region.” Robyak brings 29 years of industry experience to his new role. As office executive, he will oversee and manage enterprise-wide office capabilities, and will provide leadership and management related to practices, finances, office administration, production and projects and business development. He also will provide direction to grow new markets and clients and will integrate and broaden the capabilities of the office. Robyak began his career with Michael Baker as a project manager in the Princeton, New Jersey, office. Most recently, he served as the interim Pennsylvania headquarters regional director,

Take your advice from Mark Zweig to-go.

where he oversaw all operations and functions of the firm’s Allentown, Fort Washington, Harrisburg, Middletown, Moon Township, and Philadelphia offices. He also served as vice president, surface transportation, where he developed and executed strategic growth plans, led large projects via capture planning and served as the interim office executive in Orlando, Florida. As vice president, rail and transit, Robyak served as the client manager for PennDOT’s Bureau of Public Transportation. He also led the growth of the Harrisburg office from $8 million to $25 million in revenue, and achieved all operating profit targets in his roles as assistant vice president, vice president, and office executive for the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, office. Robyak is a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and previously served on the Penn State, Harrisburg, Civil Engineering Advisory Board. He earned both an M.S. degree and a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, in State College, Pennsylvania. Michael Baker International is a leading global provider of engineering and consulting services, which include planning, architectural, environmental, construction, program management, and full life-cycle support services in addition to information technology and communications services and solutions.

thezweigletter.com/category/podcast/

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

MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

“hangry.” Not to mention it can save the extra-thrifty employees a bit of money by not having to go out for breakfast or lunch. ❚ ❚ A fun work environment. People want to have fun. Even old people. If everyone has fun at the office and it’s more enjoyable to be there, they’ll be happier and more likely to tell their friends and family how much they like their jobs. ❚ ❚ Company cars. Always the best benefit you can give. Many companies still give com- pany cars to key people. Everyone loves having one because a car is a major expense they don’t have to incur. Company cars can also provide working visibility for your firm (good marketing), and be a brand-builder (depending on what kind of cars they are). ❚ ❚ Good medical insurance. Talk about a tether tying employees to your company! Good insurance is not something people want to give up. And it may be more critical than ever given the probability that health insurance will be costlier, harder to get, and pro- vide less benefits in the near future! ❚ ❚ A growing company. This is what employees really want. They may not be able to artic- ulate why growth is crucial but they all want more opportunities to learn, to make more money, and to do better work. Growth is the way to make that happen. It’s interesting that more HR people don’t acknowledge how crucial growth is to having a company em- ployees love to work for. That’s what I would be selling. MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

Tel: 800-466-6275 Fax: 800-842-1560

Email: info@zweiggroup.com Online: thezweigletter.com Twitter: twitter.com/zweigletter Facebook: facebook.com/thezweigletter Published continuously since 1992 by Zweig Group, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. ISSN 1068-1310. Issued weekly (48 issues/yr.). $375 for one-year subscription, $675 for two-year subscription. Article reprints: For high-quality reprints, including Eprints and NXTprints, please contact The YGS Group at 717-399- 1900, ext. 139, or email TheZweigLetter@ TheYGSGroup.com. © Copyright 2017, Zweig Group. All rights reserved.

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

O P I N I O N

A company has a brand, and so do you. It’s called your personal brand. Everything you do and say affects it, both internally and externally. And as you climb the corporate ladder, the “optics” of your personal brand become more and more important in the eyes of your peers and subordinates. The optics How you dress and how you work send a powerful statement to everyone around you – just make sure it’s the right one.

Chad Clinehens BRAND BUILDING

in average-performing firms is $194,000. Average compensation for principals in high-performing firms ranges from $290,000 to $420,000. Considering the strong correlation between a firm’s work habits and overall firm and personal performance, I want to specifically address some issues below: “A company has a brand, and so do you. It’s called your personal brand. Everything you do and say affects it, both internally and externally.”

