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By Becky Carlson | Understanding your firm’s value early can reveal growth opportunities, reduce risk, and support long-term transition planning.

By Michael Sanderson | Firms that want to grow must evolve leadership, systems, and culture or risk being outpaced and ultimately absorbed.

By Kraig Kern | AEC firms excel at solving known problems, but creativity is what reveals the opportunities and risks no one sees.

By Lauren Martin | A simple “time is of the essence” clause can transform routine schedule delays into costly legal and insurance risks.

By Mark Zweig | Long-term firm owners stay motivated by evolving the business, mentoring emerging leaders, and staying close to the action.

Master Builders Reimagined: KP Reddy Explores AI, Integration, and Future Design Leadership     “We keep iterating on an old construct—let’s stop and start over. How do we want to do things differently? Let’s get...

By Ezequiel Tovar | Strategic planning transforms vision into execution by aligning leaders, empowering employees, and funding growth with intention.

By Wallace Smith | Giving back is a responsibility that strengthens communities, builds better businesses, and reminds leaders their greatest impact starts beyond the blueprint.

By Lucas Gray | Tech becomes a strategic advantage when firms measure real ROI and budget for tools that drive profit, productivity, and long-term capability.

By Mark Zweig | Leaders shape outcomes through mindset, so choose optimism, act on opportunity, and set expectations that inspire rather than limit your team.

By Gregory D. Teague | A strong culture isn’t built once – it’s nurtured daily through shared values, genuine investment in people, and lasting community impact.

By Kraig Kern | When the engine stalls, take the pause to reset, refocus, and get ready for what comes next.

By Tiara Marcus | Great project delivery goes beyond efficiency, blending precision, clarity, and empathy to build trust and lasting client partnerships.

By Jon Hanlon | AEC careers are built on continual learning, where mistakes, questions, and collaboration shape lasting skills and professional growth.

Zweig Group, the leading provider of management consulting, research, and education for the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, has released its 2025 Marketing & Business Development Report – the industry’s most comprehensive resource on how...

By Gary Bowman | Building a firm that attracts people, not just transactions, requires balancing scale, preserving culture, and investing in long-term success.

By Morgan Stinson | Lessons from The Bear show AEC leaders the value of purpose, process, development, and treating every client like a VIP.

By Jeremy Clarke | Handle hidden tension before it blows – eroding trust, culture, and leadership credibility.

By Dave Williams | Policy slack combines structure with flexibility, empowering leaders with the room to move, own decisions, and grow.

By Sara Parkman | Zweig Group’s 2025 Rising Stars share what inspires purpose, loyalty, and change in the AEC workplace.

By Chad Clinehens | ElevateAEC celebrates high-performance AEC firms moving fast and intentionally in a changing industry.

By Adam Langley | Time is a finite resource, but by effectively managing it, you’ll contribute to your individual success and the long-term prosperity of your firm.

By Mark Zweig | AEC firms today still struggle with the same old organizational issues that undermine clarity, accountability, and leadership.

By Josh Crawford | Our industry currently faces unique hurdles; success hinges on adopting tailored solutions combined with tried-and-true principles.

By Ashley Heinnickel | Set yourself up for success, stay focused, and communicate well in order to sustain momentum in strategic plan implementation.

By Tiara Marcus | True leaders tune out the noise and let their expertise, talent, and technical understanding speak for itself.

By Brad Thurman | Building true, long-lasting professional relationships with your clients takes a lot of work – but will pay off for you in the end.

By Mark Zweig | Too many firm owners want different results and want to be more successful, yet keep doing things the same way they always have.

By Mark Zweig | These qualities will be essential for entrepreneurial leaders in the AEC business to have in the coming months and years ahead.

By Ashleigh Powell | Building sustainability into an AEC firm requires passion, patience, collaboration, and a focus on business value and long-term impact.

By Carlo Lebron | Take the time to define your culture, engage your team, and make this a central part of your operational strategy – the rewards are well worth the effort.

By Mark Zweig | 2025 offers opportunities for AEC firms to thrive through responsiveness, strategic metrics, strong banking ties, and workplace honesty.

