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By Matt Cooper | The gap between struggling and high-performing AEC firms often comes down to seven operational levers leaders can control.

By Mark Zweig | Future AEC leaders are built when firms stop guarding the numbers and start teaching people how business works.

By Jared Maxwell | Digital engineering stamps can create serious professional, financial, and reputational risk when firms fail to control access and coverage.

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

The leading source of business management insights, research, and strategies tailored specifically for leaders of AEC firms.

By Mark Zweig | The fastest way to suffocate a productive AEC firm isn’t bad projects or markets, it’s too many pointless meetings.

By Mark Zweig | Firms that ignore AI will look slower, more expensive, and harder to work with.

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

By Stephen Parker & Mei-Ling Krabbe | The most successful organizations will treat adaptability, personalization, and inclusivity as organizing principles for workplace design.

The leading source of business management insights, research, and strategies tailored specifically for leaders of AEC firms.

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

By Kyle Ahern | A closer look reveals hiring and retention pressures demanding smarter, people-focused strategies.

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

By Brian Shannon | Healthy rivalries fuel collaboration and innovation, ultimately benefiting communities and strengthening the AEC industry.

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

By Mark Zweig | Most AEC firms play it safe with bland marketing, but bold, consistent outreach is what actually drives results.

By Mark Zweig | Practical career advice for new AEC graduates on landing a great job and accelerating early career success.

By Brad Wilson | This event is a catalyst for honest conversation, shared wisdom, and renewed focus on ownership, governance, and the future of the industry.

By Mark Zweig | If you want more “word of mouth” advertising, assess how your firm measures up against these six critical factors.

By Sam Liao | Like electronic scientific calculators, personal computers, and CAD systems – generative AI is just another new tool in our toolbox.

By Mark Zweig | These misleading statements often stem from naivety and perpetuate harmful conventional wisdom.

By Mark Zweig | If you want the best people, you have to sell – the company, the role, and the location – and move fast when you get a good one!

By Mark Zweig | Success in AEC hinges on guiding clients toward actions that align with their best interests.

By Matt Verderamo | By controlling three key moments in every sales meeting, you can launch yourself from amateur to professional and close more work.

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

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

By Jeremy Clarke | Spot these devastating hires before they sabotage your team.

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 Sara Parkman | The success of any firm relies heavily on finding the right candidates, but this process can be complex and costly.

By Sara Parkman | The success of any firm relies heavily on finding the right candidates, but this process can be complex and costly.

By Lauren Martin | If you find yourself facing a lawsuit alleging malpractice, here’s what you need to look for when considering an expert witness.

By Matt Verderamo | Talk to your employees about manipulation, get clear on your mission, and invest in marketing to transform your business from low-bid to negotiated work.

By Mark Zweig | The majority of AEC companies are doing well, but that could be in spite of how they are being managed.

By Raoul Rañoa | There are various techniques and tools you can use distill complex data into digestible and actionable insights.

By Mark Zweig | There are some things AEC professionals must learn about business in order to be successful.

By Matt Hoying | When mistakes happen, it can be difficult to look for the silver lining, but doing so and making the most of it will help your business now and in the future.

By Reid Poling | As much as school can and does teach you, there are some lessons that can only be  learned “on the job.”

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 Scott McNally | If you swing for the fence, remember the fans, watch for curveballs, and rally your team, your firm will be successful.

By Keyan Zandy | The disruptions we’re facing today are forcing us to get creative and evolve the ways we think and work. New opportunities are in reach if we stretch for them together.

By Mark Hodges | If you’re not taking a proactive approach to your firm’s cybersecurity, this could be the year you decide to go out of business without realizing it.

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

By Mark Zweig | A few of the reasons a great, successful firm can falter and experience a fall from grace.

By Will Swearingen | When considering a transition, it’s important that you stay flexible and don’t wait until the end to plan your exit.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Mancini Duffy, a national design firm based in NYC with a 100-year-old history and tech-forward approach specializing in architecture, planning, and interior design.

