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By Milly Sordo | Neurodiversity awareness can help AEC firms build more inclusive workplaces where all minds are empowered to succeed.

By Duncan Robertson | Self-awareness helps emerging AEC leaders overcome imposter syndrome and lead with greater purpose, confidence, and intention.

By Shirley Che | Improving employee experience may be the AEC industry’s most important group project.

By Mark Zweig | Work/life balance sounds appealing, but real careers and real lives are built through integration.

By Melanie Carrido | Three decades in AEC show that while technology reshapes our work, strong communication and partnership still determine success.

By Morgan Stinson | AEC firms win when purpose, not profit, drives client experience.

By Sara Parkman | Rising Stars reveal what today’s young AEC leaders truly value in their firms.

By Milly Sordo | Goal meetings are a way to set individualized goals with your employees steeped in energy, intention, and – most importantly – support.

By Zachary Strickland | Successful program managers anticipate risks, guide tough conversations, and create confidence amid complexity.

By Mark Zweig | Never give up, act decisively, share the numbers, and lead by example to build a stronger, more resilient firm.

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 Mark Zweig | AEC firms thrive when marketing, HR, finance, and IT stop acting as support functions and start driving strategic growth.

By Mercedez Thompson | Performance reviews become powerful when they shift from box-checking to growth, clarity, and genuine investment in people’s long-term success.

By Shannon Christiansen | As your firms grows, so does your capacity to give back, strengthening both your communities and your culture.

By Mark Zweig | Don’t take a cavalier attitude toward potential disaster, but recognize that experimentation is essential for building a growing, successful company.

By Michael Makris | Several of improv’s most fundamental rules are very much related to leadership and professional growth.

By Ying Liu | These three common leadership personas quietly sabotage strategy execution.

By Shirley Che | From fees to client care, lessons learned from a season of conferences highlight growth, adaptability, and connection.

By Alan Lloyd | In a fast-paced AEC world, servant leadership empowers teams, boosts outcomes, and shapes a culture people want to join.

By Megan Valencia | Every employee plays a crucial role in recognizing and attracting top talent, shaping company culture, and ensuring long-term business success.

By Chris Catton | Recruiting is tough, but AEC firms that master the basics gain a serious competitive advantage.

By Mark Zweig | Stop procrastinating on this issue and start searching in earnest for some outside directors to help you be more successful.

Zweig Group is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Rising Stars in the AEC Industry Award, recognizing 25 emerging leaders who are making an early and lasting impact on the built environment. 

By Hugh Smith | Community outreach and engagement are foundational to the success of any project.

By Mailena Urso | The path toward success is shaped by your courage, curiosity, and resilience.

By Ying Liu | Employee experience plays a crucial role in maximizing strategic outcomes.

By Guy Geier | These conversations challenge conventional thinking, inspire innovation, and foster collaboration.

By Dan Houf | Building strong, long-term client relationships is essential, but navigating transitions requires trust, adaptability, and exceptional service.

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 Mailena Urso | Zweig Group experts will present on mergers and acquisitions, AI, compensation, and recruiting and retention at key AEC industry conferences this fall.

"You really need to work on building your network and working your network because you never know what kind of doors are going to be open for you." - Josh Fowler About the Show Josh...

By Travis White | You must attach the right structure, systems, and incentives in order to shift employee mindset.

By Kristin Kautz | In the rapidly evolving universe of AI, firms willing to “go big” will be at the forefront of transformation – with all of the risk and reward that implies.

By Kraig Kern | The line between persuasive marketing and over-promising can be particularly fine and fraught with potential hazards.

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

By Greg Sepeda | If you can clear out the unnecessary underbrush, you will benefit from a staff that finally can breathe, see new paths, and move your firm forward.

By Rachel Wilde | By engaging working mothers in the workplace effectively, we can help retain top talent in our industry and create a better tomorrow for our daughters.

By Mark Zweig | Work should be an integral part of life, so why do so many people working in AEC firms clearly not feel that way?

By Dawson Fercho & Jordan Wilson | Year-end Congress faces challenges in repealing R&D amortization rule, with political divisions, tax revenue impact, and party dynamics at play.

By Jane Lawler Smith | Elevate your marketing services by asking yourself what your firm’s request for marketing services would include and how your team would respond.

Meet the architect who is at the forefront of designing sustainable and self-sufficient buildings in a changing climate. But when faced with the challenge of designing an arena for the Los Angeles Clippers, will he...

By Liisa Andreassen | President and partner at Hoefer Welker (Kansas City, MO), an interdisciplinary architecture, planning, and interior design firm.

