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O P I N I O N
Walk the plank! As a firm grows, new people have to come on board. But if those people threaten to damage your culture and sink the ship, you can always toss them back out to sea.
W e tell our team members every day that we’ve worked very hard to be blessed by the obstacles we now have the luxury of facing. Let me share one of those obstacles that we overcame last year in hopes that our experience can translate to success in your organization.
Will Schnier
Our firm, BIG RED DOG Engineering and Consulting (Hot Firm #22 for 2016) has grown remarkably from our humble beginnings in 2009. We started with three guys who had no clients and no money. At the conclusion of 2016, we were more than 100 team members strong, had more than $15 million in annual revenue, and were embracing the tailwinds of back-to-back Zweig Group Hot Firm awards. For a long time, our culture was protected by a close-knit group of team members. There was little to no negativity or resistance to what we were trying to accomplish. What we’ve discovered is that as firm leaders we need to be much more intentional about protecting our culture as our firm becomes more successful and grows
even larger. We’ve learned that a great culture, focusing on positivity, does not come about by happenstance. “For a long time, our culture was protected by a close-knit group of team members. There was little to no negativity or resistance to what we were trying to accomplish.” Last summer, our company leadership visited over the course of two days for our shareholders and
See WILL SCHNIER, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER February 13, 2017, ISSUE 1187
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