Episode 238

full
Published on:

2nd Aug 2023

Implementing Strategic Plans that Deliver Results with Chad Clinehens

This week on the podcast, Matt talks to Chad Clinehens, President and CEO of Zweig Group. They begin the episode by discussing Chad's background as a two time graduate of the University of Arkansas in engineering and business. Chad was able to leverage his engineering and MBA background to elevate his work in the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry through strategic planning, M&A, consulting, and more. Later in the episode Chad provides insights on implementing strategic plans, engaging employees, confronting weaknesses, and driving growth. He also shares how Zweig Group leverages decades of data and case studies to help firms grow, and stresses the importance of intersecting business with other disciplines.

Transcript
Chad Clinehens:

And I think it's really important that aspiring

Chad Clinehens:

leaders understand the business, being good at engineering or

Chad Clinehens:

architecture or environmental consulting. Those are all very,

Chad Clinehens:

obviously very important for the business to grow and thrive. But

Chad Clinehens:

understanding the business is what ultimately allows you to

Chad Clinehens:

create the opportunity and for it to have longevity.

Matt Waller:

Excellence, professionalism, innovation, and

Matt Waller:

collegiality. These are the values the Sam M. Walton College

Matt Waller:

of Business explores in education, business and the

Matt Waller:

lives of people we meet every day. I'm Matt Waller, Dean of

Matt Waller:

the Walton College, and welcome to the be epic podcast. I have

Matt Waller:

with me today. Chad Clinehens, President and CEO of Zweig

Matt Waller:

group. Thank you so much for joining me today, Chad.

Chad Clinehens:

Thank you, Matt. It's an honor and privilege to

Chad Clinehens:

be here.

Matt Waller:

Well, Chad, you, I want to start with you. And then

Matt Waller:

we'll talk about Zweig Group. But you started here at the

Matt Waller:

University studying civil engineering, you got your

Matt Waller:

bachelor's degree in civil engineering. And then you went

Matt Waller:

and got your MBA here. But during the time that you were

Matt Waller:

getting your MBA, at least you were already a civil engineer

Matt Waller:

with a civil engineering firm here in town. And and then you

Matt Waller:

went to Garver in Little Rock, and really, you were there for

Matt Waller:

13 years. Would you tell us just a little bit about Garver and

Matt Waller:

what you did there?

Chad Clinehens:

Yeah. So Garver was really the mark of my, the

Chad Clinehens:

beginning of my engineering career, I did intern at a firm

Chad Clinehens:

here in Fayetteville, and actually it was that experience

Chad Clinehens:

and a civil engineer who worked there who also got his MBA here

Chad Clinehens:

that helped inspire me to go straight through and but once I

Chad Clinehens:

had the the MBA, I was able to go full time into starting, I

Chad Clinehens:

would say the residency which is similar to a I would say

Chad Clinehens:

something a doctor does, there's four years to get a professional

Chad Clinehens:

engineers license, which is very important in consulting

Chad Clinehens:

engineering, so I moved to Little Rock after graduating the

Chad Clinehens:

Walton College, started my career with Garver, and almost

Chad Clinehens:

immediately wanted to put my MBA to work and got frustrated,

Chad Clinehens:

because it was difficult to do. But but realize that as an

Chad Clinehens:

engineer, you have to really build your practice, learn how

Chad Clinehens:

the business works, how clients purchase services, and, and so I

Chad Clinehens:

was in what I would say full time design work for probably

Chad Clinehens:

about three years, then spent some time over in the Tulsa

Chad Clinehens:

office and transferred over there to work with that team.