By Mark Zweig | Marketing for AEC firms has come a long way in the last few decades, but we still have a number of problems that could be easily solved.

By Amanda Hartman, Hannah Rico & Jules Ackerson | Huge organizational milestones can be reached when you step away from your day-to-day operations to evaluate your firm’s past and plan for the future.

By Mark Zweig | If you are seeing your cashflow slowing down and your average collection period rising, you may want to take a look at why that is happening.

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

By Mark Zweig | These five points will get you thinking differently about how you interact with potential clients in the future.

By Mark Zweig | There are many variables to consider when planning for an ownership transition in an AEC firm.

By Dave Martin | To be an effective leader, you have to be authentic, acknowledge what you don’t know, and be willing to make mistakes.

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 Sara Parkman | President of Shive-Hattery (Cedar Rapids, IA), a multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering firm that recognizes the power of design in transforming the human experience.

By Mark Zweig | How can we each achieve the lofty and satisfying position of knowing we have made a difference through our work in this business?

By Mark Zweig | Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are still doing what you want to do every day. Maybe now is the time to get really serious about your transition.

By Mark Zweig | These are some of the common elements that are often present in the most successful leadership transitions.

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

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.

CEO of Wendel (Williamsville, NY), an innovative AEC and energy efficiency firm that collaborates with clients for a holistic project approach.

By Mark Zweig | If we truly want to elevate our people and help them achieve all they can achieve, we must help them be better communicators.

“The new reality of living with the coronavirus is just getting started.”

“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.

Considering a design project in the fledgling cannabis industry? Make sure your professional liability coverage won’t go up in smoke.

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

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

In 20 years as an in-house graphic designer, the lessons learned are simple: Serve the customer, protect the brand, meet the deadlines, and communicate with the client.

When your best junior associate ‘unexpectedly’ leaves, the decision was probably in the works for a long time, you just never saw it coming.

“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!”

When the veteran transportation engineer changed lanes from the public sector to a private firm, he used his blinker and stepped on the gas.

Founder and CEO of Wright Engineers (Best Firm #1 Structural for 2018), a Vegas-headquartered firm where perfection is the goal but excellence is tolerated.

“When it comes to branding for an AEC firm, I wouldn’t look to other AEC firms. Frankly, we make a lot of branding mistakes in this business.”

AEC firms struggle with it, but if a firm is to thrive in the good times and the bad, a quantifiable plan of attack is essential. Marketing, business development, and sales aren’t usually the top...

“After devoting my entire career – since getting out of grad school at the ripe old age of 22 – to the AEC industry, I have had plenty of time to reflect on where we’ve...

Getting there is one thing, but staying there is another. Figure it out and your firm will have the world in the palm of its hand. Being “top of mind” with your clients and potential...

COO of Aguirre & Fields, LP (Best Firm Multi-discipline #27 for 2018), a 120-person engineering firm based in Houston. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “If you haven’t started planning for ownership transition, you’re behind and you...

President and CEO of Chen Moore & Associates (Best Firm Multidiscipline #26 and Hot Firm #88 for 2018), a 70-person firm based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Even more important than a...

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....

President and CEO of Larson Design Group (Best Firm #5 Geotechnical and Best Firm # 29 Multi-discipline for 2017), a 300-person firm based in Williamsport, PA. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “One person alone can’t make...

President and CEO of Tectonic Engineering & Surveying Consultants P.C. (Hot Firm #89 for 2018), a 500-person multifaceted engineering firm based in Mountainville, NY. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Years ago we tried the sales force...

CEO of SidePlate (Best Firm Structural #4 for 2018), a civil engineering firm based in Mission Viejo, California. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There is no question that organic growth is the way to go,” Gallart...

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...

President and founder of Brudis & Associates, Inc. (Hot Firm #36 and Best Firm Multi-discipline # 51 for 2016), a 90-person firm based in Baltimore. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “While I like to say we’re...

CEO of Ware Malcomb (Hot Firm # 21 for 2017), a 440-person international design firm based in Irvine, California. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Succession planning has been an important part of our culture for more...