Scrutiny of your appearance and actions increases as you move up the org chart and up in paygrade, making optics more important. If you do not desire to make more money or if you do not value job security, you can stop reading now. If you have any level of ambition, keep reading and take note of these important rules and statistics. Currently, the average-performing firm in the AEC industry has an average 50-hour work week. AEC firms overall are very busy. High- performing firms have an average 55-hour work week. High-performing firms and those who work for them make more money, significantly more. Total annual compensation for principals

See CHAD CLINEHENS, page 4

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

BUSINESS NEWS JACOBS WINS CONTRACT TO SUPPORT NEXEN ENERGY OPERATIONS IN WESTERN CANADA Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been awarded a multi-year contract to provide engineering and procurement services for Nexen Energy ULC to support its operations in Western Canada. “This contract enables Jacobs to build on its long-standing, successful relationship

with Nexen,” said Jacobs Senior Vice President Upstream Oil and Gas Bassim Shebaro. “Jacobs’ extensive oil and gas experience played a key role in the decision and underscores the leading market position we continue to maintain in providing professional services to the oil and gas sector in Canada and around the globe.”

Jacobs is one of the world’s largest and most diverse providers of full-spectrum technical, professional and construction services for industrial, commercial and government organizations globally. The company employs over 54,000 people and operates in more than 25 countries around the world.

CHAD CLINEHENS, from page 3

❚ ❚ Another flexibility trend is “working remotely.” This can also be a real problem, both for individuals and organizations. I work with a number of companies where this flexibility is decreasing performance. We hear it directly from your clients. Accountability and measuring performance is even more dif- ficult when an employee is remote. Some situations require this work arrangement. But for most firms, having employ- ees in the office and collaborating with their team members translates to better overall performance and certainly better optics. Additionally, it actually contributes to higher employee satisfaction. The reality is that the optics of employees that are “working remotely” translates to the perception that they are not working, whether that is the case or not. “Break free from the romanticism of mediocrity and make big things happen for your firm and yourself. Aggressively manage your optics and create a strong personal brand for success.” ❚ ❚ I don’t particularly like dress codes and I certainly don’t like draconian policies, but how you dress communicates your ambition and how willing you are to differentiate yourself. Look around and see examples where performance and dress correlate. I see it in nearly every firm I work in. The fact is, business casual has gone too far in many organizations. Set yourself apart and start dressing for success. How you dress heavily influences optics. In other words, dress up. The higher ups certainly notice this and usually appreciate it. Optics are important because they can have profound impacts on culture and performance. Those in any leadership position have a particularly important role in creating the right optics. Even though corporate culture continues to relax, it does not excuse you from performing at a certain level or of the importance of creating optimal optics. Frankly, the bar is lower today than ever before, creating great opportunities for anyone who wants to differentiate themselves and work hard to accelerate their career. We need to get back to the work ethic and professionalism that made this country a superpower. Today, organizations and individuals are experiencing the same struggle – to genuinely differentiate themselves in an increasingly average world. Break free from the romanticism of mediocrity and make big things happen for your firm and yourself. Aggressively manage your optics and create a strong personal brand for success. CHAD CLINEHENS is Zweig Group’s president and CEO. Contact him at cclinehens@zweiggroup.com.

❚ ❚ A 40-hour work week is the absolute minimum and is the baseline for a functional organization. For those who “work to get in their 40 hours” each week, they are likely to perform at an average level. Of course, someone can perform at a high level and contribute greatly to the organization in a standard 40-hour work week. But if the firm overall is having to work 50 hours a week, then the 40-hour employee is not contribut- ing or performing at the average level needed to sustain or grow the organization. ❚ ❚ The majority of staff in a firm will judge a person’s value based on very basic optics, like how much they are in the office, as opposed to some other performance metric like output per hour worked. If a firm overall is busy and in an overtime situ- ation, as many are right now, those who work their 40 hours and hit the door erode their personal brand. The optics are even worse for those who arrive at the office late and leave early – something I see far too often. ❚ ❚ Taking long lunches or having frequent “personal” appoint- ments are other ways to erode your personal brand. It’s those optics that alienate your team and greatly decrease your chance for success and advancement. Refer to the stats above for the inspiration needed to change your perspective on the number of hours you should work, if needed. Effort expended and personal benefits have a strong correlation. ❚ ❚ The increasing trend toward flexible work policies can benefit company culture, but you must be careful that these policies don’t affect your personal job performance and your ability to get things done. The reality is that the optics do not look good for the staff that follow these policies precisely. Case in point, for a firm that has half-day Fridays, the staff that hits the door at noon on Fridays are frowned upon in many or- ganizations, despite the policy allowing it. Unless you are an extremely high performer, taking off early looks bad, even if “policy” allows. ❚ ❚ While performance can be difficult to measure, optics are not. For most, time spent in the office and working more than 40 hours a week translates into better optics and, usually, better performance. As such, better optics and performance then correlate to higher compensation as proven by the stats previ- ously mentioned. “Optics are important because they can have profound impacts on culture and performance. Those in any leadership position have a particularly important role in creating the right optics.”

