Search results

By Rachel Gresham | When expectations align with reality, both recruitment and retention become substantially easier.

By Brian Diehl | Leadership transitions succeed when firms communicate clearly, transfer knowledge intentionally, and protect trust through periods of change.

By Ricardo Jesús Maga Rojas | Emerging professionals can lead from where they stand by taking ownership, asking better questions, and strengthening the teams around them.

By Denise Starrett-Boyer | Recruitment is becoming more efficient, but a human touch is more important than ever.

By Heather Applegate | Strong change management turns disruption into momentum by aligning leadership, reducing uncertainty, and helping people stay oriented through transition.

By Kraig Kern | An observation on modern communication, efficiency, and the messages that quietly disappear.

By Greg Sepeda | The best leaders resist false choices and build the capacity to operate within tension while maintaining clarity, discipline, and forward momentum.

By Jeremy Clarke | Most governance problems are not execution failures but clarity failures around who owns decisions and who is accountable.

By Rachel Gresham | Culture erodes when organizations ask people to behave one way while systems, incentives, and authority structures reward another.

By Matt Cooper | Most AEC firms stall at key growth stages where outdated people, processes, and technology can no longer support scale.

By Ricardo Jesús Maga Rojas | The middle is where emerging talent either grow into leaders or quietly disengage.

By Stuart McLendon | When economic data grows less reliable, long-term AEC planning becomes a far riskier bet.

By Mark Zweig | Better project management isn’t about new systems, it’s about disciplined leadership, clear decisions, and relentless execution of fundamentals.

By Jeremy Clarke | Micromanagement is hated, but accountability often wears that label when underperformance finally meets real leadership attention.

By Erik Stroemberg | Practical insights and recommendations for creating, communicating, and maintaining an effective AI policy.

By Ezequiel Tovar | An ownership transition plan must combine the right strategy on both the human and financial side.

One of my all-time favorite Zweig Letter articles was written by no less than Mark Zweig himself, titled, “Frank Wouldn’t Be Happy.”  The “Frank” in this case was Frank Lloyd Wright, and the article described...

By Liam Watson | These four virtues will help you survive and thrive in all parts of daily life, both personally and professionally.

By Lauren Martin | Imprecise, incorrect contract language may leave AEC firms uninsured for professional liability exposures.

By Kristin Kautz | Six skills to succeed for the next five years in an AI-driven world.

By Taylor Dolan & Nathan Greyard | How the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron deference will impact design firms.

By Victoria Verlezza | By implementing these strategies, you can lead virtual meetings that are more inclusive, engaging, and conducive to collaboration among participants.

By Hanbury | One firm’s rebranding reflects its growth, commitment to thoughtful design, and emphasis on storytelling through a collaborative and evolving identity.

By Jennifer Haddad | When leaders combine a strong company culture with workplace flexibility and employee empathy, they can create an environment where hybrid work can thrive.

By Lauren Martin | Avoid confusion with your client (and with potential fact finders) by defining your role on the project from the very outset.

By Matt Hoying | Open up and embrace full company transparency, not just financial, to enhance your firm’s culture.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of DOWL, LLC, a firm that offers a wide range of engineering services to public and private clients, from the Arctic Ocean to the Rio Grande.

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.

Unless you put yourself out there as perfect, courts will typically hold you to the standard of reasonable care if you make a mistake.

If you’re a firm owner or design professional, don’t leave contractors guessing. Using plain language, make your intent clear to avoid disputes, change orders, and claims.

For a firm to find the transformative, positive change it’s looking for, leadership needs to be intentional and steadfast in its commitments. Management – planning, budgeting, staffing, organizing, controlling, and problem solving – helps you...

The Spearin Doctrine: Public owners do not shed all design risk by contracting for design-build if there are specified criteria upon which the design-builder is to rely. On government projects you may sometimes hear a...

CEO of The Thrasher Group (Hot Firm #77 for 2016), a 350-person architecture, engineering, and survey consulting firm based in Bridgeport, West Virginia. “By definition, a good project manager is someone who delivers. Period,” says...

Under threat, firms solve problems when leaders commit to the right roles and the right people to inform, inquire, and act. You’ve all been there. A room full of eight, 18, or even 80 anxious...

Senior employees are outperformed by their subordinates all the time. Use metrics to reward the doers and identify the dead weight. The subject of compensation is a challenging and emotionally-charged issue. It affects all of...

President and CEO of Hargrove Engineers + Constructors, a Mobile, Alabama-based company with 1,200-teammates in 11 states. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent For Hargrove, success starts with company culture. In fact, he says, culture to a...

Break free from immediate metrics and returns, because with marketing, the ROI could take months or even years to realize. Growing up in the ‘80s, the recent passing of George Michael brought a lot of...

For the next generation of leaders to be successful, they’ll need a mindset sculpted by strategy, new ideas, and a willingness to embrace the unknown. I routinely hear AEC firm leaders express frustration about finding...

If improperly worded, they not only can shift significant risks, but do so in ways that leave design professionals exposed to potentially large claims. A critical component of effective risk management for design firms involves...

By William Quatman | We all know negotiating enforceable contracts is part of the game, but in case you forgot a few things, here’s a refresher.

Collaboration between centralized and decentralized resources is the ultimate secret weapon effecting success in any organization. To centralize or not to centralize. Is that the question? For years, leadership groups and marketing professionals across the...

It’s easy to spout acronyms, tell inside jokes, and use empty jargon, but oftentimes, people are just pretending to know what you mean. Have you ever been in one of those meetings where a topic...

And since they are, follow these eight tips to improve their effectiveness. What is a job posting? C’mon, think about it. It’s simply an advertisement. Aren’t you advertising an opening that you want to fill?...

Although it doesn’t happen to everyone who becomes a principal in an architecture, engineering, or planning firm, it happens to many of us. What I am speaking of is the dilemma one faces when you...

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...

No matter what the self-appointed experts are telling you, right now is a great time to buy a firm or to be acquired by or merge with another firm. But, like most things, it’s not...