President and CEO of SEPI Engineering & Construction, Inc. (Hot Firm #74 for 2017), a 350-person firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “People need to feel like their work life is...

Marketing text has to be what the project owner needs to see. If you can standardize to accommodate an array of proposal types, great. If not, develop new recipes. Standardizing marketing text seems like a...

President of Long Engineering, Inc. (Hot Firm # 24 for 2017), a 90-person land surveying and civil engineering firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Begin to identify internally if you have potential...

Co-founder and president of BHC Rhodes (Hot Firm # 15 for 2017), a 130-person civil engineering firm based in Overland Park, Kansas. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Profit centers go against the dynamic of a team...

Things have gotten better in the last 10 years – probably due to the popularity of texting and emailing – but architects and engineers still have a big problem with bad writing. An old friend...

Managing principal and president of HED, Inc. (Hot Firm #34 for 2017), a 350-person design firm with offices in Illinois, Michigan, and California. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Small changes often lead to significant results,” says...

In dealing with my workers on a quality problem in my other business – Mark Zweig, Inc., a design/build/contracting/development company – I had an epiphany: Everything we do is either excellent OR it’s something else....

All of us in the A/E/P business are consultants. Sure, we are either engineers or architects or planners or surveyors or designers – but we are also consultants. I have been studying consulting firms and...

“Quality” is an elusive thing. It’s like a moving target. One person’s definition of high quality could be completely different from another’s. For firms providing architecture, engineering, planning, or related services, it is really all...

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 want to make 2018 a great year of growth and prosperity? Pay attention to, and act upon, a four-point plan to get the best out of your firm. To prepare for a successful...

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 something to be said for looking and acting the part if you want to be recognized as a professional. I think sometimes people in our business forget that. Here are some examples: Vehicles. If...

Can project owners be the judge of disputes? Of course they can, especially if the contract clause allows for judicial review. We’ve heard children ask parents to explain their decisions, only to get this response:...

President of CMTA (Hot Firm #2 for 2017), a 250-person consulting engineering firm, and a leader in net-zero energy, based in Louisville, Kentucky. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “I think it’s important not to micro-manage people,”...

President of Wakefield Beasley & Associates (Hot Firm #14 for 2016), a 165-person architectural design firm based in Alpharetta, Georgia. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We are a fast-paced, high-performance company, and underperformers are detrimental to...

When you think about it, management of the design process for a complex construction project is all about accomplishing things through others. Many different people have to come together to get something done by a...

Every so often I have a number of disconnected thoughts for our readers, none of which merits all of my allotted space, but each of which could prove valuable. This is one of those weeks....

You might think a Facebook post about a stolen office stapler is cute, or that an Instagram photo of donuts in the breakroom is quaint. Think again. In my last article, we covered some tips...

Learning from external sources can be highly beneficial, but you must also master the art of blocking out the noise and staying the course. I have to admit it: I often feel like a fraud...

Keeping a good team together requires lots of maintenance, great perks and benefits, and the willingness to toss out the bad apples. I get asked the same question all the time – how do I...

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...

Your firm’s reputation can be made, or broken, on the internet. Maintain a clean online image if you want to attract and keep top talent. I’m constantly fielding questions from clients and potential clients about...

President of LJA Engineering (Hot Firm #2 for 2016), the largest employee-owned civil engineering firm in Houston (600-plus employees). By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Ladner has more than 35 years’ experience in civil engineering serving both...

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?

Are you a “can do” person or a “can’t do” person? I’m sure that virtually all of you readers of The Zweig Letter – 95 percent of which work in privately-held A/E or environmental consulting...

By Mark Zweig | Those who are called “principal” should be cognizant of several important aspects of their roles. Here are a few of them.

Sure – it’s hard to hire good people. There are lots of reasons for it. One of them is that we aren’t keying into the talent pool all around us. People in our network. People...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about the role of HR in the Recruitment process ( "The...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about dealing with the unexpected departure of an employee. ( "When...