Chad Clinehens:

And just as soon as I could, and I pushed pretty hard. Once I got

Chad Clinehens:

my professional engineers license, I was able to get into

Chad Clinehens:

business development. And that was really just at the time cold

Chad Clinehens:

calling new or potential clients for Garver. And that is what got

Chad Clinehens:

my foot into the door in the door of the what I would say the

Chad Clinehens:

business side of the of the business. And, you know,

Chad Clinehens:

typically in engineering firms, and we see this a lot at Zweig

Chad Clinehens:

Group or what we say AEC firms, which is architecture,

Chad Clinehens:

engineering, construction, or consulting, that that industry

Chad Clinehens:

is that, you know, they're run by people who have degrees in

Chad Clinehens:

the profession or the type of service they're delivering. And

Chad Clinehens:

so the business side is a small part of the business. And you

Chad Clinehens:

don't really get there until you've been around for a really

Chad Clinehens:

long time and have a lot of experience. But as I said, my my

Chad Clinehens:

interest in getting on the business side, really guided my

Chad Clinehens:

career. And so I moved into business development, and then

Chad Clinehens:

ultimately marketing strategy. And it was just something that I

Chad Clinehens:

had a really developed I would say a love for and the CEO at

Chad Clinehens:

the time of Garver, Brock Johnson, could see that passion

Chad Clinehens:

that drive in me, so relocated me to the corporate office of

Chad Clinehens:

Little Rock in 2006. And I took over chief marketing officer

Chad Clinehens:

position. And then ultimately, the chief strategy officer

Chad Clinehens:

position. And it was that time period in 2006 to 2013, where we

Chad Clinehens:

launched our first what I would say, really significant

Chad Clinehens:

strategic plan for the company. And that was transformational

Chad Clinehens:

for the growth. And I led a rebranding and restructuring of

Chad Clinehens:

the organization. And several other of the I would say the key

Chad Clinehens:

initiatives that really, I would say created the change there

Chad Clinehens:

that that ultimately led them at the time, 200 staff members that

Chad Clinehens:

they had grown over 86 years. And now, since 2006, they're now

Chad Clinehens:

up to 1200, I believe plus employees. And it's the power of

Chad Clinehens:

a strategic plan, which is what ultimately led me to join Zweig

Chad Clinehens:

group. And is something now I do on a daily basis. And in fact,

Chad Clinehens:

recently, last year started teaching Strategic Management

Chad Clinehens:

here at the Walton College, as part of being able to put what

Chad Clinehens:

we see and how we help firms into practice. And then sharing

Chad Clinehens:

that with students is kind of bringing the content alive.

Matt Waller:

I want to talk about Zweig group as well.

Matt Waller:

You're president and CEO, and have been for almost seven

Matt Waller:

years. But before we do you mentioned strategic planning.

Matt Waller:

And I've been around strategic planning a lot in my life, I've

Matt Waller:

seen it work well, I've seen it not work well. What I mean by

Matt Waller:

that is sometimes, you know, strategic planning is viewed as

Matt Waller:

a task that you accomplish. And then you move on to the next

Matt Waller:

thing. You know, some people because they've experienced that

Matt Waller:

become cynical about it. But good strategic planning can make

Matt Waller:

a huge difference. Would you mind speaking to it a little

Chad Clinehens:

Oh, absolutely. You have to hope that, that your

Chad Clinehens:

bit?

Chad Clinehens:

clients haven't seen the stat that 70% of strategic plans are,

Chad Clinehens:

are viewed as a failure. And I think the reason behind that is

Chad Clinehens:

because so many leaders look at it as a check the box activity,

Chad Clinehens:

especially in this space, where professional services, there's

Chad Clinehens:

not the understanding, and I'm not sure if respect is the right

Chad Clinehens:

word, but but really understanding of the business

Chad Clinehens:

and how important and transformational strategic plan

Chad Clinehens:

can be. So they go to some conference and they hear you

Chad Clinehens:

need to have a strategic plan. And so they hire somebody or, or

Chad Clinehens:

they attempt to step themselves through it and then get

Chad Clinehens:

frustrated, because when they go back to work, many of them go

Chad Clinehens:

back to work designing infrastructure, designing homes,

Chad Clinehens:

working on a, you know, a construction project, and

Chad Clinehens:

because they are working in the business versus on it and then

Chad Clinehens:

we talked about that a lot last week, we had we hosted a CEO

Chad Clinehens:

