Press Coverage

16 csengineermag.com MAY 2019 ownership transition, and many of the employee resources were transferred so the impact was minimal. In hindsight, a more thorough dialogue and action plan for the office closing would have offered less overall disruption, so as we move forward, similar significant decisions are being made with thoughtful review, risk mitigation, exploration of options, and with an eye towards employee satisfaction and care. Such decisions are through ownership and leadership consensus with the af- fected parties being made aware. Of course, our goal is to avoid having to make these types of decisions at all. How many years of experience – or large enough book of business – is enough to become a Principal in your firm? Are you naming principals in their 20s or 30s? Becoming a principal of the firm is not tied directly to years of service or a particular value of their book business. Cultivating principals has taken many different paths in our 33-year history, having undergone one complete ownership transition and preparing for the next. I think the point of this question is to understand what firms are doing today, and not necessarily what happened years ago, so our answer is yes, we are identifying and signing on new owners/principals who are in their early 30s, some of whom have only ever worked at this company. Their experience or book is secondary to their true value to the company, which is a demonstrated commitment to putting the needs of the com- pany ahead of their own needs, as well as an ability to work well within the organization's values while being successful in their area of study. Internal transition is expensive. How do you "sell" this investment opportunity to your next generation of Principals? How do you prepare them for the next step? Internal transition is all our firm has known, and the plan is to keep that the primary mode of ownership transition going forward, and this method of creating ownership is not as expensive as it might appear. While the candidate may look at the initial investment as prohibitive, we work with those candidates to arrive at compensation packages that sustain their quality of life, but provide an enhanced motivation for company success, which in turn, fuels their buy-in capabilities. All the while, investing in these new owners builds the long-lasting, trust- ing relationship needed to work together in advancing the company's goals. We are fortunate to have several success stories and examples to show the newest owners that they are not taking extreme risk with buying into the company. Describe the challenges you encountered in building your manage- ment team over the lifetime of your leadership? Have you ever terminated or demoted long-time leaders as the firm grew? How did you handle it? Building our management team has probably been the biggest chal- lenge we have faced through the years, and I would be crazy to think we have perfected it at this point. There have not been too many long-time leaders, more so the short-term hopes that unfortunately never really translated into the capable leaders and managers which was expected (or paid for). One thing we continually work to overcome is the feel- ing of entitlement that some develop after putting in the time without necessarily achieving the results. We are a results-based organization, and advancing into management requires demonstrated results and teamwork, regardless of the amount of time spent learning at our firm. Those who advance understand this principle and, fortunately, our management team consists of those individuals today. How do you promote young and new leaders as the firm grows? Our youngest and newest leaders are promoted on an achievement rec- ognition basis. We have recently implemented a career track advance- ment template, so that all in the company have a general understanding of what it takes to reach the next level. It summarizes the requisite edu- cation, credentials, experience, and capabilities which an employee is being evaluated on. Of course, those exhibiting exceptional leadership are looked at frequently and promoted earlier in this track compared to others. In one word or phrase, what do you describe as your number one job responsibility as CEO? "Creating opportunity." I also have a personal mission statement I cre- ated recently, which supports this statement. What happens to the firm if you leave tomorrow? During our last ownership transition, we strategically took the roles and responsibilities of the past president and assigned it to multiple leaders, based on their demonstrated strengths. Therefore, we inher- ently have resiliency in the leadership of the company, with the other senior most partner responsible for operations (COO), and a capable group of vice presidents and officers taking responsibility for other business operations. In my absence, I have no doubt our junior lead- ers and officers could quickly step in to serve in my capacity, taking responsible charge of the financial and strategic planning aspects of our business. As engineers, belts and suspenders are highly regarded in our business operations. With technology reducing the time it takes to complete design work, how do you get the AEC industry to start pricing on value instead of hours? Pricing services we provide have always been, and will continue to be, a limiting factor in the development of our services and business planning. Technology gains in efficiency and overall progress are what we strive for every day, but covering those increased costs for develop- ment and implementation of those technologies is often not considered. One area in which we are finding success is presenting the options to our clients in terms of value-added proposals, whereby we educate the client on the available technologies and costs to achieve the desired outcome. More often than not, with societal demands for timely re- sults, it can be shown that technological solutions at a higher cost is warranted. Let's hope this trend continues and is maintained. If the worker shortage continues, do you see wages increasing to encourage more talent to enter the AEC space, or will technology be used to counter the reduced workforce?

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