“I hope you continue to be extremely intentional in choosing to be exactly where your feet are every moment that you are.”

1. Lynn Wong

Episode Summary:

In this keynote episode from Zweig Group's ElevateAEC2025 Conference, Lynn Wong delivers a powerful talk on what it takes to thrive—both personally and collectively—in the architecture, engineering, and construction world. Drawing from her global leadership experience and some transformative moments along the way, Lynn explores where well-being, conscious leadership, and innovation meet.

She opens up about her own story: climbing the ladder across three continents, hitting burnout hard, then finding her way back through slowing down and living with intention. Lynn connects the dots between wellness science and team dynamics, the importance of unlearning old patterns, and how to navigate the disruptions reshaping the AEC industry. Her message is clear: make conscious choices, take care of yourself, and build resilience—in your own life and across the profession.

Key Takeaways:

1. Intentional Leadership: Being fully present, knowing oneself deeply, and making conscious choices are foundational to thriving as a leader—especially amid rapid industry change.
2. Slowing Down to Speed Up: Sustainable progress in AEC comes not from relentless pace but from mindful “slowing down”—pausing for clarity, reflection, and purposeful action.
3. Personal Well-Being Fuels Teams: Core habits like breathing deeply, moving joyfully, mindful eating, and sleeping gratefully are essential for personal health, which in turn impacts collective performance and creativity.
4. Embrace Unlearning for Innovation: Growth and transformation in organizations and individuals require an openness to “unlearning” old habits and perspectives and a willingness to navigate discomfort.
5. Celebrate Team Strengths: Success in the AEC industry is rooted in collaboration, recognizing individual and team strengths, and honoring human potential in every project.

All this and more on this episode of the Zweig Letter podcast.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. Connect with Lynn Wong on LinkedIn
2. Learn about the Zweig Letter and subscribe: https://thezweigletter.com/
3. Connect with Randy Wilburn on LinkedIn

Get your FREE Subscription to the Zweig Letter Newsletter.

Stay tuned for more enlightening content from the Zweig Letter podcast, and make sure to subscribe for regular updates!

Other episodes you'll enjoy:

Architecture with Heart - Carley Chastain

From Specs to Stories with Cherise Lakeside

Bridging Design and Construction with Dan Crist

AI Transforming AEC with KP Reddy

Connect with Zweig Group:

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Twitter: Zweig Group

LinkedIn: Zweig Group

Website: Zweig Group

Hey everyone, welcome to the Zweig Letter Podcast.

I'm Randy Wilburn. Today's episode comes from a special

series we recorded at Zweig Group's Elevate

AEC conference in San Antonio, Texas.

For those who aren't familiar with Elevate AEC, it's

Zweig Group's annual gathering of AEC industry

leaders. 3 days of keynotes,

breakout sessions, awards, and candid

conversations about the future of architecture,

engineering, and construction. The content

we captured was exceptional, and we wanted to share it with

a wider audience. So whether you're listening to a keynote

address or a breakout session, you're getting

insights from the people shaping the industry. And

if you want to learn more about attending a future Elevate

AEC conference, visit

zwieggroup.com. Now

let's dive in. Welcome to the

Zweig Letter Podcast, putting architectural

engineering planning and environmental consulting advice

and guidance in your ear. Zweig Group's team of

experts have spent more than 3 decades Elevating the

industry by helping AEP and environmental

consulting firms thrive. And these podcasts deliver

invaluable management, industry, client,

marketing, and HR advice directly

to you free of charge. The

Zweig Letter Podcasts, elevating the design industry

one episode at a time.

Good morning. Good, most of you

ate breakfast. Have you ever

been somewhere and you marked

it on your calendar, you made all the plans because you all are high achievers,

and you're like, yeah, this is something I've got to go to, but when you

arrive you have this feeling of,

I am exactly where I'm meant to be.

Does that sound familiar to maybe some of you?