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

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THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

David

P R O F I L E

Conference call: David Gardner CEO of Coffman Engineers (#62 Hot Firm for 2016), a 400-person virtual, multi-discipline firm with offices across the West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam.

By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent “O utside members can act like guests at a din- ner table – they keep the rest of the family

sure of contract requirements, follow-up early and frequently. For example:

❚ ❚ Five to 10 days – Did you receive invoice? ❚ ❚ 30 days – Is the bill correct and approved? ❚ ❚ 60 days – When can we expect payment?

on good behavior,” Gardner says. A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID GARDNER.

Follow-up every 30 days after this. We keep notes of who we talked to and when and then escalate to a higher authority as required. Also, get a “pay when paid” clause in the contract. Holding of payment after receiving is grounds for breach of contract. We go after this issue aggres- sively. TZL: What’s the recipe for creating an effective board?

The Zweig Letter: What’s your philosophy on fee/ billing and accounts receivable? How do you col- lect fees from a difficult client? David Gardner: Early and frequent contact about payment prevents awkward conversations later. We consider collection and client contact concern- ing A/R as much the PM’s responsibility as account- ing. Each corresponds with their client counter- part. It’s also key to invoice as early as possible, be

David Gardner, CEO, Coffman Engineers

THE ZWEIG LETTER Ju

dGardner

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DG: Get people who want to participate and who are active- ly involved, not just by seniority, title, or office staff size. It’s also important to mix younger generation owners with more experienced ones. I prefer to avoid domineering per- sonality types who run roughshod over the group. Include outside board members. They bring a different perspective to the discussion and are less influenced by internal politics. Outside members can act like guests at a dinner table – they keep the rest of the family on good behavior. I also believe that the board should be strategic, not opera- tional. Move day-to-day operational tasks to an executive committee consisting of three to four board or non-board members to review operational requirements. Our board membership changes periodically, but there’s no set term limit. We used to elect board members every year, but we’ve moved to a staggered board, with one-third of members elected every year for a three-year term (with no term limits). We’ve had good luck with outside board members who were once our clients or business associates. We’ve also had sev- eral retired senior management architectural clients as board members. Finally, don’t put your lawyer or banker on the board. They already give you advice. Pay them when you need them. “All of our engineers are encouraged to develop and foster client relationships. They’re supported by our team of marketing and business development professional.” TZL: Is there a secret to effective ownership transition? DG: Start early and have a plan. Coffman was started with the idea of a legacy company, with an orderly transition to the next generation. No one person has ever owned more than 40 percent of the shares. Our by-laws require all share- holders to begin selling their shares by age 60 and be fully divested by age 66-and-a-half. This doesn’t mean they must retire, but they can no longer be a shareholder. We didn’t want to get to the point where we had a bunch of original founders in their 70s and not have the means to financially buy out their equity. Many financial and personnel surprises are eliminated when we know the timeline for shareholders selling shares and when new shareholders will be needed. After nearly 40 years in business, our founder is fully bought out, and the largest shareholder owns about 7 percent. Every sharehold- er has access to all company financials. We try to be as trans- parent as possible TZL: How do you go about winning work?

