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By Chad Coldiron | The AEC industry is facing uncertainty, but leaders remain optimistic, practical, and focused on adapting to what comes next.

By Ethan Greene | The benefits of modal diversity and alternative transportation.

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

By Mark Zweig | Entrepreneurial firm owners understand that marketing is an off-balance sheet long-term investment in the firm’s future.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing partner at Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners (New York, NY), an award-winning architecture, planning, and interiors firm.

By Liisa Andreassen | Design principal and CEO at Hanbury, a firm that is a global resource for its clients that specializes in higher education, civic, and commercial environments.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Waggoner (Jackson, MS), a civil engineering firm of planners, designers, and engineers with a passion for helping communities realize their potential.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and chairman of the board at McFarland Johnson, a national consultancy providing program management, planning, environmental, engineering, and construction phase services.

By Liisa Andreassen | Co-president and CEO of DB Sterlin Consultants, Inc., a 100 percent minority-owned firm comprised of professional engineers, architects, planners, and surveyors.

By Mark Zweig | We’ve all heard about the attributes of highly effective people, but what about the habits of highly ineffective people?

By Katie Batill-Bigler | Set a tone firmwide to recognize the valuable work that’s done by people in every role at your firm – not just your technical staff.

By Jim Toby | Taking the time to get it right the first time will lead to faster approvals, better plans, and overall project quality.

By Liisa Andreassen | Owner and managing principal of Arrive Architecture Group (Bedford, TX), a firm that specializes in multi-housing residences for individuals, families, and seniors.

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 Kevin Token | Anyone who touches other people’s lives, whether personally, professionally, or in their communities, can choose to make a positive impact.

By Chad Clinehens | Let’s take all the support we’ve been unable to show over the past year and fire up businesses impacted by COVID.

By Mark Zweig | Things are real messy right now, but we can all get safely to our destinations if we keep our cool.

By Mark Zweig | Many owners fail to understand how much value they can create in their companies if they make the right decisions.

The next time you have a critical project or important concept to communicate, forget the jargon and consider telling a story.

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.

Using both sides of his brain, and with empathy, can-do man is engineering a great career in Seattle.

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...

CEO of BIG RED DOG Engineering & Consulting (Hot Firm #65 for 2017), a 105-person multi-discipline engineering firm based in Austin, Texas. By Richard Massey Managing Editor “It’s been true since day one and remains...

If we want to make this world a better place to live, it’s up to us, and not elected officials, to make it happen. Leadership is the single characteristic of behavior that determines a person’s...

Open book management is a big card to play, but it puts everyone on your team at the table, and that’s where you want them to be. One of the trendier ideas in management consulting...

If we want to make this world a better place to live, it’s up to us, and not elected officials, to make it happen. Leadership is the single characteristic of behavior that determines a person’s...

Book about elevating sustainability as a national strategic imperative is an impressive guide on how the US can shape a prosperous future. My daughter was at a sustainability conference in Santa Clara, California recently. She...

Due to the absence of a comprehensive, federal Good Samaritan law, A/E professionals are hesitant to lend a helping hand after an emergency. We have all heard someone in a perilous condition say, “Don’t just...

What do architects and engineers do? What is our “industry” called? Is it AE, A/E, AEC, or A/E/C? Is it even an “industry?” Why are these questions important?

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....

Jon F. Lindberg has been at the same firm for 36 years, so it’s safe to say he has a roof over his head and a room with a view. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent He...

At $746 million, the EPA’s lowball price tag for cleaning up the Portland Harbor Superfund site is ‘wishful thinking,’ according to one important critic. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Environmental Protection Agency recently released...

Plant closures and small modular reactors are expected to define the nuclear landscape for the foreseeable future – and provide opportunities for enterprising engineers. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Though the future of U.S. nuclear...

Think your small firm should stay small? Think again. Here’s why you should strive for growth in your firm. Without a doubt, there are some entrepreneurial firms in the A/E/P and environmental consulting business today....

Without a doubt, there are some entrepreneurial firms in the A/E/P and environmental consulting business today. That said—and I’ve written it before in these pages—just because you are privately-held and a small business does NOT...

Mark Zweig offers remembrance on passing of dear friend and firm leader Joe Lalli. We lost a great leader, design professional, and friend with the passing Joseph J. “Joe” Lalli, FASLA, in Fort Lauderdale on...

Business planning does not have to be difficult. Every single firm needs a plan, whether you are a five-person architectural firm started two years ago, or a 3,000-employee, 35-year-old engineering and environmental consulting company. But...

As the new year gets ready to start, most companies in the A/E/P and environmental consulting business are gearing up to hire. Sure— most of the needs are for experienced staffers— but, since there are...

We went to see my Mom and Dad in Kirkwood, Missouri, last weekend, for my Mom’s 85th birthday. While I was there, we had a lively discussion with my 85-year-old father, my 55- and 52-year-old...

Architects, engineers, and planners are always talking about what they will do to keep their clients happy. In marketing meetings, repeat business statistics of 80% or better are bandied about with pride, and chests are...

Here’s something I have observed in many different A/E and environmental firms around the country— certain employees who act as if they don’t understand how critical it is for them to be responsive. This one...

Schweitzer, Rosenblatt, Tunick, and McBlarsky had just ended one heck of a run. The 250-person E/A firm had grown from 40 people to 250 over the past five years. And while it was undeniably exciting,...

Raymond Stodge, managing principal of “Stodge Engineers and Architects,” was depressed. How would he get the firm’s executive committee to start taking action on the issues that had plagued the firm for years? And now...

Just ask anyone in this business— it’s damn difficult to hire good people today. And the situation doesn’t appear to be easing up. As long as this building boom continues, the competition for talent is...

Most A/E/P and environmental consulting firm insiders would agree that we, as a group of companies, do not manage very well. I say that because if we did, we would not be an industry made...