By Matt Verderamo | Defining your mission, vision, and values is key for uniting, motivating, and differentiating your firm.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Sunrise Engineering (Fillmore, UT), a full-service professional engineering and consulting firm that has been providing its services since 1978.

By Lauren Martin | Productive dialogues between you and your claims adjuster can add insights, reduce stress, and facilitate better outcomes.

By Gregory Teague | Engaging with your community enriches company culture, employee development, and offers an inside advantage to local projects.

By Dan Houf | This harmful change in tax policy is going to impact the AEC industry, and may even put many small firms out of business.

By Liisa Andreassen | Design principal and founder of Ross Barney Architects (Chicago, IL), an architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture studio.

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 Mark Zweig | People who exhibit these qualities are likely to be well-thought of by their people and, more importantly, are able to achieve goals that others deemed impossible.

By Mark Hodges | Don’t be a victim of continuation bias; it’s time to completely change your IT strategy in the face of the ongoing cyber threat.

By Shirley Che | Participants of Zweig Group’s ElevateHER® movement are putting in the work to move the needle on the recruitment and retention crisis our industry faces.

By Mercedez Thompson | Many of the biggest obstacles AEC marketing teams face are ultimately the same – regardless of firm size.

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 Amber Hardwick, Christina Millan & Melissa Teichman | The construction industry still has a ways to go when it comes to hiring women, but the trend is moving in the right direction.

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 | These three things are important to your firm’s success, but they may require a reallocation of your time and money.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | ElevateHER provides a platform for AEC professionals to effect the change they want to see in our industry.

By Amber Milot | Creating a recruiting culture and focusing on retention are business savvy strategies to help your organization continue to thrive in today’s job market.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Cushing Terrell, a multidisciplinary firm that empowers creative designers to discover imaginative, responsible first-of-their-kind environments.

By Dan Piselli | While the symbolic act of signing a voluntary environmental commitment is important, action toward honoring it is more meaningful.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of JMC², a civil and structural engineering firm that offers solutions for land development and building projects of various scopes and sizes.

By Derek Clyburn | AEC firms and the industry as a whole should be communicating the value we provide at every level of interaction and throughout the design process.

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at VMDO, an architectural planning and design firm that creates community-centered environments that connect people and place through design.

By Shirley Che | As leaders, we must be the ones in “the room” recognizing and advocating for the rising stars we work with.

By Tangram Interiors | CEO of Tangram Interiors (Santa Fe Springs, CO), encourages leaders to be intentional about striking the right balance between remote and physical workspaces.

By Ann M. Rolland | Even a slight shift toward more responsible materials is impactful and can effect change to the manufacturing industries and the products that designers specify.

By Kenneth Fulmer | AEC firm leaders must actively support and empower female employees so their visibility does not vanish in the remote workplace.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing partner of Svigals + Partners (New Haven, CT), an architecture and art firm that helps communities thrive by creating environments that build upon who they are.

Fayetteville, Arkansas (November 1, 2021) - Zweig Group’s ElevateHER™ program has opened applications for the class of 2022, a group that will work on initiatives to combat recruitment and retention issues while ensuring equal opportunities...

By Mark Zweig | Seven good reasons to look at implementing a market sector-based organization structure in your firm.

By Gustavo Rodriguez | A collaborative design process where a diversity of voices are present and have ownership allows room for new ideas and points of view to emerge.

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 Christina Zweig Niehues | This year’s cohort has picked up where last year’s group left off – taking on creative ideas to solve both historic and emerging challenges.

By Mark Zweig | Only a small number of people really get the idea that building a business is not a sprint – it’s an endurance race. It is all about who can last the...

By Jane Lawler Smith | When interviewing your co-workers, peers, and clients, take a walk and harness the power of storytelling together.

By Michael Syracuse | There are many ways to connect to others and contribute to a person’s professional and personal growth.

By Corey Fenwick & Andrew Chakmakjian | Networking is a key part of any business – no matter the industry – because it can lead to a new job, experience, or business for your firm.

By Jenny Phan & Kyle Copelin | Developing a communication program with the right messaging principles is the proactive approach to ensure a successful transfer of brand equity.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing director of Holst Architecture (Portland, OR), a women-owned architecture firm that is devoted to turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

By Jane Lawler Smith | Channel your inner toddler and question everything about your marketing plan to uncover what still does or doesn’t work for you, your firm, and your goals.

By Laura Rescorla | We must work intentionally to remove barriers and provide opportunities in our industry for people of all backgrounds.

By Julie Benezet | Mentors do not fight for candidates’ advancement opportunities. That is the job of champions.