By Todd Hay | Adapting to smaller AEC markets requires leveraging networks, building staff-client trust, and scaling operations for sustained success.

By Morgan Stinson | AEC firms that focus on fostering genuine client relationships build trust, loyalty, and long-term success.

By Rennee Richardson | Embracing cross-generational collaboration in the workplace helps bridge experience, skills, and fresh perspectives.

By Kristin Kautz | AI adoption empowers firms to unleash their human potential to solve problems that matter.

By Ezequiel Tovar | Engaging with employees at all levels fosters respect, uncovers issues, and strengthens company culture.

By Sara Parkman | The 2024 Rising Stars shed light on how the next generation of AEC professionals is driving innovation and strengthening firm culture in a rapidly changing environment.

By Lynn Bruns | Strategic investment in leadership development is crucial for accelerating business goals, increasing profitability, and improving recruitment and retention.

By Josh Hersel | The integrated project delivery method fosters early collaboration, minimizing surprises and enhancing efficiency at the core of your business.

By Mark Zweig | This person is at the core of what makes your business successful, however not all financial managers are competent.

By Mark Zweig | Sparkplugs are the people in your business who make things happen – and they are essential if you want to grow beyond what you alone can ignite.

This refinement of our service structure is designed to streamline our offerings, providing our clients with a more efficient path to enhanced business performance and optimization.

By Mark Zweig | Anyone who is a design professional and who wants to get ahead is probably going to have to learn to be a manager.

By Anastasia Welch | Transforming team dynamics and strategies for improved leadership skills, operations, and project implementation, leading to business success.

By Mark Zweig | Here are some ways your CEO could be even more helpful to your company than they already are.

By Greg Sepeda | Seizing opportunities fosters a mindset of continuous improvement, enabling us to refine our skills and expand our horizons.

This report details some of the biggest trends and movements regarding M&A activity in the AEC industry as of the end of Q2 2024.

By Morgan Stinson | Failure at some level is inevitable – but how we respond to and manage that failure is what can set us apart.

Zweig Group has announced the 2024 Hot Firm List, which honors the fastest growing AEC firms.

By Lauren Martin | The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990 granted architects copyright protection for their designs, but recent trends see ownership shifting.

By Liisa Andreassen | JQ, now IMEG, a team of professionals providing structural and civil engineering, geospatial and facility performance services within a diverse group of markets.

By Dan Houf | Nothing prepares you for the challenges of managing a firm like putting your feet to the fire and learning from everyday experiences.

By Mark Zweig | Entrepreneurial firms adapt better to a changing environment, are better places to work, and build significant value over time that can be harvested.

By Eduardo Smith | For any COO to be successful in the AEC industry today, they must embrace the soft side of leadership, focusing on the people and culture as much as the numbers.

By Katherine Nanowski | Understanding and participating in government affairs can play a valuable role in a company’s business development process.

By Matt Johnson | Client managers face new challenges post-pandemic, requiring increased client contact, realistic budgeting, and managing expectations for success.

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at MCE (Minneapolis, MN), one of the largest mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firms in the United States.

By Jesse Fortune | Technology evolves quickly and it is imperative that AEC firms make smart decisions when selecting the software that powers project files, data storage, and financials.

By Jeremy Clarke | The past few years have had a lot to teach us about winning the war for talent.

By Eduardo Smith | Whether you’re running a race or running a business, put these five tips into practice and you may be surprised at how far they can take you.

Zweig Group advisors reflect on key insights from this year’s entrepreneurial event.

By Mark Zweig | See how you stack up against the best in the industry – and remember, it’s never too late to change your behavior.

By Mitch Fortner | As demand for our industry’s services continues to increase, the firms that listen to their employees and evolve to meet their needs will continue to grow.

By Shirley Che | ElevateHER® is identifying sustainable workforce solutions to address our industry’s recruiting and retention challenges.

By Mark Zweig | Every entrepreneurial company should have some big, game-changing things it is working on.

Zweig Group has announced the 2023 Hot Firm List, which honors the fastest growing AEC firms.

