Zweig News

George Alexandra was fed up. He was tired of always having to take a back seat to his partner, Mick Flashyman. “Just because Flashyman started the company (Godlike Architects, Inc.) didn’t mean it wouldn’t be...

Durwood Ryan, CEO of Ryan, Brookhouse, and Springdale, was frustrated. He knew that Jeannie Turtlepup, his structural engineering department head, needed a raise. But he wasn’t getting any support for it from Poppy Buck, the...

In some previous articles we’ve talked about principals who are too involved and wreak havoc on budgets and schedules due to their last minute involvement on projects. But there’s another problem, and it may be...

It’s the kind of question that plagues principals: Why, if their firm has spent more than $300,000 on an all-new web-based software program that is designed to integrate every single front office function, are they...

Everyone wants to talk about project management as one of the keys to profitability. But based on some of what I have seen and heard lately, the problem may not be so much about how...

Terry Mitchell, senior vice president and transportation division head for MonsterFirm, Inc., knew one thing: If the firm was going to make any real money, it was going to take a new level of top...

Leroy Whiteside, president and CEO of Those Fabulous Architects, Inc., a 200-person firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, is a great guy. He is, in many ways, the archetypal design firm principal. He works 60...

Right now, everyone seems to be interested in profits. 2001 shook owners and employees alike. And even though most firms had a decent year (but “decent” is not the same as “great”), most made about...

John Dilbertson left the Dilbertson & Terry board meeting shaking his head. How many times did they have to reconsider the issue of principal compensation, particularly base pay? It seemed like it never ended. One...

If you look at the effect the events of September 11 had on everyone in this country, it’s really pretty amazing. The collective funk that ensued hurt businesses of all types in an unprecedented way....

I read somewhere once that being in love is a mental illness. All logic goes out the window. Rationality does not prevail. The ugly can become beautiful. Suffering is tolerable. Sacrifices can be made. Walls...

At the end of every year, Larz Picklefranz, managing partner of architecture and interiors firm Picklefranz, Lordosa, Fauna, and Schlossenberger, got the blues. Maybe it was just that the holidays reminded him of his long...

When I worked inside an A/E firm as a human resources director, I would occasionally have someone in my office telling me that they wanted to be an associate. And I have to tell you,...

No, I’m not talking about the Mel Gibson/Helen Hunt flick, although it was pretty funny. I am referring to what women working in design and environmental firms want out of their work environments. I think...

I was doing my usual deep thinking in the shower this morning, and I started wondering what I would do if I were on a flight that terrorists were hijacking. My first thoughts were about...

In tough times like those we are in right now (and they could get a lot worse), it’s easy for people to lose perspective. Little problems get blown up beyond their importance. Fear takes over....

As I write this, I have just returned from The Zweig Letter Hot Firm 2001 Conference and Celebration in San Francisco. Some things never change. The airports and planes seemed just as crowded as ever,...

Every month or two, I end up in an office where the owners or managers of the firm are telling me that their most critical need is to have formal job descriptions for each of...

Start talking about marketing these days, and eventually the conversation will get around to positioning. We use that term— positioning— constantly ourselves here at ZweigWhite. In simple terms, it means making your firm the expert...

Friday afternoon finally rolled around. Joe Jetson gathered up everything he needed to work at home over the weekend and tossed it all into his briefcase. This was the worst week Joe could remember in...

Best I can tell, the events of September 11 pushed a fragile economy over the cliff. It’s hard to make a bull like me into a bear, but I am there now. Companies everywhere are...

September 11, 2001— I was talking on the phone when I looked through the glass interior wall of my office out into the rest of our space and noticed people standing around a TV monitor....

Irving “Tuck” Schlockmeir walked into the Schlockmeir Associates board meeting in a bad mood. Tuck was frequently in a bad mood, and if he wasn’t, the fear that he might go into one scared everyone...

Want to get some new jobs? Need them fast? If so, you aren’t alone. We have seen a number of our consulting clients and readers of The Zweig Letter face major reductions in their workload...