By Mark Zweig | There are many ways to show courage, and Jerry Allen showed real courage in his willingness to confront every single obstacle in his life.

By Kim Fowler | If you chip away at your organization goals one task at a time, you will begin to see the benefits.

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

Fayetteville, Arkansas (November 18, 2020) –Zweig Group’s ElevateHER™ program has opened applications for the class of 2021, a group that will work on initiatives to combat recruitment and retention issues while ensuring equal opportunities for...

The texture of varying beliefs, values, and backgrounds inform how we see the world, and are at the very core of our ability to serve our clients and community.

By Mark Zweig | There are 10 things practically every firm in this business should do but won’t. If you try these things, your firm will be more successful.

COO at Baird, Hampton and Brown, Inc. (Fort Worth, TX), a firm that is passionate about improving the landscape of its community with the utmost quality and integrity.

By Mark Zweig | What your firm becomes should be the result of a plan, of deliberate efforts. You can and should “design” your design firm.

President and CEO Ulteig (Fargo, ND), an employee-owned engineering consulting firm with locations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, Montana, and Iowa.

It’s our responsibility as AEC professionals, as well as citizens, to champion solutions to problems that affect our global and local communities.

Create a three-year vision thinking about what you need to achieve personally and professionally to be happy with your progress, and then work to reach your mountain.

CEO of Sambatek (Minneapolis, MN), a professional services firm with an authentic culture that promotes openness, transparency, and trust.

Through solid communication, planning, and leadership support from both organizations, a smooth transition is under way.

Women must stop apologizing, speak up, and stand tall if they want to be successful leaders.

President and CEO of DBR (Houston, TX), a 150-person Texas firm that values communication and superior service above all.

STV (New York, NY), a national leader in design, planning, and construction management, signed a definitive agreement with The Pritzker Organization (Chicago, IL) to recapitalize the ownership of STV and position the company for future...

These days the recruiting game is tough. The good news is that your best talent scouts might already work in your firm.

There’s a push for architects and engineers to consider the safety of construction and maintenance workers when designing new structures.

Your peoples’ top priority is development. If you want to keep them, you need to identify the ideal learning and development strategy for you and your firm.

President of Reaveley Engineers, a national structural engineering firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Years ago, I worked for an A/E firm in Memphis by the name of Pickering, Wooten, Smith and Weiss. My boss was Don Smith and my mentor was Irving Weiss. Both of them taught me...

Surveying technology has been around for thousands of years. What’s new today will be old tomorrow, but the basics will remain the same.

President of JCJ Architecture, a local, national, and global architecture, planning, and interior design firm based in Hartford, Connecticut.

President and CEO of Eclipse Engineering (Best Firm Structural #12 for 2018), a Montana firm that likes to have a little “phun.”

Portland office leader for PCS Structural Solutions believes in the legacy of engineering as a community builder.

President and CEO of CALYX Engineers + Consultants (Hot Firm #26 for 2018), a 224-person firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent As president and CEO of CALYX, recently acquired by NV5,...

Once you get to be 60, your perspective changes. If you look ahead, you know that you have, on average, another 12 years left to live (longer if you are a woman). And that’s an...

If you want your closing to go smoothly – before, during, and after the deal – make sure you take these six critical steps. There is a lot of acquisition activity in the AEC industry...

As great as business is right now for most AEC firms, believe it or not, there are still some out there struggling. Struggling to grow, struggling to make a profit, struggling to be successful. If...

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...

Sustainable design is becoming a must, but you need to drill down to the roots of every project to get the most out of the process. First, full disclosure, I have never been a “climate...

When your marketing people are not empowered to make big decisions, their great concepts often get parked in committees, where they die. Marketing is where the creativity is, right? Not always. Too many marketing departments...

As designers, it’s time to redefine the world and make it better, and that starts with preserving our resources. As I read the various architecture, interior design, and engineering journals, I see many people, firms,...

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...

If you want to drive traffic to your website and your brand, it helps – a lot – to be an expert in your given field. It’s true. The origin of your web traffic is...

New earthquake building codes and rating system, crumbling U.S. infrastructure combine to create enticing market in resiliency. By Richard Massey Managing Editor With a new business segment opening up in the world of seismic assessments...

AIA’s new push for materials transparency might help the planet, but it could also put design firms up against the wall should cases go to court. On April 8, 2016, the American Institute of Architects...

Annual resolutions are short-term planning at best. Now that another new year is in full throttle mode, are you checking off your list of resolutions, or are you envisioning your firm’s future? Annual resolutions are...