It’s time for a quick review of what firm leaders should – and should not – be doing. There are a lot of people with the “principal” title in A/E of environmental firms. But I...

Ireland-raised David Spillane likes both the past and the future, kayaking in the sea, and doing whatever it takes to keep his firm nimble. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Like many of his colleagues, David Spillane,...

I love human resources people. Believe it or not, I was one of them once. I even authored the only hardcover book published on the topic for the A/E industry, Human Resources Management: The Complete...

A good communication plan is vital when things don’t go your way, so put a little thought into who’s going to do the talking when people start asking questions. Not a day goes by that...

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...

A professional firm should have professional collateral, but all too often, bad photos, poor design, and sloppy writing dilute the brand. Of course you’re not an amateur. You are a professional. You work for a...

New Recruitment and Retention Survey sheds light on key issues in finding, hiring, and keeping the best talent in the design industry. One thing I enjoy about working here at Zweig Group is that we...

Troublemakers within a firm can do a lot of damage, especially if they are tolerated. Every firm has these people to some degree. The naysayers, the skeptics, and the gossips. These people are holding back...

You may have long-term “relationships” because of your company’s reputation with people you don’t even know. I've always been a long-term relationship kind of guy. I still have friends that I went to grade school...

You may have an “open door” policy as a CEO or manager, but you could still be seeing your firm through rose-tinted glasses. If you want to grow, are having a hard time recruiting or...

Rapid hiring during the recovery has changed the complexion of many firms The rapid recovery in the A/E industry has led to unprecedented growth for many firms. Most firms have rebounded, surpassing their pre-recession revenue...

M&A really isn’t all about the valuation and the payout terms. For sellers, there is usually a strong emotional attachment to the company that they’ve devoted years, resources, and their career to growing. A concern...

Though it has been around for a while, email isn’t going anywhere anytime soon; make sure you’re using it effectively. Email is not going away for those of us in the A/E business – even...

Conference confirms that when people like their jobs, the firm is usually more profitable; here are some things to consider. On September 3 and 4, I had the pleasure of being at our annual Hot...

Take an honest look at your client relationship and ask yourself if it’s still mutually beneficial; if it’s not, it is time to do the hard thing. In addition to working at Zweig Group, I...

Though harder to apply and evaluate, assessments of interpersonal skills can promote team performance and increase morale. I have had a number of discussions lately about how to measure performance. The people I’ve spoken with,...

Embracing marketing to set you apart from everyone else can change your business – and your life – for the better. Good marketing has the power to change your firm – and your life. If...

Flaws in current system can be overcome through strategic adjustments. Being a project manager in the typical A/E/P or environmental firm is rarely easy. Think about it: In most firms in this business, it is...

Asking five questions can help competent men and women prioritize their endless workloads. When you look at those people working in A/E firms who seem to get a lot done, you find one of their...

Distinguishing between marketing and sales offers a true perspective of investment. We have a problem in this industry. Many of us have a simple-minded perspective of “marketing.” For many firms, the marketing department is a...

Build a better, more sustainable company with these suggestions from Mark Zweig. 2015 is shaping up to be a FANTASTIC year for firms in this business. It’s really fun to see how many firms are...

Using industry benchmarks can help invest with confidence. Have asked yourself how many marketing staff members your firm should really have? Firm leaders often ask us this because they are constantly hearing how they should...

Mark Zweig reflects on the passing of a friend and employee, and offers six tips about forming a winning team. A week ago Sunday, one of my best friends, and also the lead carpenter for...

Mark Zweig praises the winners of the 2014 Hot Firm List and Best Firms To Work For ranking. With the winners of both ZweigWhite’s Best Firms To Work For and Hot Firm competitions announced (both...

Coach your staff on the small things that make all the difference and follow these four tips from Mark Zweig. So much of one’s success in the architecture, engineering, planning or environmental business has nothing...

It doesn’t look good right now, but in a changing world, architects will always be needed. There’s a lot of discussion about the future of architecture. It’s happening in the media, it’s occurring in the...