By Chad Clinehens | Firms that take the time to learn and adapt to AI could gain a competitive advantage over those that are slower to adopt.

David Bolt, president of GMB, discusses his extraordinary design career journey and creating a collaborative environment that fosters growth and embraces change.

By Justin Smith | Instead of waiting for the perfect project manager to appear, invest in developing these valuable professionals within your firm.

By Andy Chavez | The Zweig Index reports on 11 of the AEC industry’s leading firms on a monthly basis. This installment details the financial standing of Stantec.

By Will Swearingen | How valuable is your firm compared to others in the industry?

By Eddie Wade | If you take time to breathe, rally your troops, get team buy-in, and consider your options, you’ll be on your way to making this a positive change.

By Mark Zweig | As a business owner, people problems will probably be at the top of your “problems/opportunities” list.

By Kraig Kern | Identifying and fixing crucial problems is the job of leadership, but sometimes the most debilitating problems are with the leaders themselves.

By Jane Lawler Smith | By applying various levels of rewriting, redesign, and repackaging, you can successfully bring adaptive reuse concepts into your AEC marketing realm.

By Tom Godin | If you have goals you want to achieve in the new year, start taking action and building habits today.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Living Stone (Black Mountain, NC), a design-build firm that has been crafting luxury, award-winning custom homes for more than 25 years.

By Mark Zweig | None of these questions may seem profound, but they all merit asking and honestly answering.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | This group will require more flexibility, autonomy, and learning opportunities in order to stay engaged and motivated. 

By Dathan Gaskill | Committing to this will make your firm safer, more resistant to adversity, and change cashflow and profit for the better.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Grace Hebert Curtis Architects, an architecture and interior design firm that is still experiencing substantial growth in size and reputation after more than 50 years.

By Lauren Rhodes Martin | Small, medium, or large, firms of every size should have a regular process in place for collection of their fees.

By Mark Zweig | Hiring often takes a lot of time and a real commitment to get the key people you want.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of GRAEF (Milwaukee, WI), an international multi-discipline engineering, planning, and design firm that was founded in 1961.

By Sara Parkman | This year’s cohort has picked up where previous groups left off – taking on creative ideas to solve both historic and emerging challenges.

By Lindsay Young | Best practices for AEC firms will continue to evolve, but firms that take steps to innovate will be the ones that succeed.

By Alexis Eades | The consequences of burnout can be detrimental, so give your mental health the care it deserves.

By Ashley Heinnickel | A rebrand is an opportunity to elevate your firm’s identity and build excitement about where you’re going.

By Liisa Andreassen | Vice president of Morrison-Shipley Halff (Richardson, TX), a consulting firm with a passion for providing smarter solutions with a distinctly human touch.

By Justin Smith | Training is an investment with big payoffs, so do your research when determining the best fit for your firm.

By Brittney Odom & Eduardo Smith | In today’s fast-paced and mostly remote work environments, the processes described on paper often don’t resemble the way work is actually conducted.

By Aya Shitanishi & Megan Chang | A good project meeting is like a dinner party: You’re the host and it’s your job to make sure your guests have a great experience.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Galloway (Denver, CO), a firm with a streamlined process that addresses all its clients’ design needs – from architecture to civil engineering and survey.

By Mark Zweig | This isn’t easy, but it will ultimately make you more successful – not just as a business leader, but in life itself!

By Lindsay Young | With a little effort, you can put a plan in place that will empower your firm to work with the types of clients you want on the types of projects you...

By Mark Zweig | If you want to encourage cooperation in your firm, take a look at your organization structure, accounting, and incentive compensation.

Knowing who does what, who needs to weigh in, and who makes the final decision is critical to success.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO and president of MKN (Arroyo Grande, CA), a firm specializing in water, wastewater, and water reuse engineering for public agencies.

ADEC Innovations, a recognized global leader in designing, developing, and delivering solutions and services in critical areas of sustainable development, announced it has completed its acquisition of Cameron Cole, LLC, a full-service environmental services and...

By Chad Coldiron | Whatever your role is at work or in life, showing others respect is always a good way to build a great relationship.