DG: Nearly 80 percent of our work is from repeat clients, so keeping existing clients is important. We also track clients’ future needs. It gives us a longer lead time to prepare before the official notice hits the general public. The more intel we gather, the more specific our proposal. You have to be pro- active. Engineering is also a relationship-based business. All of our engineers are encouraged to develop and foster client relationships. They’re supported by our team of marketing and business development professionals, who primarily fo- cus on developing relationships with clients and preparing proposals to win work for their local offices. Our marketing team strategically responds to qualification-based requests (i.e. responding to RFPs, rosters, and owner requests for in- formation), that align with their local office goals and meet client expectations. TZL: What’s the greatest problem to overcome in the pro- posal process? DG: To write each proposal in a way that addresses the spe- cific needs of the client. Too often, proposals are all about the consultant, serving as a “look at me” advertisement. We try to turn this around and specifically address how our ex- perience can help the client. We constantly strive to focus our proposals on the benefits of working with Coffman as opposed to the features Coffman brings to the table. We have more success with proposals when we describe how our engineering solutions help make our client’s jobs easier. TZL: Once you’ve won a contract, what are the “marching orders” for your PMs? DG: First, we schedule a kick-off meeting with everyone in- volved with the project to confirm and clarify scope, sched- ule, and expectations. “Everyone” means the entire team. This includes project managers, engineers, designers, field personnel, etc. Everyone may not have full access to the to- tal budget numbers, but they should know their portion of the budget. The scope is fully explained so everyone recognizes the im- pact of changes on the project. This helps eliminate scope creep. The schedule is then fully developed and generally in- cludes: ❚ ❚ Milestone submittal dates ❚ ❚ Model/background “lock-down” dates ❚ ❚ Internal review time budgeted for peer and principal review ❚ ❚ Incorporating changes due to Q/C reviews ❚ ❚ Printing and final check prior to delivery client The budget, based on effort, is developed by submittal phase and by discipline. The budget is tracked based on earned value. It’s critical to communicate the remaining budget to every team member in a timely fashion so there’s time for See CONFERENCE CALL, page 8

uly 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

TZL: What’s the key benefit you give to your employees? Flexible schedule, incentive compensation, 401(k), etc.? DG: No one key benefit stands out but our overall package includes a healthy 401(k) match, flexible schedules, paid (or comp time) for every hour worked, HSA health plan, PTO based on both age and years with company (which helps at- tract staff with experience), maternity/paternity leave, tu- ition reimbursement, and regular employee social events TZL: How do you raise capital? DG: We haven’t needed outside capital. We are fiscally con- servative with no substantial debt. Retained earnings and sale of stock to new owners has financed our recent growth and buy-back of retiring owners’ shares. TZL: What’s your preferred strategy for growth, M&A or organic? Give us a synopsis of how your firm effected growth in the recent past. DG: We have used both organic and M&A to grow. In the past three years, we’ve grown about 33 percent to a 400-per- son firm in 10 offices. One-third of this growth came from two small strategic acquisitions. The balance came from or- ganic growth. When we consider an M&A opportunity, the number one requirement is it must be a cultural fit for Coff- man. TZL: What’s the greatest challenge presented by growth? DG: Our greatest challenge has been and will always be maintaining our culture. Our culture has been built around local office autonomy and a relaxed, informal, family-ori- ented operation. With growth, there is a tension between needing more con- trols (policies) for efficient operation and maintaining lo- cal office autonomy (guidelines) that allows for flexibility based upon local needs. Leadership has been very cogni- zant of this tension and we have worked hard to limit cor- porate influence and maintain local office autonomy as we have grown. TZL: What is the role of entrepreneurship in your firm? DG: “Entrepreneurial” is one of our cultural components in our mission, vision, and values statements. Most success- ful businesses are founded by an entrepreneurial-inspired person, so it makes sense to instill a similar value in all our employees. We share personal ownership and responsibility for our company. This drives us to innovate and take calculated risks. TZL: What’s your prediction for 2017 and for the next five years? DG: We are cautiously optimistic for 2017. Our long-term growth planning process has resulted in a diversity of cli- ents, markets, services, and geography that has and will continue to provide the balance and stability to weather lo- cal economic downturns. Our longer term outlook is also bullish. We are planning for 7 to 10 percent sustainable growth and to further strength- en our diversity in all of our markets.