You know, I've had a lot of those moments in my life because

I have a no-regrets life, because there's always a lesson.

I am impatient because sometimes it takes me too long to learn the

lesson, but I do know that I'm always exactly where I'm

meant to be. Chad and I did not prepare

together, like we didn't compare scripts, but— and I

know all of his words were for the industry, of

which I'm a fan of, but it felt like every, every

other sentence was a reminder that I'm exactly where I'm meant

to be. So I say that in hopes that

you all also chose to be here

whether it was an award that invited you or

the chance to be in community within your industry, I hope

you continue to be extremely intentional in choosing

to be exactly where your feet are every moment

that you are. So,

show of hands, how many of you enjoy traveling?

Thank you. How many of you enjoy architectural

engineering and construction, even when you're not working in it?

Excellent. So I brought a little bit of

science, a little bit of story, and hopefully

we'll get to share all of it, not just mine, but among

all of you through the power of some photographs

that I have brought. And

my appreciation and empathy for the work

you do comes from one

of my favorite jobs in corporate America,

where I had a chance to lead several offices in China,

where I was responsible for creating winning environments for the team.

On a sexy day, that was throwing

happy hour parties, connecting teams, driving engagement scores. On

really tough days, it was The too many

mosquitoes in the summer, what can we do about this in the office?

Not fun at all. My most recent experience was

also as a small business co-owner where we were at the mercy

of high steel prices and concrete inavailability,

which really affected our business.

So from that place, I do want to thank all of

you for the work you do individually

and the work you do with your teams as

you build not just infrastructure and skyscrapers, but

also careers, communities, and lives.

So as we move through the slideshow, I hope

that if your mind wanders, at least you might enjoy

some of the infrastructure, skyscrapers, bridges,

et cetera, that show up. And when your attention comes back into

the space, that you'll also enjoy the reflection

with every picture. This was

actually taken in 2019 when I

had the chance to complete 5 years living and working in

China by choice. I learned and grew a lot.

And this is the Shenzhen Civic Center. And

that building that we lived across is one of the

tallest in the world right now, and we got to hear and

see it being built every day of the 5 years that we were there.

So who are we and what are we building?

I'd like to get a feel for who's in the room. So

please, hands up if you identify as a parent.

Thank you. I am not a parent. How

many of you identify as someone's kids?

Okay, good. I hope all of us do. And I hope all of you

brought it today as well, even if you're dressed in

maybe, you know, not kids' clothes. How many of you

enjoy plants?

Okay, I like eating them. How many of you

have pets, identify as pet owners?

Excellent. Well, Chad wouldn't let you me, know, have all of you

stand and dance around the room, so I need to, you know, help you all

move by raising your hands. But yeah, I am a

reluctant pet owner, but I have come to understand that my two

cats, Karma and Smalls, have been among my greatest teachers because

they don't need language. They are very clear and very present

with their needs. Really good

leadership training. Now, knowing

who we are is incredibly important, especially

as things seem to get faster, because no matter how many

headlines are now popping into your iPhone, here you

are. So to move through

speed, requires that we fully integrate

into the people that we are,

the energy that fills this essentially

biodegradable spacesuit that we all have, that

we get to dress, that we get to lift weights with, that we get to

create PowerPoints with. So

knowing that our

bodies are our foundation, are our

essential flight suits for the incredible unique

energy that is in each and every one of us is really vital.

And sometimes it's really hard to remember that.

This is an unusual picture

of the Great Wall of China that took over 2,000 years to

build by many, many generations.

There were probably bold ambition, there was probably also a ton

of fear, but it was built in a time where

there was no Wi-Fi, there was no internet,

there was definitely no AI, but just

a human-to-human energy

that brought every brick, that put it all together,

and continued its building over 2,000 years of humanity.

It's still here. We were standing on it. This is the

part that is the least maintained, about 40 miles north

and about a 4-hour uphill rugged hike

into the prettier parts of the Great Wall that maybe some of you have been.