By Jim Toby | The quality of your projects sets your firm apart from the competition, so urge your prospective clients to look beyond the costs.

By Sara Parkman | They are the senior principal and president of Genesis (Blue Bell, PA), a full service firm that delivers facilities for life-saving therapies.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and principal of Jordan and Skala Engineers (Norcross, GA), a firm that has delivered quality engineering services to its clients for more than 65 years.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Sasaki (Boston, MA), an interdisciplinary architecture, planning, landscape, and design firm with offices in the U.S. and China.

By Mark Zweig | Seeing the firm you started or used to run be successful when you’re gone is one of the greatest accomplishments you can hope for.

By WSB | In 1959, Kennedy became the first Black woman to receive an engineering degree from a school in Texas. Here, she reflects on her more than 55 years of experience since then.

By Jake Voorhees | Whether it be remote flexibility considerations, how firms make strategic growth decisions, or hiring tactics in general, engineering workplace culture is changed forever.

By Mark Zweig | Here are 12 things you can actually change in your business that will help you win the talent war.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Hardesty & Hanover (New York, NY), a world-renowned full-service engineering firm with more than 130 years of experience.

By Mark Zweig | A lack of speed is a big problem for too many A/E firms. You all really need to pick up the pace!

By Peter Atherton | Most leaders haven’t taken the time to reflect on their reasons to grow and, once understood, articulate them to others.

By Chad Coldiron | With remote work burnout setting in for many, here are some ideas to take care of your people now and for the foreseeable future.

By John Bray | Bringing work to your firm right now could be the difference between coming out of the pandemic stronger on the other side or getting left behind.

Partner at LERA Consulting Structural Engineers (New York, NY), a firm that has created innovative, yet constructible and economical structural designs since 1923.

Zweig Group and OnStrategy Announce Industry Partnership to Offer OnStrategy’s Strategy Management Software and Process Management Best-Practices to the AEC Industry Fayetteville, Arkansas and Reno, Nevada (September 9, 2020) – Zweig Group, a leading provider...

By Mark Zweig | Firms seem to be doing better than most anyone would have predicted when everything had to shut down in March. Why is that?

In the current economic environment, avoid costly payment disputes and counterclaims by choosing clients carefully and staying on top of your receivables and collections.

From training your staff to making sure your firewall is up-to-date, it’s important that you take action to protect your firm’s data, your clients’ data, and your network from cyberattacks.

If we want to be in position to effectively respond and even get ahead of the curve, we all need to know what’s likely to come next.

President and CEO of Integrated CM Solutions (San Antonio, TX), a program/construction management firm that’s had more than $800 million worth of projects since 2015.

The 2019 winner of the Jerry Allen Courage In Leadership Award is Paul Greenhagen! Paul joined Westwood Professional Services in 1987 on a field survey crew. He is a “man of the people” who worked...

It’s important to revisit your purpose and values statements from time to time to make sure they still hold true for your firm.

The tools that Revit provides have the power to help firms save time and money, while improving the quality of the final product.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | We’re using videoconferencing more than ever, but constant communication isn’t the same as effective communication.

By Mark Zweig | Now is a good time to take stock of the many positive aspects of our industry to help keep yourself and your employees motivated and directed in the midst of uncertainty.

President of Shield Environmental Associates (Lexington, KY), a full-service engineering and environmental consulting firm that seeks solutions of distinct value.

President and CEO of Wallace Engineering (Tulsa, OK), a structural and civil engineering consulting firm that believes in being active citizens, in both our profession and communities.

Managing principal of Woodblock Architecture (Portland, OR), a firm that sees each new project as an opportunity to create something awesome and build new relationships.

ERM (London, UK) has completed the acquisition of M.J. Bradley & Associates, LLC (MJB&A) (Concord, MA) – a specialist energy, climate change and sustainability advisory company that provides strategic policy and regulatory advice on the...

If you are within the leadership group of your company, there are times when you may need to purge your leadership team to move forward.

Recent data shows that over 80 percent of AEC firm owners are now over the age of 50. In response to aging workforce and market demands, Zweig Group announces a cross-functional focus on mergers and...