roundtable in Napa Valley, so we had CEOs from all over the

Chad Clinehens:

country gathered there. And we talked a lot about working in

Chad Clinehens:

the business versus working on it and and events like that,

Chad Clinehens:

where you get together and talk about the business. You're

Chad Clinehens:

working on it. And it's important. It's an important

Chad Clinehens:

aspect. At Zweig group, I would say that we are wildly

Chad Clinehens:

successful in strategic planning, because we do

Chad Clinehens:

emphasize the importance of implementation. And actually, I

Chad Clinehens:

would say our plans are fairly simple, in that they're clear,

Chad Clinehens:

there's not too many objectives. They're rooted in what we say is

Chad Clinehens:

data and stories. So real data we've gathered, what their

Chad Clinehens:

clients are doing, what their employees are thinking and how

Chad Clinehens:

they're feeling. And we look at their financials, we look at

Chad Clinehens:

every aspect of the organization. And we put that

Chad Clinehens:

together with in the story side is case studies. What have we

Chad Clinehens:

seen work in this industry? What doesn't work in this industry,

Chad Clinehens:

we are not reading the latest management fad book, you know,

Chad Clinehens:

on strategic planning and using buzzwords, we are really focused

Chad Clinehens:

on, again, the case studies of things that work and helping

Chad Clinehens:

firms design a plan that they can actually go out and execute.

Matt Waller:

You know, in my experience with strategic

Matt Waller:

planning, I've seen them that where they've been so

Matt Waller:

complicated in so many pages, it was hard to get your head

Matt Waller:

around. But I've also seen strategic plans where there's

Matt Waller:

nothing strategy strategic about it, it's a plan. It's a plan for

Matt Waller:

the future, but it's not strategic.

Chad Clinehens:

Right.

Matt Waller:

How do you get clients to differentiate between

Matt Waller:

those?

Chad Clinehens:

So for us, we really talk a lot about the

Chad Clinehens:

importance of growth and the importance of building value in

Chad Clinehens:

the company. And so really tying it to something that everybody

Chad Clinehens:

benefits from and, and what every but what does every

Chad Clinehens:

business need to do needs to grow. And so especially in this

Chad Clinehens:

industry, and especially right now, where it is the busiest I

Chad Clinehens:

think if you pulled anybody and we do on a daily basis, it's the

Chad Clinehens:

busiest it's ever been in history, at least going as far

Chad Clinehens:

back as we've been doing research and before us. There

Chad Clinehens:

wasn't really a lot of research being done on the end.

Matt Waller:

Is that true across all three architecture,

Matt Waller:

engineering and construction?

Chad Clinehens:

I would say so, engineering is especially I

Chad Clinehens:

would almost say overheated right now, the demand for

Chad Clinehens:

especially infrastructure. Some of that's being driven by the

Chad Clinehens:

government, and then also what's coming down the pipeline with

Chad Clinehens:

the infrastructure jobs act, which we see hitting later this

Chad Clinehens:

year. So already demand is unprecedented. We've got work

Chad Clinehens:

weeks that are longer than they've ever been, then you go

Chad Clinehens:

to your organization with a strategic plan and say, We want

Chad Clinehens:

to grow this thing faster than we've been growing and into the

Chad Clinehens:

average employee, that means more work. But what we say is

Chad Clinehens:

growth solves problems. And growth creates the opportunity

Chad Clinehens:

gives you the resources, to hire people, to actually, again

Chad Clinehens:

solving those problems, but but bringing the resource to relieve

Chad Clinehens:

the areas there that are overheated or give the project

Chad Clinehens:

manager that's overworked the resources he or she needs to to

Chad Clinehens:

have a better balance in their life.

Matt Waller:

Growth does solve problems, no question. A lot of

Matt Waller:

times people admit managers administrators want the

Matt Waller:

resources before the growth because they see the need they

Matt Waller:

want to prepare.

Chad Clinehens:

Right.

Matt Waller:

How do you integrate that into the overall

Matt Waller:

process those those trade offs like that?