I hope you get to go there. It's it's pretty, pretty

inspiring.

So I've delayed it long enough to tell you my story.

And thank you, Chad, and the Zweig Group, and the generous sponsors for

inviting me to connect, learn, and celebrate with all of you.

Inspired by Chad, my call sign today, and as it

always has been, is Integrator.

I was one of those that

started out in a fast-paced country. So I am

born and raised in Singapore. The country only turned 60

this year, so for those of you who've reached the wisdom

milestone of 60, it's kind of incredible,

isn't it? So being born and raised in Singapore meant that

I got to learn about

competition and go to school and it was just all about the A's

and B's. There were some questions in life that I

couldn't answer as I went from school to education, like,

what's your 3-year plan? What's your 5-year plan? I just

always went with what felt right.

And as I look back on a lot of the data,

what felt right was a gut instinct, and I know many of

you appreciate and honor your gut instinct.

So how do we hone and

honor that gut instinct when things seem to be moving

faster and faster and faster?

We make choices. We recognize that we're

always exactly where we're meant to be. We

recognize that there is always something to be learned,

even when there are moments of high resistance. Sometimes the

lesson just takes a little longer. And most importantly,

we always have a choice. If we're here in this room

together, most of us are not dealing with poverty.

We are dealing with building the next generation.

And as we do that, it is easy to forget the little stuff.

So just one more question. How many of you remembered to brush your

teeth this morning? Excellent, thank you.

That is the level of health and well-being that

we can go to. I got

to 38 and

achieved all of my professional goals. I

got it all. I wanted to work in 3 big countries:

Singapore, the United States, and China. I got it all. I wanted to run

an office. Overseas, and I wanted to earn the

job, not because I checked a certain box. I did

get it, and it was the best job I've ever had. So

22 years, 20 20, jobs, sorry,

22 years, 20 bosses, 15

jobs from analyst to vice president,

4 major companies, 3 countries,

1 college degree, 1 happy marriage, a

ton of memories. So what do you do when

you crash? Because you've already done

it all. And that first crash was actually when I caught COVID.

I did all the right things, all the vaccines, all you the, know,

masking up, staying away. And yet I remember coughing

my lungs out. To the point where I was wondering, why am I still here?

know, You I've, I've fulfilled my life goals, my

life mission.

Somebody else should take my place. Somebody should not lose their

grandmother or grandfather through that terrible disease.

Why am I still here? That would be the moment I

started learning about the power of questions and

slowing to speed slowing down so that I

could understand the question and just be open to how

the answers kept showing up.

Crashing meant that I found myself

unable to get up one morning, the night before I

was supposed to fly to a leadership meeting, and I had never missed a leadership

meeting before. But this time was really interesting. There was a

knowing, my gut was telling me this is the beginning of the end.

Because I did not make conscious choices to take myself off the

treadmill, the treadmill was going to throw me

off, or in my case, I could not get out of bed.

Multiple doctor's visits later, it led to a surprise

sabbatical. I had wanted the backpack kind, you know,

travel around the world, more stamps on my passport. But

sabbatical brought me into silence. And it was in

silence and studying

that I got to reconnect with the vital signs

of the small stuff, like the brushing your teeth. That

if you took deep breaths,

you get 18% more oxygen. Simply, we have to

breathe. In fact, we're being breathed, aren't we?

It's not something we can turn off. We can hold our breath. I think the

longest human record is 11 minutes,

but not beyond that. We get our breath taken away from us when

we are complete in our assignment.

I also learned about moving joyfully.

Moving joyfully isn't about punishing your body.

It is about respecting what it can hold respect it

and what it can do, that you deserve

good health because you moved your body joyfully.

