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Personal connections: Brad Strittmatter CEO of Olsson Group (Lincoln, NE), an employee owned 1,300-person firm that is working to leave the world better than they found it.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
B rad Strittmatter joined Olsson Group in 1996. He started as a project manager and worked his way up to vice president, president, and, most recently, CEO in 2016. Under his direction, the firm has seen steady growth and now employs more than 1,100 employees; and completed a rebranding effort that resulted in a new name and visual identity for the company. “We’re not afraid to reposition people within the organization if the leadership or management role is not well suited for their success or that of the team,” Strittmatter says. “Confronting deficiencies and talking with leaders about their strengths is essential to being a successful leader.” A CONVERSATION WITH BRAD STRITTMATTER. The Zweig Letter: To what do you most attribute the firm’s steady growth? Brad Strittmatter: It’s really a direct result of our people’s willingness to serve our clients in new and different ways.
Our firm’s philosophy is to trust the decision-making of those closest to our clients, which means our project managers, designers, and technical staff have the most knowledge of our client’s needs – now and in the future. We listen to all our staff when it comes to planning for growth and support their ability to increase our value to our clients through expanded service offerings. TZL: How has COVID-19 impacted your firm’s policy on telecommuting/working remotely? BS: We’ve always had a flexible culture, giving employees the ability to work with their supervisor to find the schedule that works best for them. Even though COVID-19 required dramatic shifts in where and how work gets done, our employees were able to seamlessly transition to working remotely. We’ve been amazingly productive, and I am proud to say we have also been able to maintain our connectedness – to each other and with our clients. Our business model is completely dependent on knowing our clients and knowing our teammates on a very personal level, which is a concern for us in a completely remote
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