Why is work today so unfulfilling and how can we change that? Let’s set our sights on having an impact and figure out a way to get there.

President and CEO of Falcon Engineering, a woman-owned engineering firm in Cary, North Carolina.

A successful sustainability plan should formalize your approach for continuous improvement and help you build on what you are already doing in three key areas.

“Being a leader means you have to keep growing and learning. We can all change. This includes you!”

In any business, there are good risks and bad risks. Find out which ones are right for you.

Surrounding oneself with the appropriate professionals, and planning accordingly, will position your company for a successful transition to ESOP ownership.

You must constantly rethink your marketing strategy, using traditional and trending methods, if you want to be effective.

Zweig Group’s annual publication of AEC industry fees, billing rates, chargeability/utilization rates, project contracts, and billing practices, has been released. The data contained in this publication was gathered using an online survey and collected from...

President of FSC, Inc., a surveying firm servicing oil and gas clients and private developers headquartered in Columbus, Texas.

Taylor Dayton, EIT, is a project engineer at Aspect Consulting’s office in Wenatchee, Washington.

President of JBCI, a small, but venerable, repair and restoration firm based in Philadelphia.

We’re not too late in achieving gender balance and equity in engineering, but to make it happen, a lot of work needs to be done.

Even if you’re at the lower rungs of the org chart, there are plenty of opportunities for meaningful acts of leadership.

“If any of these situations sounds familiar – and you have tried to correct the situation by directly confronting it – it may be time to let that person go.”

President of PES Structural Engineers (Best Firm #10 Structural for 2018), a 57-person firm based in Atlanta. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Leadership development,” Planer says, referring to his No. 1 responsibility. “We work hard to...

Having the ability to offer candidates participation in the ESOP may provide your company a benefit your competition cannot offer.

As an industry, we generally leave a lot of money on the table and drive up costs with our lack of effectiveness in management and training. When we think of improving, we often turn to...

By Edward Friedrichs | Things I could not have imagined just a few years ago are now coming to market, are affordable and practical, and are changing the world for the better.

While the software is a proven workhouse for data storage and analysis, there are 7 good reasons to stop using it to manage your projects Editor’s note: ProjectBoss was a sponsor of the 2018 Hot...

By Edward Friedrichs | Of all the things I can think of to recommend to fellow professionals, the top one is this: Never stop learning.

Co-founder, president and CEO of WSB (Hot Firm #34 for 2018), a 475-person, full-service consulting and design firm based in Minneapolis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Early on, I paid too much attention to those who...

Let’s face it. While there certainly has been an increase over the years in the number of architects, engineers, and other design professionals who have had formal business education, the solid majority of firm owners...

Review and understand any new or enhanced supplemental coverages available under your policy and note those most timely and valuable to your firm. Design firms may want to double-check their professional liability insurance policies for...

The highest performing teams across all organizations have identifiable characteristics – great role clarity, tough love, and solid performance standards. Just like the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, great teams do not happen...

Social responsibility can be one of the biggest and most powerful marketing and recruiting tools at your disposal, but be careful. How much should your firm be concerned with social responsibility? And are charitable donations...

If you don’t want scope creep and unforeseen expenses to ruin your profit margins, try improving your estimating process. You planned for your project to make 14 percent, but you end up with 8 percent....

Do you have a job interview on the near horizon? If so, do your research, stay on topic, and don’t forget to wear a nice pair of shoes. A close architect friend of mine recently...

Could it be your final act of leadership? If you are a CEO or partner and do not have it, please consider changing the scenario. The A/E/P and environmental consulting industry has many unique qualities,...

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...

In a hot M&A market, the opportunity to sell is there, but staying put could also be a good path to take. The activity with mergers and acquisitions is quite high. There seem to be...

Zweig Group released the brand new 2017 Project Management Survey on October 24, 2017. To conduct this study, Zweig Group surveyed project managers working in architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting firms, to get their...

Take this quick 15 question survey to receive $150 off any Zweig Group research product and a FREE report of the findings from this quick survey. Over the last ten years technology has provided numerous...