Give recruiting the attention it deserves. Create a recruiting budget and follow these three tips from Mark Zweig. I have always wondered why recruiting is not a more prominent function in the majority of A/E/P...

Eight suggestions from Mark Zweig to motivate staff, from office decor to proposal-making. I can’t stand it when my seven-year-old tells us how bored she is. Drives me absolutely insane! But I’m afraid that boredom...

It’s your employees; Mark Zweig offers five solutions to help deal with them better. I got a call from an old friend of mine from Boston the other day. He wanted to tell me how...

Mark Zweig offers three simple tips: specialize, coach and choose your team well. I went to what some of us refer to as “Hillbilly Paradise” for a couple days with my family last week –...

Technical professionals are affected by failure too. Mark Zweig offers four examples. Many people think engineers and architects don’t really care about whether or not the company they work for is profitable. “They just want...

Mark Zweig lists seven concerns, so it’s time to act. With the construction economy roaring back, it’s interesting to me to see some A/E and environmental firms cashing in on it and others that still...

Mark Zweig provides six directions on where the market is heading. Here’s a quick summary of where I see things going right now in the A/E business and the world at large: The housing recovery...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 998 Originally published 3/11/2013 Three lessons the design industry can learn from a successful auto dealership. I feel fortunate to be a consultant...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 990 Originally published 1/14/2013 (Doing the same thing but expecting a different result.) I just got asked why I came back to ZweigWhite...

By Mark C. Zweig CEO, ZweigWhite The tough times haven’t gotten any better. If you look at the American Institute of Architects’ billing index, it goes up a little and then falls back again. Money...

Press Release: July 26, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 26, 2011) – For many leaders in architecture, engineering, planning and environmental firms, a finance chief’s job goes beyond managing finances. When editors of The Zweig Letter...

Press Release: July 18, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 18, 2011) – The A/E industry has seen some of the most challenging times ever on record for the post-WWII generation. One A/E revenue bright spot continues...

By Tracey Jeffers Principal, Valuation Consulting ZweigWhite I recently worked on a valuation engagement for a project management firm involving minority shareholder value in a litigation. Besides the relevant financial data, one of the first...

Press Release: June 22, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 22, 2011) – The other side of the world really isn’t that far away anymore. As work dried up in the U.S. during the recession, many firms...

Press Release: May 11, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, AR (May 11, 2011) — Design firms have been among the most affected by the recent recession, but new data shows that the carnage may soon be over. While...

By Mark C. Zweig So many people today in this business are just getting tired of the grind. The last three years haven’t been fun— with more competition, reduced profitability, delayed or cancelled projects, stalled...

It’s commonly said that a design or environmental firm is only as good as its staff. That’s why I always felt recruiting was so critical and one of the MOST important functions of any firm...

If you aren’t worried about your banking relationship right now, you are deluding yourself. Besides the fact that we have already had firms in our business— large firms— put out of business by their banks,...

Sometimes I think people in our business forget that the culture of the organization guides the behavior of its members. Sure— you can always have a bad apple who exhibits some crazy or bad behavior....

Everyone thinks they know why clients hire their A/E/P or environmental firm. Sometimes you DO know— but sometimes people make bad assumptions. Those bad assumptions will HURT your future selling efforts because you will be...

In these hard times we live in, many companies in our business are not performing like they once did. No question about it— there’s been plenty of suffering to go around. Fewer projects, lower profits,...

It’s pretty well accepted by most firm owners that if you want to be successful in the A/E/P or environmental business, you MUST keep the good clients you have. No one’s marketing is so good...

This week’s focus is all about the new industry buzz term, “IPD.” For those who don’t know, IPD stands for “integrated project delivery.” You might wonder what that means (as I did the first time...

Working visibility is all about the public— and hopefully that includes some potential clients— seeing your firm at work and more importantly, recognizing it’s YOUR firm! To the extent they see you “doing” they will...

As a board member for an international engineering firm I have recently been participating in a series of interviews and meetings related to their brand. What their brand is, how to make it real, and...