Chad Clinehens:

We talk a lot about return on investment, and

Chad Clinehens:

that there are certain things you have to prioritize

Chad Clinehens:

initially, almost that how do we create the spark? How do we

Chad Clinehens:

where do we deploy resources initially, that then can can

Chad Clinehens:

start producing returns, we say easy wins, you know, base hits,

Chad Clinehens:

whatever we can do to really jumpstart the growth, and then

Chad Clinehens:

people can see it. And you know, I'll say one thing that's really

Chad Clinehens:

important about the plans we put together. And it goes back to my

Chad Clinehens:

days at Garver is that strategic plans are largely a marketing

Chad Clinehens:

campaign. You know, it's going to the company and saying,

Chad Clinehens:

here's who we want to be in the future. And here's why that's

Chad Clinehens:

exciting. And here's your role in that. And so when I say our

Chad Clinehens:

plans are simple, it's they're not the the 100 page book that I

Chad Clinehens:

think a lot of leaders think they're going to get this top

Chad Clinehens:

secret manual that they put in the safe, behind the painting

Chad Clinehens:

behind their desk, you know, kind of hide it from everybody.

Chad Clinehens:

Whereas our plans are actually a presentation that's built, that

Chad Clinehens:

we then deliver, that it is designed to be shared with the

Chad Clinehens:

entire company. And we say, when you launch this, have a big

Chad Clinehens:

party, have a champagne toast, send gifts to the all the

Chad Clinehens:

employees, you do something to create a party atmosphere and

Chad Clinehens:

say this is a celebration, we're going to do something amazing

Chad Clinehens:

together. And this is what that looks like. And, and the most

Chad Clinehens:

successful firms that we work with get that and they really

Chad Clinehens:

integrate it into their business their day. And it's not

Chad Clinehens:

something that sits on the shelf. It's something that they

Chad Clinehens:

can talk about in every meeting, they can talk about an employee

Chad Clinehens:

reviews, and every individual has a role. We say in driving

Chad Clinehens:

growth of the organization, every single person.

Matt Waller:

How did you become interested and knowledgeable

Matt Waller:

about strategic planning your I know you have when you were at

Matt Waller:

Garver, you did a lot of strategic planning for them. And

Matt Waller:

you were the chief strategy officer. But you have there's

Matt Waller:

lots of nuance to it, like your idea of having a party, making

Matt Waller:

sure everyone knows they're engaged in the strategic plan

Matt Waller:

and in executing strategic plan. That's a lot of nuance. And I've

Matt Waller:

heard you talk about it before. How did you learn all this?

Chad Clinehens:

That's a good question. For me in my career,

Chad Clinehens:

the intersection of marketing, marketing strategy and just

Chad Clinehens:

strategy of the company is so it's amazing how intertwined it

Chad Clinehens:

is. And and so that was kind of a natural path, I just business

Chad Clinehens:

development, which was me going out and meeting new clients and

Chad Clinehens:

trying to secure contracts and the excitement of we got a new

Chad Clinehens:

client. In fact, early on in my career, we set a goal in our

Chad Clinehens:

small regional office in Tulsa to win five new clients a year

Chad Clinehens:

well, well we won eight. And I realized then that, you know,

Chad Clinehens:

the strategic plan, the idea that we're going to grow this

Chad Clinehens:

office, wrapped around a marketing campaign is very

Chad Clinehens:

effective. And so then when I got into more of the marketing

Chad Clinehens:

strategy, it just happened to intersect. That following year

Chad Clinehens:

with our visionary leader Brock Johnson, his desire to really

Chad Clinehens:

change the course of the company and been in business at that

Chad Clinehens:

time, I believe, 86 years. And straight line growth. Great

Chad Clinehens:

company did good work for their clients, but it was let's turn

Chad Clinehens:

this into a growing organization. Let's do a

Chad Clinehens:

strategic plan. And we just kind of figured it out. But but one

Chad Clinehens:

thing me pushing really hard on the campaign behind it, which we

Chad Clinehens:

called it Mission Possible, was the catchy phrase and I credit

Chad Clinehens:

Brock Johnson for coming up with that. But But talking about

Chad Clinehens:

mission possible. For five years, it was a, we're gonna

Chad Clinehens:

double the size of the company in five years. Interestingly,

Chad Clinehens:

launched in 2006. Well, what happened in 2008 recession that

Chad Clinehens:

really affected significantly, I would say the industry as a

Chad Clinehens:

whole, but but especially the private sector, our company was

Chad Clinehens:

not as affected. We did have some private, I would say

Chad Clinehens:

business lines, but we really quickly sent those folks that

Chad Clinehens:

were in that in those business lines, to learn some new skills

Chad Clinehens:

to where we could reorient them around some sectors that did

Chad Clinehens:

have money. And I think it was the strategic plan, the fact

Chad Clinehens:

that we were so committed to growth, that is why we were so

Chad Clinehens:

quick to say, Well, hey, let's not lay off these, these two

Chad Clinehens:

teams of people. Engineers are hard to find, let's find

Chad Clinehens:

something for them to do, and invest in them.

Matt Waller:

So you clearly have a passion for strategic

Matt Waller:

planning. You've seen it work when you, I remember the first

Matt Waller:

time we had lunch together, you told me the story about your

Matt Waller:

work at Garver and the strategic planning. And so you've been

Matt Waller:

doing this for a long time, I can tell in multiple

Matt Waller:

conversations with you that you are a true believer in strategic

Matt Waller:

planning. And what are some of the most important variables you

Matt Waller:

think exists in having a successful strategic plan, but

Matt Waller:

also, what are some of the biggest hindrances to it?

Chad Clinehens:

So I would say one of the most important things

Chad Clinehens:

is for leaders to be able to confront the things that are

Chad Clinehens:

holding them back. So the strategic planning process is

Chad Clinehens:

very well, like I said, data research oriented, you know, we,

Chad Clinehens:

our processes last five, six months, maybe for some of the

Chad Clinehens:

more involved plans, we can do them sometimes quicker. But but

Chad Clinehens:

that process is, so much of that is research, getting to know the

Chad Clinehens:

company and really digging deep and finding out what are the

Chad Clinehens:

things that make this company special, what are the things

Chad Clinehens:

that holds them back? We talked about the SWOT analysis. And we

Chad Clinehens:

do that and we talked about that in, in our strategic management

Chad Clinehens:

class up here at the university too, it's very important that

Chad Clinehens:

the SWOT analysis, understanding the strengths, weaknesses,

Chad Clinehens:

opportunities, opportunities and threats, is critical. So the

Chad Clinehens:

leader being able to then I would say, do the hard things.

Chad Clinehens:

And there often are some hard things you have to do to create

Chad Clinehens:

that change to affect that change. And, and then also be

Chad Clinehens:

willing to put the right people on the team, you can't have

Chad Clinehens:

everybody in the room, you as a leader, you've got to pick. And

Chad Clinehens:

we recommend, you know, five, eight, hopefully no more than

Chad Clinehens:

10. Sometimes the group's a little bit bigger than that. But

Chad Clinehens:

people that you can get together that when everybody walks out of

Chad Clinehens:

that room, even though they may not be equally excited about

Chad Clinehens:

every aspect of the plan, or maybe not even agree with every

Chad Clinehens:

aspect, but chosen to be a part of that team, that they walk out

Chad Clinehens:

being ambassadors of the plan, they can sell it to anybody in

Chad Clinehens:

the company, and the company can see that they believe in it. And

Chad Clinehens:

that's what we say is the price of admission to the strategic

Chad Clinehens:

planning, War Room.

Matt Waller:

Having had I've taught at all different levels,

Matt Waller:

undergrad, grad, and all different levels of grad. One of

Matt Waller:

the things I've noticed, of course, my area is supply chain

Matt Waller:

management. And there's a component of strategic planning

Matt Waller:

in supply chain management. But I've noticed undergraduates many

Matt Waller:

times struggle with this, especially but our Executive MBA

Matt Waller:

students, which have on average 13 years of experience before

Matt Waller:

they get in the program. They're all over it. How do you get

Matt Waller:

undergraduate students to see the importance of this?

