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By Scott Butcher | Most AEC strategic plans fail not from bad ideas, but from misalignment, weak accountability, ignored culture, and lack of execution discipline.

By Tiara Marcus | Great project delivery goes beyond efficiency, blending precision, clarity, and empathy to build trust and lasting client partnerships.

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 Todd Hay | Adapting to smaller AEC markets requires leveraging networks, building staff-client trust, and scaling operations for sustained success.

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

By Westwood | Lessons learned and outcomes from the initial exploration through the process, and advice for firms looking to pursue an acquisition.

By Mercedez Thompson | A client extension should be utilized to review, refine, and enhance the existing proposal, rather than expanding or revamping it.

By Keyan Zandy | Embrace significance over success, treat everyone with respect, and challenge conventional thinking for a more inclusive and compelling leadership approach.

By Ying Liu | Insight into the unique challenges and opportunities often faced by CSOs in the AEC industry.

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

By John Shaw | Communication and relationships are the greatest driving forces in success or failure during a change journey.

By Ross Stuart | What does the future of remote work look like in the AEC industry and how do managers adapt?

By Will Swearingen | If there are people with dominating or otherwise off-set personalities on your leadership team, it could be time for a change.

By Kollan Spradlin | A broader view of client objectives allows us to add value and, in some cases, recategorize isolated projects into stepping stones that line the path to the client’s ultimate goal.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of GRAEF (Milwaukee, WI), an international multi-discipline engineering, planning, and design firm that was founded in 1961.

By John Bray | There is no perfect buyer or seller in the marketplace, but how do you attract the best possible partner?

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Hafer (Evansville, IN), a firm that has created environments that impact people’s lives with fun, thoughtful. and inspirational design since 1978.

By Mark Zweig | If you’re not doing a good job with these, you’re losing an opportunity to further your culture and to provide meaningful motivation to your employees.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Lord Aeck Sargent (Atlanta, GA), an architecture and design firm with a history of creating environments people want to use and preserve.

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 Liisa Andreassen | President of Prein&Newhof (Grand Rapids, MI), a 100 percent employee-owned firm that is dedicated to thinking ahead, building lasting relationships, and crafting long-term solutions.

By Liisa Andreassen | They are the founder and principal of McKinney York Architects (Austin, TX), a certified HUB and WBE that creates beautiful, responsible architecture in a culture of collaboration.

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

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

By Chad Clinehens | Break out of the spreadsheet mentality and build an ownership team that drives value and performance long-term.

Understanding others will help you build the connections that will lead to success – in your professional and personal life.

Managing a client’s expectations is a delicate art that requires planning, restraint, and diligence.

A constant focus on your firm’s brand is essential. If you let it slide, you’ll send mixed, confusing messages.

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

President and CEO of Barton & Loguidice, a full-service consulting firm headquartered in Syracuse, New York.

Effecting a real-life leadership transition takes years of planning, and the ability to dismiss entrenched perceptions and past assumptions.

President of Bernardon (Hot Firm #39 for 2018), an 80-person architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture firm based in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

If you want to empower your millennial team members, you have to offer them choice, provide purpose, and safeguard the organizational trust. Millennials are part of the “prove it” generation, and their trust is made...

Even with the long lead times, the proposal process can be stressful. Marketers have to own the process and enforce the schedule. Some people describe the proposal process as a marathon while others consider it...

CEO of Apex Companies, LLC (Hot Firm #41 for 2017), a 700-person environmental engineering firm based in Rockville, Maryland. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There is nothing that drives value creation for an organization more than...

So you got the position you wanted, but that’s just the first step. You have to (help) create something bigger than yourself. Last month I wrote about my good fortune of meeting Art Gensler and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Leader of Kansas-based civil engineering firm learned a lot during the recession, and has found a nice niche inspecting levies and dams. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent It’s about the client experience, not just the project....

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,...

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...

We’re each leaving a trail behind us – our reputations and our effect on the world – as industry leaders, we should focus on making those as pleasant as possible. If you have a leadership...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (September 9, 2015) – Zweig Group successfully completed a strategic search for GPO Group (Barcelona, Spain), leading to a partnership with Sam Schwartz Consulting, LLC. “Sam Schwartz Consulting is excited to enter into...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 989 Originally published 1/7/2013 Employ these three tactics in your selection process and you’re likely to begin seeing significant improvements in talent acquisition...

Press Release: February 16, 2011 Economists are pointing to a halting recovery in the nonresidential construction sector, holding back on their earlier predictions of a recovery this year. The Zweig Letter, ZweigWhite’s weekly management journal,...

When things get ugly in a firm— as they tend to do when the firm’s financial status takes a downturn— you’ll often see fights break out. Some principals form factions with other principals or principal...

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...

Most of us could benefit at times from a new perspective. This is especially true when you start considering the subject of business planning in A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. But a new perspective is...

I recently agreed to serve as an outside member on the board of directors (BOD) for one of our client companies. This is not the first (nor probably the last) time I have done this....

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,...

Though it happens on occasion, rarely do I work with the top management of a design or environmental firm who will come right out and say, “We don’t want to grow.” Most at least pay...

As I write this, I have just returned from The Zweig Letter Hot Firm 2001 Conference and Celebration in San Francisco. Some things never change. The airports and planes seemed just as crowded as ever,...

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,...

You want to know something that drives me crazy— right up the wall? It’s all of the darn committees that A/E/P and environmental firms keep creating for one reason after another. Most of the time...

If you consider the truly successful people you know who own and manage A/E/P or environmental firms, I think you’ll find that they think differently from everybody else. They are irreverent. They defy logic. They...

Too many people are unhappy— unhappy with the way we’re running our country and unhappy with the way we’re running our firms. The presidential elections to be held on November 3rd and the issues facing...