Any business— be that A/E/P or otherwise— survives and prospers to the extent it meets the needs of its clients. That is so incredibly fundamental it borders on the obvious— yet firms falter (and occasionally...

Frank Fickleheimer had to do something different. His firm, Fickleheimer Enginee-ring, did not have the operating capital it needed. Fifteen good years of solid growth and profits had left them with a lot of mouths...

NOW, not later, is the time to take a hard look at your strategic plan for improved performance. The new year is just around the corner. The environment is volatile. It’s hard to see what’s...

As someone who has worked, studied, and written about this business for 28 years now, I thought today is as good as any day to share some of what I’ve learned. Here it goes: What...

I had a lengthy e-mail exchange the other day with someone who was the top financial person in what would have to be considered a good-sized (over 200-person) A/E and environmental firm in response to...

I just saw a blurb in our ZweigWhite’s 2008 Marketing Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms that stated A/E and environmental firm’s number-one marketing strategy is “relationship building.” While most people in...

One of the many things I have learned over the years about architects and engineers is that they are can-do, independent people. As such, they like to do everything that they can do themselves. Yet,...

Brenda Potwater was quite proud of herself. She was going to be a principal in Hitesh, Springwald, and Fruttison, the oldest old-line planning and design firm in the San Francisco Bay area. She was already...

Although I have been generally getting calmer with age, I’ve found myself getting mad lately— mad at design professionals who will NOT do what they should do to build a reputation for themselves and the...

What you stand for is a little more subjective but not hard to figure out, either. Look at the heritage and culture of the firm. New ventures should be consistent with that. And again, go...

When I passed the baton to Dick Ryan as our CEO three years ago, it allowed me to move on and do some other things I have always wanted to do. One of those activities...

The design and construction industries have enjoyed an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity. We have had a few hiccups along the way, but for the most part, the last 15 years or so have...

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...

Over the years, in the pages of The Zweig Letter, we’ve spent a lot of time trying to help companies grow. But the fact is many of those running and operating A/E/P and environmental firms...

My six month-old daughter Olive has already said her first word. It is “clock.” She says it practically every time we show her the black reproduction “Kit-Cat” clock on the wall in her bedroom. For...

For years, we told principals of architecture, engineering, and planning firms that they should have a mission defining what their firms were all about. The question of “why are you in business?” is fundamental, we...

If you examine any business— a restaurant, a car dealership, or an A/E/P/environmental firm— they all seem to benefit from active leadership. Likewise, they all tend to suffer from a lack of it. I would...

It’s no wonder that contractors are getting more and more control over the building process. Contractor-led design-build’s popularity compared to designer-led design-build is just one example. There are many reasons for the decline of the...

Like it or not, the world is rapidly becoming one. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. And the implications for architects, engineers, planners, and allied professions are significant. What it means, quite simply,...

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...

There’s something about the entire design and construction industry when it comes to doing projects— we just don’t spend enough time on communication. I think there are a number of reasons for this persistent state....

I’ve said it before. The standards— what we expect— from people who are supposed to sell the work to keep our staffs busy in our A/E and environmental firms— are woefully low. Forty calls a...

Those who knew me way back when could tell you that, in my younger days, I was more rigid in my beliefs, more certain of my direction, and generally a lot less flexible than I...

A recent article in Fast Company magazine focused on Despair, Inc., the makers of calendars and posters that poke fun at those motivational posters from companies like Successories and others. The fact that Despair, Inc....

A lot of design and environmental firm principals have been around a long time— they’re an average of 48 years old. That means that they have probably been doing this work for 20-25 years or...

I’m getting ready to start teaching a course at The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville this spring semester. It will be a class on entrepreneurship— more specifically,...

It just doesn’t matter what type of business one talks about. Whether you are a housepainter, you sell window blinds, or you are in the architecture, engineering, or environmental consulting business— ALL of your clients,...

My theory is that no firm is completely happy with how it handles project management. There are always problems. And one of the common complaints heard is, “We don’t have enough good project managers.” While...