Chad Clinehens:

That's a great question. And one of the reasons

Chad Clinehens:

that I really enjoy teaching this class it it was the first

Chad Clinehens:

class I was invited to teach and happened to be an incredible fit

Chad Clinehens:

for what we do. But I tell the students, I say listen, what

Chad Clinehens:

we're going to talk about, you're going to read case

Chad Clinehens:

studies. And a lot of this stuff is going to feel like it's

Chad Clinehens:

focused on like, the executive level and you're thinking, oh,

Chad Clinehens:

this will be relevant to me when I'm 20 years in, I said, but

Chad Clinehens:

think about what this is. This is strategic management of your

Chad Clinehens:

life. And you can employ these fundamentals immediately,

Chad Clinehens:

gathering information on the environment, deciding what you

Chad Clinehens:

want to do. by setting a growth goal, whether that's your net

Chad Clinehens:

worth, or you know how you want to grow your career, thinking

Chad Clinehens:

about the money side of it, or the position side of it, and

Chad Clinehens:

really managing your life strategically. And so these

Chad Clinehens:

things that we're going to learn here are immediately applicable.

Chad Clinehens:

And also just understanding how any company or business you get

Chad Clinehens:

in works is a powerful perspective. And don't segment

Chad Clinehens:

this knowledge off, you know, is okay, well, this is great. And

Chad Clinehens:

maybe someday I'll be a part of a strategic planning team. It's

Chad Clinehens:

so powerful for you today, to think about it beyond just the

Chad Clinehens:

context of a career but your life.

Matt Waller:

Let's talk about Zweig group a little bit. Tell

Matt Waller:

us a little bit about Zweig group. What makes Zweig group

Matt Waller:

notable?

Chad Clinehens:

Well, I would say that we're one of the first

Chad Clinehens:

companies that does what we do in this industry, and started by

Chad Clinehens:

Mark Zweig now 35 years ago in Boston. And it's interesting, if

Chad Clinehens:

you look at where companies are located that do this kind of

Chad Clinehens:

thing. There's many of them are in Boston, and you can look at

Chad Clinehens:

it, many companies that were formed out of former Zweig Group

Chad Clinehens:

employees. But what really makes Zweig group unique is that wide

Chad Clinehens:

of a perspective, 35 years. And so Mark Zweig built his career

Chad Clinehens:

working with 1000s of companies, and the stories that Mark Zweig

Chad Clinehens:

tells then I'm able to adopt, and the stories that I have from

Chad Clinehens:

Garver and from other companies that I've worked with here at

Chad Clinehens:

Zweig Group, others are able to adopt. And so those those

Chad Clinehens:

stories are case studies. And you can see what, okay, maybe

Chad Clinehens:

something that did work in 97 doesn't work in, in, you know,

Chad Clinehens:

2023, or it might

Matt Waller:

Right

Chad Clinehens:

Right, something that I would say also makes us

Chad Clinehens:

unique is that we are data researchers and analysts. And,

Chad Clinehens:

and so we've got this 35 years of data, and we've seen how it

Chad Clinehens:

changes. And we know what's going on in the industry real

Chad Clinehens:

time. And we use that to drive our content. We're not just

Chad Clinehens:

trying to make stuff up, we're getting people excited and

Chad Clinehens:

making up new buzzwords.

Matt Waller:

Many times people don't know about it, unless

Matt Waller:

they're in the industry itself.

Chad Clinehens:

Right.

Matt Waller:

Although Mark's name is widely known, he's he's

Matt Waller:

a good marketer, too.

Chad Clinehens:

Indeed,

Matt Waller:

I know you, you also do a lot of other things

Matt Waller:

beyond strategic planning. You all are engaged in mergers and

Matt Waller:

acquisitions, and all kinds of consulting, tell us a little bit

Matt Waller:

about how m&a works and the AAC industry and is there a lot of

Matt Waller:

activity currently in that area?

