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By Mark Zweig | Many AEC firms claim high quality, but without consistent action those promises quickly become hollow words.

By Matt Verderamo | Finding a mentor can provide direction, accelerate career growth, and offer valuable insights, but it requires commitment and openness.

By Miles Gullingsrud | When leaders take the time to invest in the development ambition of staff, they can create a system that supports people’s personal and professional sustainability.

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

By Christina Zweig Niehues | The rapidly changing economic conditions we’re experiencing are putting salary pressure on AEC firms.

By Justin Smith | Calling the ideal plays will only work for you if your team understands the role that they each play in executing.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Martin/Martin (Denver, CO), a full-service civil and structural engineering and surveying firm founded in the 1940s.

By Liisa Andreassen | Chief people officer at HEAPY (Dayton, OH), a nationally recognized leader in sustainable and resilient engineering design.

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at Brenner Design (Indianapolis, IN), an award-winning, woman owned architectural firm that designs and constructs innovative buildings and interior spaces.

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 Liisa Andreassen | CEO and co-owner of Pape-Dawson Engineers (San Antonio, TX), the largest civil engineering firm headquartered and exclusively located in Texas.

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.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of PRIME AE Group (Baltimore, MD), a firm that creates vibrant communities by connecting people and conserving culture and the environment.

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 | Partner at //3877, a boutique design firm that’s committed to providing innovative and creative designs that enhance and enrich the lives of its clients, partners, and communities.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of HLB Lighting Design, Inc. (New York, NY), an internationally recognized design firm focused on architectural lighting for both interior and exterior environments.

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 Patrick Schultz | Achieve resilient, sustainable operations while navigating an unprecedented global pandemic and addressing complex disruptions.

By Julie Benezet | Time limits tighten focus, propel you over challenging hurdles, and maximize your chances of success.

By Mitchell Shope | Leveraging reinforcement theory will connect the action to the reward and bolster your firm’s morale and cultural identity.

By Mark Zweig | Answer these questions and many more, or you will, at best, be a decent copy of a firm or firms that do as well or better than you already do.

President and CEO of Primera (Chicago, IL), a mid-size, full-service, woman-owned engineering design and consulting firm.

Managing principal at Inventure Design (Houston, TX), a firm that transforms the client experience in design and architecture by creating smart, human-centered spaces.

To get the most return on your marketing investment dollars, leaders need to help build dynamic, collaborative relationships between principals and marketing teams.

Co-founder and executive vice president of Patel, Greene and Assoc. (Temple Terrace, FL), a firm with a mission to elevate their families, communities, and profession.

By Mark Zweig | If we care about the success of our people and our businesses, we cannot keep ignoring the importance of people skills.

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.

By Mark Zweig | Getting on the phone right now may be the single most important thing you can do to bring in new work.

Co-founder and managing partner of Shear Structural (Chamblee, GA), a 100 percent women-owned and women-managed structural engineering firm.

By Mark Zweig | “If there’s a silver lining in this crisis it is that we may each have a chance to reevaluate our priorities and improve the quality of our lives from here on.”

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.

Principal at GH2 Architects (Tulsa, OK), an international architecture and design firm founded in 1973 that’s flexible, engaging, and fun.

President and founder of C.A.P. Government, Inc. (Coral Gables, FL), a privately held, minority-owned consulting firm.

Good contracts can help, but timely and thorough reviews of shop drawings are, perhaps, the best defense.

They count, so gather your leadership team, find the set of behaviors they admire, and make them part of your mission and vision.

Use these five strategies to maximize client relationships without leaving your desk.

A culture of employee empowerment will define innovative, leading organizations in the years to come.

“Are you missing out on this valuable knowledge in these or any other areas that it is needed? If so, amend your evil ways and make better use of your marketing talent!”

A good attitude and honest effort are central to California engineer’s mission to build a meaningful career.

We all know it does, but it’s also hard to define, hard to achieve, and if we fail in our pursuit of it, the consequences can be severe. The word “quality” seems to be constantly...

CEO of Huckabee (Hot Firm #7 and Best Firm Architecture #3 for 2018), a 300-person architecture firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “For us, diversifying is a bad thing,” Huckabee says....

By Edward Friedrichs | The things we need to do to be great leaders are right in front of us, but we must also be deliberately consistent.

Editor’s note: Originally published 4/25/2005 Every A/E and environmental firm experiences those inevitable departures of key employees. After the notice is turned in and the hand-wringing, self-flagellation, and/or angry statements come out from management, the...

By Scott Johnston | Time is a luxury AEC teams do not have. And time spent on a losing effort drains resources, morale, and bandwidth on existing projects.

I'm concerned we have a quality issue at my company, but I don't know how to adress it. What's the best way to encourage people to do their best work? Mark Zweig, Founder & Chairman...

There’s nothing wrong with using visuals in your presentation, but you must remember that you’re the star, not the slide show. From PowerPoint and Keynote to Prezi and boards, visuals are an important element of...

It’s always a hot topic, and particularly so today, with all of the buying and selling going on in the AEC industry – integration of an acquired firm. Let’s look at three common questions and...

A Q&A might be just what the doctor ordered if you want to shed new light on your career and the choices you’ve made along the way. A start-up company I’m mentoring here in Reno...

When positioning your firm for a potential sale, you should be prepared to talk about all facets of the organization, not just the C-suite. As an M&A consultant, I come into contact with sellers of...

This month, readers seek advice on topics related to social media, benchmarking, and increasing prices. WHO SHOULD FIRMS COMPARE THEMSELVES TO WHEN BENCHMARKING? Dear Christy, “We’re about to start our strategic planning process and like...

  It seems like hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear from a reader with a question or two about organizational structure. I thought perhaps I should put together a list of some...

With this branch office special focus issue of The Zweig Letter, I thought I’d take the opportunity to answer some of the recurring questions I get on this topic. Tough questions and even tougher answers...

This is really getting to be the busy time of the year for the ZweigWhite consultants who help firms with business planning. And it’s good to see that many firms are refining their processes so...

We just ended our most successful Zweig Letter Hot Firm conference ever. It was successful from three points of view— attendance numbers, attendance quality, and speaker quality. I won’t bore you with the numbers but...

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...

This week, I thought I’d dedicate my column to answering some of the recurring questions we are asked about the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry. Here goes: Should salaried people be paid for overtime? I...

I get to see a lot of proposals and qualification documents from A/E/P and environmental consulting firms of all types and sizes. In most cases, there’s plenty of room for improvement. Consider the following: Length:...