The Zweig Letter

Do your clients really love you? And do you love them? Before jumping into a big contract, you might want to know. Something I learned a long time ago has to do with my relationship...

President of Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering, Inc. (Hot Firm #30 for 2017), a 200-person civil engineering firm based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Marketing is very important,” Galdes says. “We actually increased...

We all need a lengthy, unadulterated turning-off of our brains. How do you start? Try taking a break from the lifelong grind. Sabbatical – rooted in the Greek word sabbatikos – the word speaks to...

BIG RED DOG acquires $1.4M structural engineering design firm, MSP Engineering Group Austin-based BIG RED DOG Engineering and Consulting recently announced the acquisition of MSP Engineering Group, PLLC. Named an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private firm...

BIG RED DOG acquires $1.4M structural engineering design firm, MSP Engineering Group Austin-based BIG RED DOG Engineering and Consulting recently announced the acquisition of MSP Engineering Group, PLLC. Named an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private firm...

Whenever you look at firms that aren’t profitable, they inevitably have one, some, or all of the following problems: The owners aren’t involved enough with the business. The owners take out too much money. The...

It’s not about what emotions we experience, but how we harness and direct our emotions that will impact our success or failure. In the AEC industry, each constituent group has a stereotypical emotional profile. Engineers...

They’re everywhere, and the key to dealing with them is to understand and appreciate their bad behavior by exercising a little empathy. We spend a lot of our lives at work. So it makes sense...

President and CEO of McAdams (Best Firm Civil #17 and Hot Firm #29 for 2017), a 180-person civil engineering firm based in Durham, North Carolina. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There are many challenges with growth,...

When taking control of proposals, squat down, get dirty, and just like a baseball catcher out on the diamond, manage your team. Johnny Bench, one of the greatest baseball catchers of all time, said: “The...

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"Client satisfaction surveys" or "client perception studies" in the architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting industry are about a lot more than putting a quick happiness rating on a client. When conducted correctly, these surveys...

President and CEO of VHB (Best Firm Civil #23 and Hot Firm #46 for 2017), a 1,400-person firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Bottom line, when it’s the right move, and when...

If you’re looking around but not seeing many people like you, try Zweig Group’s new 2018 seminar, CEO Roundtable. Click here for more information. We hear it all the time: “It’s lonely at the top.”...

You go to so much trouble to find the right person for your critical job opening. Sometimes, the process takes months. The higher level the job, the longer it takes to fill. Everyone is busy....

Transparency, training, and feedback are all important, but so is remembering that people don’t live to work, they work to live. In recent TZL articles you’ve heard my thoughts about sharing the company’s financial results...

Depending on why they left – and what they did while they were gone – it might be a good idea to welcome them back into the fold. It’s not uncommon when sorting through a...

Participate in a Project Management Survey and save $200 on the Excellence in Project Management Seminar. Participation is easy, just click on one of the links below: At the end of the survey you will...

Architect Richard Cuebas is the co-founder and vice president of Integra Design Group, which has offices in San Juan, Santo Domingo, and Charlotte, NC. A native of Puerto Rico, Cuebas visited the island in the...

We’re seeing more and more multi-office A/E/P and environmental firms wrestle with this issue: should branch offices be profit centers or not? Or should some other organization units be the place where we measure profitts...

The benefits are higher prices, less competition, and a better ability to withstand downturns in the economy. It seems to me that one of the core tenets of any business today – especially those that...

So many companies have done it but there are many more that still haven’t – morphing from a geographically-based to a market-based firm. Why is this so crucial? There are many reasons, but first and...

This post first appeared as an article in The Zweig Letter, Issue 1223 Besides the fact that an external sale will typically provide the greatest financial return for A/E owners who want to transition out...

Besides the fact that an external sale will typically provide the greatest financial return for A/E owners who want to transition out of their firms, a solid majority of principals still prefer internal ownership transition....