Chad Clinehens:

it is a red hot area right now of the business

Chad Clinehens:

of the industry, private equity has really come into the

Chad Clinehens:

industry very strongly in the last several years, that's

Chad Clinehens:

really changed the game. And, and so consolidation is

Chad Clinehens:

happening. There's also you know, when you look at

Chad Clinehens:

transition of a company, you have founder starts a company,

Chad Clinehens:

then they get close to retirement, they either have to

Chad Clinehens:

have people inside the company that can buy him or her out, or

Chad Clinehens:

some group of, of leaders, or they've got to find some other

Chad Clinehens:

way to transition it. And so so they're leaders that have waited

Chad Clinehens:

too late, which is it's very common. You know, you've got to

Chad Clinehens:

be thinking what you're going to do with your business 10, a

Chad Clinehens:

minimum of 10 years out, but but we get calls from leaders and

Chad Clinehens:

they say, hey, I'm thinking about transitioning out in five

Chad Clinehens:

years, what do I need to do? We're like, well, we gotta get

Chad Clinehens:

to work real quickly.

Matt Waller:

Chad, tell us a little bit about which areas of

Matt Waller:

the business you focus on. And really, what is the core of your

Matt Waller:

business?

Chad Clinehens:

Well, that's a great question. The short answer

Chad Clinehens:

is we focus on all of the areas of the business. So every

Chad Clinehens:

aspect, we talked about ownership transition, we can go

Chad Clinehens:

in and help build recruiting programs, we can help a company

Chad Clinehens:

buy other companies or sell their company. Of course, we've

Chad Clinehens:

talked a lot about strategic planning. We can help them

Chad Clinehens:

rebrand their company. So every single aspect of the business

Chad Clinehens:

but but what's interesting about that, and it's neat, to be able

Chad Clinehens:

to do that and to be that kind of a resource for the industry.

Chad Clinehens:

It also presents a challenge for us if there's so much that we

Chad Clinehens:

focus on, right. And, and so we to get good at those areas, we

Chad Clinehens:

just make sure we've got good leadership, and they really have

Chad Clinehens:

some autonomy in almost building a mini business inside our

Chad Clinehens:

business. And so the ability to connect to people and find those

Chad Clinehens:

experts out in the industry that can then come and present, what

Chad Clinehens:

we would say is a practical and applicable approach to these

Chad Clinehens:

things, when there's a lot of misinformation is a neat thing

Chad Clinehens:

to be able to do. But it's also not easy, you know, as figuring

Chad Clinehens:

out, okay, where should we be on this particular topic? And, and

Chad Clinehens:

then, you know, deciding all of the sudden that that wasn't in

Chad Clinehens:

our strategic plan, we didn't start necessarily this year

Chad Clinehens:

saying, hey, AI is gonna be a super hot topic that all of a

Chad Clinehens:

sudden, in May is just gonna, like, light the industry up.

Chad Clinehens:

That's essentially what's been happening. And there's been

Chad Clinehens:

others that have been looking at this earlier than that, but it

Chad Clinehens:

really has become a hot topic. And so for us to be able to then

Chad Clinehens:

add that part into our what I would say our cadre of expertise

Chad Clinehens:

is a neat thing that also presents a challenge.

Matt Waller:

Chad, you have a lot of experience here at the

Matt Waller:

university, both as a student two time student, two time alum,

Matt Waller:

your names on the sidewalk twice, you're teaching here,

Matt Waller:

you've worked in the area, what advice would you want on a

Matt Waller:

billboard? If all the students could see this billboard every

Matt Waller:

day walking around campus? What would you have on the billboard?

