Year: 2023

Of Endings and New Beginnings Alike

A few years back, one of my professional mentors, David Newman (of Do It! Marketing fame), suggested that all of us in a mastermind group send out a message to our communities with a year-end offer. The basic idea was to take advantage of a handful of possible motivations for action: capturing otherwise unused budget funds, acceleration of payments for tax mitigation, and/or alignment with year-end (or new year) planning cycles. Candidly, I was skeptical. Most of our clients and prospects are independently owned professional services firms – architecture, engineering, planning, scientific. These are not the typical businesses of corporate America, driven by quarterly […]

The Professional Employee Experience Today – Part 1

Nov 20, 2023adminUncategorized

Across the markets of design, planning, and the technical professions, labor remains scarce – and true talent even scarcer. Moreover, population demographics, educational trends, and a hyper-competitive employment environment suggest that this will not change – perhaps for decades. In the professional firm, people are – and will be – the key. So, keeping the company’s staff focused, fulfilled, and engaged will remain job #1 for all executives. Many are doing quite a lot in this area, but – despite the effort – real progress isn’t always obvious. Note, in particular, Gallup’s annual survey of employee engagement (across the whole American workforce) – which […]