corrective actions if a budget shortfall is detected. TZL: How does marketing contribute to your success rate? Are you content with your marketing efforts, or do you think you should increase/decrease marketing? DG: Yes! We are content! Our marketing and business de- velopment team does a great job supporting our engineer- ing staff. Their goal is to support and bring value to Coff- man. They provide this support in a range of ways including proposal preparation, business development, internal and external communications, supporting the implementation of business processes, advising on market intelligence, sup- porting company culture, and maintaining our brand. Our marketing team is constantly helping us to become a more proactive and strategic company. They help us see the big picture by pushing us to base decisions on facts rather than emotion. “Our long-term growth planning process has resulted in a diversity of clients, markets, services, and geography that has and will continue to provide the balance and stability to weather local economic downturns.” TZL: What has your firm done recently to upgrade its IT system? DG: We’ve fully implemented Office 365 groups with web portal for sharing of files, calendars, and OneNote at de- partment- or project-group levels. We have a cloud-based file system with 15-minute back-up intervals, file version control, and access to all project files from any office. Our recent security enhancements include mobile device man- ager for tablets and cell phones, two-factor authentication for remote login, and real-time threat analytics software. And, we’re beginning to use 360-degree video cameras to capture video and photos from a site visit or walk-through. The video can be uploaded to a virtual reality headset to cre- ate a virtual walk-through of any space. TZL: What’s the best way to recruit and retain top talent in a tight labor market? DG: We constantly focus on our employees – our greatest asset. We work hard to develop a great company culture where people want to work. We constantly test ourselves by submitting for “best place to work” awards. We have size- able employee referral rewards for staff who bring new hires to the table. We also push our employees to leave reviews on our Glassdoor page. These reviews are an anonymous way for employees to rate Coffman and leave feedback. Our company president reviews and responds to our Glassdoor feedback on a weekly basis. We strive for all staff to have a healthy work/life balance and we spend a lot of time crafting our job advertisements in a way that appeals to the generation of staff we’re look- ing to hire.

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

O P I N I O N

S ome people are enamored with personality tests. But despite their popularity in certain circles, they don’t always reveal the truth about people. Personality assessments While the lure of them is understandable, there are probably better, more human ways of evaluating candidates before you hire them.

I’ve lost count of the number of tests I’ve taken over the years. That, in and of itself, should say a lot about their merits. If I’ve forgotten which tests I’ve taken, how could I possibly remember what I scored, ranked, or where I placed on any particular assessment? Some will tell you that you’ll get along great with some types, but not with others. Given my type, I’m supposed to interact with other types in certain ways, using certain language. If I were to follow that kind of advice, I would never have married my wife more than 25 years ago, because we’re conflicting astrological signs. I’ve been labeled things along a continuum, across a spectrum, in quadrants, in colors, and even as an animal. Seriously, what do you do with that information? I’m disappointed I was not classified

as a Honey Badger – at least that’s something I would remember! “If I’ve forgotten which tests I’ve taken, how could I possibly remember what I scored, ranked, or where I placed on any particular assessment?” Like many of you, I took a career aptitude test when I was in high school that was supposed to recommend a career based on my likes and dislikes. It was total bunk. I successfully influenced the outcome by answering the questions the

Bill Murphey CONTINUING ED

See BILL MURPHEY, page 10

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

BUSINESS NEWS SVA ARCHITECTS HONORED WITH SEVEN GOLD NUGGET MERIT AWARDS SVA Architects, Inc. announced that it has earned seven 2017 Gold Nugget Awards of Merit for six different projects, representing one of the most diverse project portfolios recognized. Earning seven Gold Nugget Merit Awards demonstrates SVA’s excellence in K-12, higher education, student housing, single family housing, and public housing renewal. The Gold Nugget Awards is considered one of the Nation’s largest and most prestigious design competitions, drawing hundreds of submissions from the United States and internationally. The awards ceremony was in June at the San Diego Convention Center as part of the annual Pacific Coast Builders Conference. The Gold Nugget Awards recognizes outstanding planning and design in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, specialty housing, commercial, retail, and mixed-use categories. Winners

this year were chosen from more than 600 entries from around the world. SVA’s 2017 Gold Nugget Merit Award-winning projects include: ❚ ❚ Potter’s Lane – Best Affordable Housing Community (30 to 60 dwelling units per acre), Attached Residential Housing Project of the Year ❚ ❚ Costa Mesa High School Performing Arts Center – Best Educational Project ❚ ❚ South Campus Plaza at San Diego State University – Best Campus Housing (Faculty or Student Residential – Institutional use) ❚ ❚ Faculty and Staff Workforce Housing at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo – Best On the Boards Site Plan ❚ ❚ 737 Ferndale – Best Renovated or Restored Single House ❚ ❚ Jordan Downs (in collaboration with Mithun | Solomon ) – Judges Special Award of Excellence

The Gold Nugget Grand Award winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, and will emerge from the Merit Awards in each of their categories. Robert Simons, AIA, president of SVA Architects, states, “We’d like to thank the Gold Nugget judges for recognizing SVA. It serves as an affirmation that we are achieving our goal to create healthier, more vibrant communities to live, work, learn, and play.” Founded in 2003, SVA Architects has become one of the country’s most innovative and respected design and planning organizations. The award-winning firm specializes in urban planning, architecture, and interior design of public, private, and mixed-use projects. The company is headquartered in Santa Ana with offices in Oakland, San Diego, and Honolulu.