A successful marketing campaign is difficult to measure using hard metrics, so don’t get caught in the quicksand of trying to quantify nebulous numbers. It’s Monday, 9 a.m., and as you get comfortable in an...

Ditch the lecture-and-listen style of training and replace it with something much more effective – the do-it-to-learn-it style. In the ultra-competitive AEC job market, professional growth is becoming the new perk. Employees and candidates –...

Serving others before serving yourself sounds noble, but if you are low on your own priority list, it’ll show in poor performance. If you’re a fellow frequent traveler, you’ve probably heard the safety announcement that...

Donald Trump has single handedly breathed life back into the “other social media app” – Twitter. The platform had gone stale. It loses money every year and had a declining user base. Cue the late-night...

If you rely solely on what you thought you once knew to be true, you run the risk of being an obsolete relic of yesteryear. Not too long ago, when my son was a senior...

Milwaukee-based Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA), a leading architecture and design firm that has more than 200 employees in three offices in Wisconsin and Iowa, today announced that it has expanded into the Rocky Mountain region...

So you’re thinking about acquiring an A/E firm? You’ve got a lot of questions to ask yourself, and you need to have honest answers. In a recent article, I wrote about how important it was...

Should you buy a firm or sell yours? That’s the question, and regardless of the answer, there’s a lot that goes into a successful merger or acquisition. In the ever-evolving AEC industry, both large and...

Science, technology, engineering, and math are great, and adding art to the mix can elevate all of them. It’s an age-old debate: Right brain or left? Science or art? Or today’s version: STEM or the...

A revamp of global bank capital standards is on hold during the change of administration in Washington, with U.S. and European Union negotiators locked in a “fundamental disagreement” over how to stop banks gaming the...

In the A/E industry, it’s easy for PMs and firms to claim ownership of projects, but the only owners are the clients, and they always make the final call. Over the last four decades, I...

Company leaders play an important role in making sure their people are aligned, capable, and engaged – a recipe for success. Are your employees fulfilled? If not, it may be costing you a bundle. While...

1. Stodge will continue to be the preferred cultural thrust for firms in 2017. Touting flexible hours, casual Fridays, and no tie Tuesdays, firms will continue to innovate as much for themselves as they do...

Third-generation leader of multidiscipline firm embraces debate, seeks consensus, and likes anything with bacon. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent It started with his great uncle. Then his father. And now him. Firm president John Hiltz is...

From job to job and firm to firm, all with the push of a button on a mobile app. Is that the future for the design industry? There’s plenty out there who sure hope so....

An influx of foreign capital and an acute housing crisis have created a surge in tall buildings, and in an ancient, low-slung city, that’s controversial. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Once dominated by landmarks like...

Demanding a resume is a good way to scare off potential hires, but your chances improve if you pick up the phone and sell your firm. One of the biggest challenges facing the AEC industry...

We’ve all been there because every A/E firm in existence seems to have one. I’m talking about the person in the room who is completely, utterly negative. You’re in a meeting. Changes are being proposed....

Creating a hybrid seller-doer team comprised of business development people and technical experts is a good way to win new work. As few as 25 years ago, our industry relied almost exclusively on relationships as...

As good as business is in the AEC world – and believe me, it’s really good for most everyone right now – we are seeing a lot of companies developing profitability problems. It’s pretty simple:...

Firms like to talk about growth, but fear of risk, and even laziness, contribute to lackluster marketing and timid strategic plans. If asked to offer words that describe your firm, would you use ordinary, average,...

Demanding a resume is a good way to scare off potential hires, but your chances improve if you pick up the phone and sell your firm. One of the biggest challenges facing the AEC industry...

Even minor changes in contract language can create major liability and insurance issues for design firms, so be aware of what’s out there and act accordingly. Today’s contracts involving design firms and owners, project managers...

In a recent article, I wrote about how important it was to prepare your firm for sale even if you are not thinking about an external ownership transition. You can read that article here. This...

Friendships are not only good for the soul, their good for business, so make as many of them as you can if you want your firm to prosper. Personal engagement with clients determines so much...