Chad Clinehens:

What I would say is the the answer is that I of

Matt Waller:

Chad, we've talked about all kinds of things

Matt Waller:

course, love my profession, of engineering, but the

Matt Waller:

intersection of that, and business and the arts and all of

Matt Waller:

the different colleges that we have here on campus, I think

Matt Waller:

students have got to understand, you don't just get a business

Matt Waller:

degree and just go to business and you don't just get an

Matt Waller:

engineering degree, and just do engineering, that the

Matt Waller:

intersection of arts and business and engineering and all

Matt Waller:

of the different things that you can learn up here on campus,

Matt Waller:

have an application to your life and to really find something

Matt Waller:

that you will enjoy doing. And then realize that you're not

Matt Waller:

limiting yourself. But I think we do need to promote more what

Matt Waller:

we do all of us, you know, what a career looks like in whatever

Matt Waller:

it is. And of course, I'm a huge believer in and proponent of

Matt Waller:

STEM and, and the professions that are related to engineering

Matt Waller:

because the world needs that. But just as much we need the

Matt Waller:

business executives, we need the artist, we need everybody else

Matt Waller:

that helps kind of make this world go round.

Matt Waller:

regarding your background and Zweig group, including strategic

Matt Waller:

planning. So I'm really interested what is the mission

Matt Waller:

of Zweig group?

Chad Clinehens:

The mission of Zweig group is simply to elevate

Chad Clinehens:

the industry. And if you go back to the founding of Zweig group

Chad Clinehens:

by Mark Zweig it was to bring business acumen and to help AEC

Chad Clinehens:

firms grow, understand the business, drive performance,

Chad Clinehens:

create opportunity. And in 2018, we rolled out what I would say

Chad Clinehens:

is a refined version of that to simply elevate the industry. And

Chad Clinehens:

we use the quote from John F. Kennedy, a rising tide lifts all

Chad Clinehens:

ships, so every company, we can help, maybe drive greater

Chad Clinehens:

growth, drive greater profits, create more resources for their

Chad Clinehens:

people, so they live better lives. That then as a part of

Chad Clinehens:

that rising tides of every company that we can impact.

Chad Clinehens:

Because there's multiple aspects of of why we need to elevate the

Chad Clinehens:

industry. We need more kids to be interested in what a career

Chad Clinehens:

is, and can be in this industry. We need the rest of the public

Chad Clinehens:

to understand the impact that Architects, Engineers, the

Chad Clinehens:

construction industry has on the world around them. And so all of

Chad Clinehens:

that led to this this big idea, I call it of elevate the

Chad Clinehens:

industry and it's been something that really people have gotten

Chad Clinehens:

around our clients like it they they like the simplicity of it.

Chad Clinehens:

They like the rallying cry behind elevate the industry and

Chad Clinehens:

especially when they're really trying to find how can they get

Chad Clinehens:

more staff and and knowing that we need to inspire the younger

Chad Clinehens:

generation to choose a career here. That is something that I

Chad Clinehens:

think is going to be timeless for us. And we, we talk about

Chad Clinehens:

missions being somewhat timeless for companies, you know, the

Chad Clinehens:

vision changes along the way. But the mission is timeless and

Chad Clinehens:

so elevate the industry is a is an exciting for me and the rest

Chad Clinehens:

of our company, a way to bring us together and get us to

Chad Clinehens:

understand and get excited about. We're making a big impact

Chad Clinehens:

here. And we're elevating individuals, firms and then

Chad Clinehens:

ultimately the industry.

Matt Waller:

Chad, thank you so much for taking time to visit

Matt Waller:

with us today. I really appreciate it.

Chad Clinehens:

Thank you, Matt. Appreciate it.

Matt Waller:

On behalf of the Sam M. Walton College of

Matt Waller:

Business, I want to thank everyone for spending time with

Matt Waller:

us for another engaging conversation. You can subscribe

Matt Waller:

by going to your favorite podcast service and searching.

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About the Podcast

Be EPIC Podcast
Welcome to the Be Epic Podcast featuring Brent Williams, interim dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. In each episode, you will hear from guests that will inspire you to be epic. As experts in their field, they will emphasize strategy, leadership, and entrepreneurship. This programming will highlight innovation and cutting-edge information that will leave you wanting more. Be sure to connect with Brent Williams on LinkedIn to join the conversation, access show notes and discover fantastic bonus content.