BILL MURPHEY, from page 9

❚ ❚ Take a potential recruit golfing. If the other two in your foursome can stand the candidate for five hours, the person might be a good fit. Golf is also a good test of integrity. Does the person fudge their score, use a foot wedge, or have a pock- etful of mulligans? ❚ ❚ Invite the candidates to a company social event. Do they mingle and talk with others, or do they keep to themselves? Are they a decent conversationalist or are they a social cipher? Quiet people can be great employees, but you may eventually need them to talk with others. ❚ ❚ The beer test. Ask yourself and others in your company: “Would you like to spend two hours with this person at a bar?” ❚ ❚ Conduct a “bro-check.” That’s a term we used in the Air Force to describe a phone call to a peer, asking for an informal opinion about someone. With social media and a close-knit industry, it’s likely you know someone who knows the candi- date. Call them. Ask for their unvarnished opinion about the person. Most of us don’t work in a fully homogenous company. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to. The breadth of experience and personalities make us better. Don’t waste the effort trying to classify someone as this or that. Embrace the differences in all of us and enjoy people for who they are. BILL MURPHEY is Zweig Group’s director of education. Contact him at bmurphey@zweiggroup.com. “Don’t waste the effort trying to classify someone as this or that. Embrace the differences in all of us and enjoy people for who they are.”

way I thought someone in my desired field would answer them. It recommended that I should pursue a career in the medical profession. “I’m amazed people continue to contribute to this multi-billion-dollar industry to reveal results that may be inaccurate and are rarely, if ever, used.” At that time, I wanted to become a physician. I had taken advanced anatomy and biology classes and had participated in a local Medical Explorers program. When it came time for the aptitude test, I answered the questions purposely trying to achieve my objective, so I could show everyone, “See! I AM supposed to be a doctor!” In reality, I was forcing a result that didn’t reflect what I really wanted to do in adulthood. I’m amazed people continue to contribute to this multi- billion-dollar industry to reveal results that may be inaccurate and are rarely, if ever, used. When was the last time you reflected on your personality test results and proactively changed how you interact with people? Ask most researchers and they’ll tell you that an instrument is deemed reliable only when the results can be repeated within a given margin of error. I’ve been labeled an introvert and a borderline extravert on the same test given over multiple years. Which assessment is correct? If your company is interested in hiring a candidate, how are you to assess whether they’ll be a “good fit” without subjecting the person to a battery of personality tests? In my experience, the old-fashioned ones work best, are much cheaper, and anyone can use them.

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

O P I N I O N

The New Grand Strategy, extended The idea of sustainability has to expand to include the development of buildings that promote healthy outcomes for the public.

A fter reading Ed Friedrichs’ article, “The New Grand Strategy,” I was inclined to email him and suggest a complementary extension of our “national strategic imperative.” Consider, if you will, an expanded definition of sustainability that focuses not just on the built environment, but one that includes the people who use it. When designers and developers do so, we are rewarded with positive health outcomes in addition to the environmental benefits associated with walkable communities, regenerative agriculture, and resource productivity – just as Mark “Puck” Mykleby describes in his book, The New Grand Strategy – Restoring America’s Prosperity, Security and Sustainability in the 21st Century .

Tim McCarthy

19th and early 20th centuries, what if the design choices we make now addressed the chronic conditions of today – obesity, heart disease, and isolation? Can the idea of sustainability extend “Consider, if you will, an expanded definition of sustainability that focuses not just on the built environment, but one that includes the people who use it.”

We need healthy approaches to place making. The vast and ever-increasing percentage of GDP expenditure on reactive health care – live one’s life, get sick, treat the symptoms – must leverage architecture, planning, and development to proactively create the latent conditions in the built environment that improve health outcomes, slowing down or potentially reducing the growth of GDP spending on traditional, reactive healthcare. (Global Economist Thierry Malleret estimates that over the next 20 years, total global healthcare expenditures on the treatment of chronic disease will total $47 trillion.) As design helped conquer the epidemics of late