If you’re one of those people who still thinks “word of mouth” is the way to go when it comes to marketing, my guess is you have a very small firm that will remain a...

Sometimes, firms get lost in utilization and project profitability, and end up solving the wrong problem. People respond to what you track and report. The accounting really does matter. For example, we've helped companies dismantle...

If you are thinking about selling your firm, a front-end valuation is essential before heading to market. When we begin working with an M&A client on the selling side, one of the very first questions...

Most leaders are afraid of failure. If they set lofty goals the firm does not achieve they’re afraid they’ll look like failures. There’s something to be said for laying
out a truly ambitious – some might...

Louis Berger (Washington, DC), a professional services firm, is taking home third place in the Internal Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for the Louis Berger Employee Nexus – a global intranet...

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the first place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its refreshed brand. Clients complained that...

AC Martin (Los Angeles, CA), an 85-person architecture firm, is the fourth place winner in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new website. The AC Martin team wanted...

Thornton Tomasetti Group, Inc. (New York, NY) – an 850-person structural engineering, façade engineering, sustainability, and multidisciplinary forensics firm – is the third place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing...

Firm leaders would be wise to reflect on current happenings in industry and to prepare for what’s next. When you’re lucky enough to survive to a “certain age,” you suddenly become aware of “certain things.”...

Design firms may have a niche to fill in this area. After all, you can do it better than a dispassionate program manager. Architects and engineers have long complained about their relationships with program managers....

Costs add up, sometimes alarmingly, so be sure to discuss reimbursements. Everyone says they don’t want to nickel and dime their client and yet getting paid for doing work and providing service is the reality...

PM Perspectives: Project re-planning This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 990 Originally published 1/14/2013 Even with a solid plan, some projects will just require a new start. One of...

By Christine Brack Principal, Business Planning Consulting Many firms are glad to be leaving 2011 behind and are casting a warmer, more positive outlook to the New Year. Other firms claim they enjoyed moderate success...

Press Release: June 15, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 15, 2011) – Beginning with its June issue, Structural Engineering & Design magazine is being repositioned as Structural Engineer magazine. Along with the full redesign, the name...

Press Release: June 3, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 3, 2011) – When comparing 2011 with 2010, salaries for full-time practicing structural engineers have remained relatively stable. Last year, the median annual salary increased slightly from...

Stereotypes exist for a reason. Sometimes there’s a lot of truth in them. Good examples of this can be found in how bosses are portrayed in pop culture. The problem is if any of these...

I was in a board meeting recently with a quality, old-line engineering/architecture/consulting firm where one of the primary topics was business development. We spent several hours talking about it and how they are changing their...

I have already written in The Zweig Letter that I think times are going to get a little—perhaps even a lot— tougher for many A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. It doesn’t mean I’m not bullish...

Whether or not an A/E/P or environmental firm should have a formal, written dress code, and if so, what should it be, are a couple of age-old questions that firms have been wrestling with as...

Just about every firm in the A/E/P or environmental business today has identified its number one problem as “not having enough good people.” Solving this ongoing problem takes a lot of hard work and some...

I just got back from ZweigWhite’s 2007 A/E Marketing Now Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was our biggest and best-attended marketing conference ever! My task was to open the show with a short talk...

As the fall air turns crisp and cool here in Northwest Arkansas, many folks’ thoughts turn to football, leaf raking, and the upcoming holiday season. Owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, however,...

No doubt about it— A/E and environmental firms do waste money on useless research. Finding out, for example, how large the land development market is nationally, when you have a need to create work for...

Not many architects I’ve known, and even fewer engineers and scientists, appreciate the importance of company culture. How can I say this? Because they are still trying to manage their companies by creating rules and...

As most long-time readers of The Zweig Letter know, I can’t stand it when someone quotes the latest pop management book or article. The authors are always a little too smug in the universal applicability...

Now that A/E/P and environmental consulting firms have been doing business plans regularly for the past 10 or 15 years, it may be time to beef them up a bit. The old platitudes, goals, and...

Every year, after we announce the winners of The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List, we get contacted by other firms wondering why they are not on the list. It’s always one of two reasons: Either...