So I hope you consider that additional

frame, that you don't just have to move because

you have to, but it is with joy that you get to move. After

all, this is how you got here, right? Chewing

slowly. This is the simplest way to explain

it. If you take your time to chew your food—

some of you, the data ones in the group, like to count, so count to

40. For the ones in the group that do not like to count,

just get your food to smoothie quality before

you swallow it. Yes? Thank you. Thank you for

staying with me. It is really important because when you don't do that,

meaning the enzymes in your mouth are not doing the work they

are meant to do, then guess what? Your stomach has to

compensate. This is where some of that reflux situation

happens. When you inhale your food, when you're so proud that you eat faster than

the other person, your stomach is about

the size of your fist. Take a quick peek at your fist.

Right? This is where then the stomach has to compensate for what the mouth

didn't do. Not efficient at all.

Sipping water. Most of you know that a lot of our bodies are

made of water, somewhere between 50 and 70%, so we need to put water in

it. It moves all the good stuff, it also moves all the bad stuff out,

and most importantly, don't chug your water, 'cause it'll come right out,

it'll create hormonal imbalance. Make sure you drink your water, but

just sip it. There's a lot of water available, please intentionally

sip. Water to stay hydrated and whole.

Eating mindfully— thank you, Chad, for a beautiful buffet spread that

includes all colors of the rainbow. And that is really

important. You don't have to be able to spell fancy science words

to recognize you make choices. The number of

colors you can get on your plate from fruits and vegetables will keep you in

a good place. The choice to eat

vegetables first followed by your

proteins, then your starches, and

then your dessert— so don't skip dessert, just eat it last— actually

helps you because the vegetables

go in as fiber and they keep you

full for longer. It really is that simple.

You don't need a gym membership to nurture your well-being.

Sleeping gratefully. Sleep isn't

a burden. It's actually sacred time.

It's sacred time for your mind to go recharge while your body does its

actual work, where your body takes all the good and all

the bad, processes it, and helps you keep what supports you

and lets go of what no longer serves you.

So, The science that I hope to leave you with is really

that simple, as simple as brushing your teeth. Breathe deeply. You can do

that with your eyes open, even without your eyes closed. Move

joyfully. Even today, move— as you move from room to room,

be intentional, move with a smile. Chew slowly.

I think enough said. But chewing slowly also allows you to listen to the person

that you're talking to. And listening deeply is a lost art.

And listening deeply is at the heart of our health and well-being.

Sipping water, I won't belabor it. Thank you for sipping a

drink. Eating mindfully and sleeping

gratefully. I hope you will remember these, and I hope you won't

underestimate these as you then find the bits and

pieces that resonate regardless of which generation

you identify with, whether you're a parent or a child.

So burnout happens when you start feeling

that Sunday scaries or the fact that

you just have this dread going into a meeting or a presentation.

And it is a warning sign when vacations are no longer sufficient.

I think it is a big watch out.

Ever take a vacation from a vacation?

The ones with families, I think you know what I mean. So

I invite you all, as you move into the fall

and as we move also into family and

community seasons of Thanksgiving and gift-giving, to

first take care of yourself so that you can be in integrity

to then take care of others. Because burnout ends at

the start of conscious leadership, and that leadership

is of yourself, then

for others.

So let me ask you, what do you want for your health, your

wealth, and your relationships?

If you can put two words to. It.

Your health, your wealth, and your relationship.

Get strong, diversify investments,

quality time. It really is that simple.

I invite you as you connect, learn, celebrate,

and recharge at Elevate,

to carve out a few moments for yourself, in fact, right now,

as you then turn to think about what do you want

for your power, purpose, and prosperity.

Slow Down to Speed Up was gifted to me one day when I

huffed and puffed into my vice president's office 'cause I was really mad as a

young manager about how long it took to make decisions. I'm like, what's

going on? Like, we've gotta get a move on it. He heard

me out and then he said, slow down to speed up. And then he asked

me to read the founder's biography

for wisdom. That

phrase stopped me in my tracks and has since come to

encompass the wholeness

that is my health is my power.