See TIM MCCARTHY, page 12

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

BUSINESS NEWS WOODWORKS ISSUES ‘CALL FOR NOMINATIONS’ FOR THE 2018 U.S. WOOD DESIGN AWARDS WoodWorks, an educational initiative that provides free technical support and resources related to the design and construction of non- residential and multi-family wood buildings, is now accepting nominations for the 2018 U.S. Wood Design Awards. The awards recognize excellence in wood design, engineering, and construction, in addition to innovative projects that showcase attributes of wood such as strength, beauty, versatility, cost effectiveness, and sustainability. Projects may be submitted in the following categories: ❚ ❚ Multi-Family Wood Design

❚ ❚ Commercial Wood Design – Low-Rise ❚ ❚ Commercial Wood Design – Mid-Rise ❚ ❚ Wood in Schools

PE, president and CEO of WoodWorks. “We meet a lot of building designers who are excited to leverage wood’s potential, whether it’s to maximize the value of a student housing project or luxury condominium by increasing the number of stories, attract quality tenants with a stunning office building, or design a carbon-neutral school. We look forward to hearing the stories behind this year’s winning projects, and inspiring others with their designs.” Special consideration will be given to recently completed buildings, projects that utilize wood as a dominant structural element, and designs that exemplify new opportunities for wood construction.

❚ ❚ Institutional Wood Design ❚ ❚ Green Building with Wood ❚ ❚ Beauty of Wood ❚ ❚ Wood in Government Buildings

❚ ❚ Durable and Adaptable Wood Structures Projects across these categories will also be selected to receive regional awards of excellence. “Wood Design Awards are a way to celebrate ingenuity in wood design,” said Jennifer Cover,

TIM MCCARTHY, from page 11

physical settings and long-term programming to create a sense of community, and “circulation alternatives” – walkability and other modes of “active transportation” – which research associates with a reduced risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. “Our findings bore evidence that the right design might programmatically empower and encourage healthier lifestyle choices, helping reduce or prevent certain chronic conditions and their reactive care.” Our collaboration substantiated our original premise that health can be a “deliverable” through design. Healthy living, like LEED, the green standard, could be a primary guideline. And, it’s not limited to physical health – it’s places for people, for community interaction, for mental stimulation, for continued social and academic learning. It’s places that people enjoy being, or being together, as well as facilitating physical activity and fostering social interaction. That’s how our initiative of Designing for Healthy Living evolved – we identified basic elements of design that optimize the quality of complete well-being, for mind, body, and spirit, in creating new communities. Our principles are buildable components of a design that can be applied by anyone reading this in order to infuse their project with the same positive health outcomes. Our findings bore evidence that the right design might programmatically empower and encourage healthier lifestyle choices, helping reduce or prevent certain chronic conditions and their reactive care. We encourage you to try, too, in pursuit of health equity. If you’d like to read more about our findings with the University of Virginia, please visit bit.ly/2sDLsg3 TIM MCCARTHY, AIA, LEED AP, is the managing principal of Hart Howerton. He leads the firm’s sponsored research at the University of Virginia’s Center for Design & Health and is an active contributor to ULI’s Building Healthy Places Initiative. He can be reached at tmccarthy@ harthowerton.com

from “green building” and the environmental science driving the development of buildings, to community planning and the health outcomes of the people who occupy those buildings? Historically, good design choices have proved themselves essential to creating health-giving environments at home, work, study, and play. With the belief that there is no greater achievable sustainability than health and well- being, I’d like to offer our findings on an initiative we call Designing for Healthy Living. Our firm, Hart Howerton, partnered with the University of Virginia’s Center for Design and Health and brought together medical, public policy, and business school participants to verify our firm’s proposed “punch list” for constructing the conditions for improved health. We wanted to find out if the annual worldwide investment in commercial real estate could be made in a “smarter way,” in a way that helped alleviate chronic health conditions. Could building communities in a new way proactively change health outcomes and, by extension, help protect our national economy from the “material” risk posed by rising healthcare costs? “As design helped conquer the epidemics of late 19th and early 20th centuries, what if the design choices we make now addressed the chronic conditions of today – obesity, heart disease, and isolation?” Published jointly in 2014, Designing the Healthy Neighborhood is a synthesis of available studies in a multiplicity of areas, from urban planning to nutrition to gerontology. It makes its focus the community infrastructure necessary to install opportunities for healthy living. We identified nine principles. Some of these principles are pre-development ideas, ideas like “smart location.” Some are design opportunities to embed within plans: integrate nature, mix uses, incomes, and generations. Others, like “pride of place,” rely on both

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 17, 2017, ISSUE 1208

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