I’ve written before in The Zweig Letter about the need for passion. Anyone who is going to be truly successful in an A/E or environmental firm has to have it. You have to LOVE what...

Last week, I took my oldest daughter Christy (she’s a high school junior) and one of her friends on a day of college tours. We went to three schools and took the guided tour at...

While I can’t be bound by convention and from this point forward be forced into matching my weekly missive with the focus of other articles in The Zweig Letter, this week’s issue got me thinking...

It’s always distasteful to compare your employees to your children. I hear firm owners do it all of the time, and I see the non-owners cringing when they do! That said, I have noticed a...

Let’s face it, the motivation of any A/E or environmental firm’s leaders is, in many ways, more important than the motivation of the staff. Because if the leaders aren’t fired up, how can anyone else...

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...

Remember the story about the emperor who had no clothes? Everyone was afraid to tell him, though, so he paraded around in the buff and made a complete fool of himself. I see the same...

When it comes to staffing your A/E/P or environmental consulting firm, it’s one thing to have all of your seats filled. It’s another thing to have those seats filled with people who are motivated— motivated...

Is all business planning necessarily strategic planning? That was the topic of a lively discussion among some of our most successful management consulting folks a few weeks back— whether or not to lump all business...

Most of us will never get rich quick. We won’t have a single breakthrough discovery that makes us millions. We won’t win the lottery. We won’t have a rich aunt who leaves us her art...

You start your A/E/P or environmental firm with a great business plan. Your marketing strategy pays off and you get lots of projects. Your recruitment approach works and qualified employees are lined up at your...

While I have been and continue to be bullish on the A/E/P and environmental consulting business, I must say that we see some wacky things out there when it comes to how firms manage and...

“Training.” It sounds like a good thing, right? Everybody likes training. It’s supposed to make people better at their jobs, and that’s good for them. The business news media tells us that Generation X-ers will...

Every single firm we deal with at Zweig White & Associates, Inc. could benefit from working on their hiring process. Everyone in the A/E/P and environmental business agrees that it’s hard to hire. Well here...

I just got back from the annual business planning meeting with the board of directors of a client of ours that underwent a significant turnaround in the last couple of years. They went through everything...

Not much gets someone who works in an A/E/P or environmental firm more upset than unnecessary bureaucracy. I’m talking about stupid forms to fill out, channels to go through, or steps to take that don’t...

There is a lot of merger and acquisition activity today. It seems like just about everybody is looking to buy or merge with someone else. We’ve never seen a higher level of interest in acquisitions....

One of the great things about the A/E/P and environmental consulting business is that it always provides you with a challenge. Right now, many firms are feeling particularly stressed— with a higher than normal workload,...

This is the time of the year that the majority of firms in the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry decide who gets how much in the way of pay increases and/or bonuses— in other words,...

You would think that architects and engineers would pay better attention to the location of their own office space. For many firms, location analysis and site selection for office facilities is part of the work...

Some readers might think that a discussion of writing has no place in a management publication aimed at architects, engineers, and scientists. They couldn’t be further off the mark. Good writing skills are absolutely critical...

As Art Linkletter observed: “Kids say the darnedest things.” The other day, my daughter Christina, who is in the first grade, said to me, “Dad, why don’t you do a commercial where you tell everyone...

We’ve all heard it before from people we work with: “I’m going to...” or “We’re going to...” or “I would have, but....” or “Some day, we’ll...” These “do-nothing” people may work for you, with you...

This is the time of year many firms do their budgeting. Unfortunately, many of them make the budgeting process far more difficult than it has to be. Small firms may not know where to start...

Many of our readers are already reflecting back on a year that was not so great, financially speaking. But in 1993, some firms will find this cloud really does have a silver lining. Many firms...

Too many people are unhappy— unhappy with the way we’re running our country and unhappy with the way we’re running our firms. The presidential elections to be held on November 3rd and the issues facing...

The ability to think creatively is critical for anyone working in an architecture, consulting engineering, or environmental consulting firm— not just the design staff. The business side of the professions is just as demanding as...