Ever considered how the heart

is the first organ to really be significant and develop

when lives come into this earth and where we're always

listening for heartbeat? Sometimes in the

bigness of our jobs and our titles and our confidentiality clauses and our

M&As, We forget that

we're not alone, that our heartbeat

and our breath are gifts that we have gotten

and that we get to hold in our

biodegradable spacesuits.

The power of our health is important because it is

our integrity that then allows us to live into our purpose.

It's no coincidence that there is a "you" in the word purpose,

right? Our purpose, our wealth, our

wealth of energy, our wealth of money, our wealth of

skills. Purpose is about

stewardship.

So how can we steward the

resources given to us that is our wealth,

for the relationships that we care about, which is a

state of well-being, prosperity.

And relationships are not just about the person across

the table or on the phone. The relationship is also with

yourself. What is the relationship you have

with yourself? Can you, do you,

like the person in the mirror? Have you smiled

and said hello and thank you to the person in the

mirror? That

relationship is key as you launch

from today gradually back into your

teams, as you rethink productivity and you challenge norms.

What if all the stress is happening for

us, not to us?

What happens when we apply technology with the

perspective of it is power with,

not power over?

And what if we looked at generations as, isn't it

extraordinary that there are about 5 generations in the

workspace? There is so much untapped

wisdom. Because we are

same same and different. Remember

how many of us identified as parents, as you plant, know,

fans, and as pet owners? If we look to our

similarities while honoring our differences,

we'll be surprised.

Speed without clarity leads to waste, but one of the things they

don't tell us when we're leading transformation so that we don't spend enough time

on is the concept of unlearning.

What are you unlearning as

you lead through change, as you slow down to speed up?

Here's a fun one. Is the pain or the work

you're going through, are you a lobster

that is just breaking out of its old shell and coming into its

new shell because it has grown? So you're

still a lobster, just going through the shell-breaking piece, which is

painful. Or are you going through a

state change? Are you a caterpillar

that suddenly decides that, okay, I'm you done, know,

hanging out outside, I need this cocoon around me,

and I just feel like creating a cocoon, and you come out on the

other side as a butterfly? The state

of unlearning is within the cocoon, where the butterfly

completely dissolves into essence,

imaginal cells is the term they use, to then come out

on the other side as a butterfly. There is a reason that even

though it's the same life cycle, that it has two names, because it is two

states. So I invite you all to

think about What might you unlearn? First

yourself, then your teams, then with your customers and your

communities as you navigate business

at the speed of business.

Connection, collaboration, curiosity, essential ingredients

as you go through the unlearning process because it is uncomfortable.

And can you sit with the discomfort?

You can use your breath,

drop in and listen, practice listening deeply, not just actively,

right? Listening deeply is

simply listening to listen without the desire

to fix or respond. Listening

actively is a skill that you listen

and you reflect and you want to respond. You want both

to bring alive connection, collaboration, and

curiosity.

No significant success is possible without

teamwork. I

invite you to take a moment to just think

about the last time you named the

strengths of your team, You made

an investment in the strengths of your team and

celebrated.

I hope you have them. I'd love to hear them.

And when we go to break, I hope you share them with your table.

Because this is what it's all about, isn't it? It is the future of

humanity. And all of you

are leaders in an industry that

builds legacies, not just in

the buildings, the design, the roads, the railways.

It's in the lives. It's in

what these spaces hold, which is

essentially human. Potential. All of

you do the work in creating spaces and

places that hold human potential.

That's an incredible work to be part of.

So how can you slow down to speed up

with power, purpose, and prosperity.

And if slow down to speed up isn't quite your jam,

maybe a different acronym might work. So, PACE

to build. Pause to breathe.

Align with your intentions. Make conscious

choices. Be present in all of it. Elevate.

What do your choices elevate? Then breathe,

understand the choices you have made, integrate,

come into your body,

lead and deliver for yourselves

and the world. Thank you for your time.

Thanks for tuning in to the Zweig Letter podcast.

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