“Take this job and shove it” was a phrase popularized by country singer Johnny Paycheck back in the 1970s. The song told a story about a hard-working factory man whose wife left him, so he...

Human resources people are big on job descriptions. I was never that fond of them because it seems that they can always be used against you somehow. Here are some examples: “I meet the requirements...

The fact of the matter is that design and environmental firms are not easy organizations to lead. Their cultures are fragmented. The people who work in them are all too smart, their egos too big,...

As anyone who’s read any business books in the last decade can tell you, Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” is a classic that will be talked about for years to come. In the book, Collins...

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...

I was at a management seminar recently where I am convinced that fully 15 or 20% of the attendees were there only because their firms told them to go. And my guess is that a...

It is so valuable… being THE place to work. What I mean by THE place is the firm that everyone wants to work at. It is the cool place, the desirable place to be, the...

Here’s one thing we can all agree on. No one likes a whiner. Complainers suck you down. They are depressing. And when they work in our firms in key roles, they are like a cancer....

More A/E/P and environmental firms than ever are seeing their businesses slow down and profits eroding away. We find the situation is rarely, if ever, hopeless. Any firm can stop this slide IF they want...

It’s popular to say that everyone in the firm needs to be able to sell the firm’s services. Heck, I’ve even said it myself at times. The problem is that not everyone can sell. It’s...

Right now may be the best time ever to go out and buy another firm. People are depressed, their sense of optimism is considerably dimmer, and many A/E/P and environmental firms are performing accordingly. That...

You know what? Turnover is not always so bad. Sometimes people just don’t keep up with the firm. There are all kinds of reasons for it. Maybe they got tired. Maybe they got turned off....

As you get your A/E/P or environmental firm ready for 2003, you may be patting yourselves on the back. The fact is that while overall, 2002 was not as good as 2001, a lot of...

What a difference one year makes, huh? Things have gone from an employee-driven job market to an employer-driven one. Nevertheless, if you get out there and talk with the folks in the trenches, you may...

The older I get the more convinced I am that being a successful leader in a design firm is every bit as much an art as it is a science. You just can’t teach someone...

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 am sitting here this morning, in our Natick office, staring at my computer. I need to write a talk for our upcoming Zweig Letter Hot Firm 2002 Conference and Celebration in Boston. I am...

Cultural alignment, i.e., getting everyone in the firm— especially those at the top—on the same page, is something everyone in our business can tell you is critical. Without it, decisions don’t get made, opportunities come...

I’m seeing a lot of firms following a program of short-term profit-maximization right now. It’s easy to understand. Industry profits are down as the results from our 2002 Financial Performance Survey of A/E/P & Environmental...

Karen Smartstuff was really excited about the chance to work at TFA (Those Fantastic Architects). It was her second job out of school, and she was thrilled to land there. Especially after her first full-time...

In some previous articles we’ve talked about principals who are too involved and wreak havoc on budgets and schedules due to their last minute involvement on projects. But there’s another problem, and it may be...

Leroy Whiteside, president and CEO of Those Fabulous Architects, Inc., a 200-person firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, is a great guy. He is, in many ways, the archetypal design firm principal. He works 60...

When I worked inside an A/E firm as a human resources director, I would occasionally have someone in my office telling me that they wanted to be an associate. And I have to tell you,...

Designers, by all rights, should be fantastic managers. They understand how important motivation is to creativity. They are tuned in to context and are good at seeking input from others. They know how sensitive people...

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,...

Curt Robinson closed his middle desk drawer with a resounding thud. “This is the last time I’ll be sitting here,” he thought to himself as he threw last year’s calendar into the cardboard box of...

There’s an interesting article elsewhere in this issue of The Zweig Letter about the workplace of the future. It sounds like a fantastic design that the architects, engineers, planners, and designers have cooked up to...

Now lie in it. I’ve been a believer in the adage that you make your own luck. But that’s not just good luck, it’s bad luck, too. Make bad decisions, do the wrong thing, and...