A/E owners should consider whether their ‘average’ income is contributing to a culture of mediocrity. It’s interesting to me to see how the owners of A/E firms seem to fit into one of two categories:...

(The following is an excerpt from the book Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms, by Ernest Burden) Client service. Client-focused. Client-driven. Client-centered. Every A/E/P and environmental consulting firm includes these words in...

Think of leadership not as a single person but as a team of individuals, each with his or her own strength and talent. For years I’ve watched firms struggle with leadership transition, particularly firms started...

Five thoughts from Mark Zweig about titles and how they are often dished out without much consideration. Title proliferation in the A/E/P business is alive and well. While intentions may be good – to keep...

By Ed Friedrichs I admit, I’m of a generation that grew up and spent the early part of my career without a computer, to say nothing of the Internet, e-mail or Facebook. Every time I...

By Mark C. Zweig I thought it might be fun to reflect back on my 30-plus years of working in this business and assemble a list of fundamental laws none of us can get around....

There’s a popular book out right now in the education field entitled The Global Achievement Gap written by a fellow named Tony Wagner, the co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard University. I picked...

After 20 years of writing The Zweig Letter and its no-named, type-written predecessor, I feel like I know our readers. Most of you are architects, engineers, planners, and scientists. You (rightfully) consider yourselves professionals. Theoretically,...

The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List for 2008 is chock-full of success stories. Many are incredibly inspirational and serve as great examples of planning, execution, and character. Some Hot Firms have even been on the...

After doing business plans for more than 20 years, the truth has finally sunk into me: You cannot please everyone with one strategic plan. In other words, the strategic plan for internal purposes is probably...

There’s a lot of interest in training in A/E/P and environmental firms. But, there’s also nearly as much money and time wasted on training in these same firms. I’ve been both a provider and participant...

Years ago in The Zweig Letter, I wrote an article entitled, “Go local” as a rebuttal to all of the pundits who were advocating A/E firms “go global.” It just made sense to me that...

As usual, this year’s Zweig Letter Hot Firm Conference & Celebration in Boston drew a great crowd. We had the typical smiling, optimistic, high-growth A/E and environmental firm principals and managers in abundance and it...

Fred White, Claire Keerl, and I just got back from the 21st annual Inc 500 Conference at the Westin Rancho Mirage Resort in beautiful Palm Springs, California, held March 27th-29th. It has been a few...

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...

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...

Do you know how many times a day I think this? I can’t count that high! Some of what we see and hear in our work with A/E/P and environmental consulting firms is truly amazing....

Here’s a collection of practical advice I think anyone in the A/E/P or environmental consulting business can use in response to questions that seem come up over and over again: Where can I find someone...

At our new “Managing a Growing Firm” seminar series, which kicked off last week in Boston, a hard-driving CEO from a local area firm took exception to one of our recommendations on how to improve...

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...

Every owner in an A/E/P or environmental firm knows you can make all the paper profits you want, but unless you turn those profits into bank deposits, you have nothing. I’ve written so much about...

Call me any names you want. It won’t be the first time. But it doesn’t matter. I’m tough. I can take it. I have the power of my own convictions and conscience to get me...

I have long advocated the use of questionnaires as a marketing technique for A/E and environmental firms when they want to establish themselves as experts serving a particular client group. There really is something to...

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 profits...

There are lots of different success formulas for A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. It’s always interesting to me when one of our consultants discovers that a company we are working with is successful in spite...

I gave a talk last week at a meeting one of our clients had for all their market sector leaders. This is a successful company that we do quite a bit of work for, and...

Until the 69,000 firms who make up the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry wake up and start doing something different marketing-wise, we’re destined to remain a fragmented group of small firms owned by people who...

The long anticipated, talked about, and dreaded shortage of qualified people is here. Ask principals in most firms, and they will tell you that it’s very difficult right now to find staff— particularly engineers, geologists,...

Management junkies— There is a whole cadre of “management junkies” out there working in A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. These are smart people. But as a friend-of-a-friend of mine, Tony Pirrone (an octogenarian Cadillac salesman)...

There has been a lot of talk in our industry the last few years about the need for more firms to adopt a client-driven organization structure. Firms of all types and sizes are trying to...

What holds us back as individuals and companies? That question is critical to any A/E/P and environmental firm that wants to be more successful— and being successful is what it’s all about. There’s a tremendous...

Management people are usually critical of technical people for their lack of business knowledge. But having a business degree is no assurance you know any more than the average design or environmental consultant about how...

Although I’ve been trying to preach the gospel for years now, most principals of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms still do not understand what human resources management is all about. First, there’s the way so...