“What goes around comes around.” “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” “You reap what you sow.” “To get love, you need to give love.” These adages (and many more) all reinforce the thinking...

Like the dinosaurs, some A/E/P and environmental firms are destined for extinction. These companies seem to be blindly stumbling down a path of self-destruction. But in this hot economy, their owners may be too content...

Set to music from The Beverly Hillbillies: Let me tell a little story about a man named Jed, a poor engineer, barely kept his family fed. And then one day when designing to buy food,...

I hate to say it. I thought the past was behind us. But the fact is some architects are repeating history right now. They’re getting ready for another fall. They’re making the same mistakes they...

Let’s all hope it never happens. But as anyone with a few gray hairs can tell you, another recession can, and probably will, occur. So what are you going to do about it? Here are...

Having a hard time keeping your staff? Are your new graduates working a year or two and then moving on? Are your mid-level folks, just below principal, moving on before you move them up? If...

At one of my “Managing a Growing Firm” seminars a few weeks ago, I had an attendee tell me how another attendee was handling his ownership transition program. When I asked him who was offering...

At the car wash this past weekend I saw a 1969 Barracuda with a 440-cubic engine. It was hot pink (a factory color) with what Chrysler used to refer to as a “six-pack” (that’s three,...

The longer I am involved with this industry the more aware I am of how critical the collective and individual morale of a firm’s employees is to its continued ability to function successfully. Let’s face...

Talk to some architects and engineers and their real feelings will come out: They believe there’s something bad, something sick, something wrong, something immoral about business. Their attitude is that design or technical work is...

I’ve received several calls asking me if I had seen a recent article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal (November 21, 1996) on performance appraisals. Evidently, it is causing quite an uproar in the...

From all we see and hear through our “catbird seat” at ZW&A, it seems to me that many of the professionals out there in our industry have forgotten what their role is in the building...

We’ve all either experienced it in our own firm or heard about one of our competitors going through it— what I’m referring to is a complete turnaround. Consider the case of one of our clients....

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)...

Everybody who’s anybody in the A/E/P and environmental business will tell you that teamwork is critical to the success of their firms. But aside from the occasional hiring of a smooth-talking organizational psychologist to give...

Practically any firm that makes money in the A/E/P or environmental business does so by getting a superhuman effort out of its staff. You just can’t do it with everyone working only 40 hours a...

What’s the best way to motivate staff people? When faced with that question, most firm principals think about what to give them. The experts tell us to pay spot bonuses for an effort that goes...

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...

From time to time, architects and other design professionals all come under fire from the business types for not being sufficiently “business-minded.” And, the standard line of defense from those under attack is “I didn’t...

Conventional wisdom (CW) isn’t always so “wise.” Let’s take a look at some of the wisdom frequently heard in the halls and conference rooms of A/E and environmental consulting firms: The company will be profitable...

We were talking in our office the other day about the “Big 6” accounting firms and their problems. One of our newest staffers just joined us from a Big 6 firm, and, believe me— those...

In seven years at XYZ Engineers, Bill Jones had become one of the firm’s most dependable project managers. Bill’s jobs always made money, and his clients loved him. Unfortunately, XYZ had gone through three bad...

With more than 40,000 architecture, engineering and environmental consulting firms in the U.S., most of which have less than 20 people, no one is going to tell me that design professionals aren’t entrepreneurial. If they...

No small company— particularly an architecture, consulting engineering, or environmental consulting firm— can afford to ignore cash flow. Consider that a firm billing $5 million a year in fees can raise $137,000 in operating capital...

The ability of an A/E or environmental consulting firm to quickly hire qualified people for any opening affects virtually every aspect of its management. I call it “supply-side human resources management.” If you think about...

We’re convinced that 1993 is going to be a good year for the A/E and environmental consulting industry. No matter how bad the last few years have been, every single firm has the potential to...

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...

When Sharon T., a successful entrepreneur and owner of three European auto dealerships finally found the location of Land Design Associates Three’s (LDA3) office building one sweltering Tuesday afternoon and pulled her Volvo into the...