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By Sarah Kinard | Economic shifts, regulatory change, technology, and evolving client expectations rarely arrive as disruption – they appear first as signals.

By Chad Coldiron | In today’s AEC market, retention isn’t just about culture – it’s about whether employees can afford to stay. 

By Chris Catton | Recruiting is the AEC industry’s biggest challenge, yet most firms still operate without a real recruiting plan.

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

By Chad Coldiron | Like a perfect double play, high-performing AEC firms rely on preparation, trust, and flawless handoffs long before pressure arrives.

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

By Daryl Simons Jr. | If your retention strategy relies on appreciation events instead of competitive pay, you are already losing talent.

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

By Srividhya Viswanathan | By prioritizing leadership, trust, and accountability, organizations can build teams that not only achieve their goals but thrive together.

By Ying Liu | How to recognize the right moment for strategic growth planning and why timing matters more than most leaders think.

By Daryl Simons Jr. | Technology can enhance recruiting efficiency, but human connection, trust, and judgment will always define successful hiring.

By Kyle Ahern | A closer look at the structures, risks, and rewards shaping leadership in today’s AEC industry.

By Mark Zweig | There are nine reasons why selling your firm to the right buyer can strengthen opportunities, stability, and growth for your people.

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

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

By Caitlin Austin | Investing in AI-driven learning is not just a step forward – it’s a leap toward building a smarter, more adaptive industry.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of TPD, Inc. (Pottstown, PA), a consulting engineering firm specializing in transportation engineering and related environmental and construction services.

By Ezequiel Tovar | Ownership transition is all about trust, so develop leaders early and communicate clearly to ensure lasting success.

By Stefanie Richter | High-performing AEC teams thrive on chemistry, clarity, and control – enabled by integrated systems that eliminate costly friction.

By Marcía Alvarado | From the court to the C-suite, female athletes bring discipline, drive, and dynamic leadership to the AEC industry.

By Kathy Nanowski | A strong employee experience leads to a stronger client experience, ensuring sustainable success and differentiation in the market.

By Mark Zweig | Don’t turn yours into a joke by getting the wrong help and taking the wrong direction with revising your strategic plan.

By Katherine Wilczek & Ceclia Martin-Smith | While it can be helpful to use generational trends to inform your management practices, it is most important to get to know your employees as individuals. 

By Ying Liu | Five essential practices you can use to actively engage board members and forge invaluable business partners.

By David Doxtad & Andy Brandel | As your firm grows, this person ensures you will maintain your core competencies, values, and environment with your newly added team members.

By Stuart McLendon | The professional labor gap is an opportunity to rethink, reshape, and revitalize how we work.

By Morgan Stinson | Failure at some level is inevitable – but how we respond to and manage that failure is what can set us apart.

By Victoria Verlezza | Supportive leaders who prioritize communication and psychological safety can foster a positive work environment where employees feel valued and motivated.

"The dynamic shift since post-COVID has started an all-out war on talent. Smaller firms like ours... we're getting marginalized trying to acquire that talent and to hold on to it." Scott Erricson About the Show...

By Samantha Boeck | This type of culture drives people to compete at their best, challenges everyone on the team, and pushes boundaries to elevate the entire game.

By Luke Carothers | Zweig Group experts share their insights on the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small, entrepreneurial AEC firms.

By Ying Liu | The hidden signs your firm’s plan is neither strategic nor growth-driven.

By Kyle Ahern | Prioritizing EX is a strategic imperative for firms looking to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape.

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at MCE (Minneapolis, MN), one of the largest mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firms in the United States.

By Ezequiel Tovar | Neglecting succession planning jeopardizes the future of your company’s internal transition.

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

By Kevin Brown | To become an employer of choice in AEC, you must prioritize getting the fundamentals right before investing in advanced employee programs.

By Leisbel Lam | We need to be holistic, bold, and nimble in order to transform our organizations to better align with a service culture and gain a competitive advantage.

By Stewart Haney | This tool helps businesses become more focused, disciplined, and accountable, which ultimately leads to improved performance and profitability.

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

By Savina Gonzalez | Our workforce has changed in the years since the pandemic, and companies need to evolve to be successful in what is now an employee’s market.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Schaefer (Cincinnati, OH), a firm that provides all aspects of structural engineering across a broad range of projects and industries.

By Liisa Andreassen | Executive principal and chief strategy officer at AG&E (Dallas, TX), a full service firm that provides sustainable structural engineering design for all types of projects.

By Janki DePalma | Recognizing this bias helps managers and company leaders create spaces where everyone can thrive. 

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at JQ (Dallas, TX), a team of professionals providing structural and civil engineering, geospatial, and facility performance services within a diverse group of markets.

By Keyan Zandy | It’s critical to take the time to develop your trust-building skills. You, your teams, and the projects you are all working on together will only benefit.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of CHA Consulting (Albany, NY), an innovative, full-service engineering consulting and construction management firm.

By Sara Parkman | Human resources director at CORE Consultants, Inc., a professional services firm that empowers its people to thrive at home, at work, and in their community.

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at Derck & Edson (Lititz, PA), a planning and design firm that shapes the natural and built environment in innovative and functional ways.

By Justin Smith | Successful PMs use their skills to leverage tools, motivate actions, and accomplish objectives, which is the essence of leadership.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing partner of SCHRADERGROUP (Philadelphia, PA), a full-service firm that creates enhanced environments for the people who use them.

By Liisa Andreassen | Project director at OBMI (Miami, FL), a leading global master planning, architecture, and design firm that has been creating timeless spaces for 85 years.

By Mark Zweig | Four things you can do to build the kind of workplace over time that good people want to stay in.

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 Andy Chavez | Some of the best practices that the most experienced buyers in our industry employ to get deals across the finish line.

By Linda Schulte | When your team views you as a leader and not just a manager, they will work much harder and be willing to go the extra mile when necessary.

In this episode, Michael Hein – CEO of the HFW Companies — discusses his firm's model of merging companies while maintaining culture and how HFW has provided small firms opportunities to grow.

By Alexis Eades | You can work to improve retention by promoting a positive culture, giving employees autonomy and empowerment, and actively showing appreciation.

By Pete Hinojosa | Professional employer organizations provide a comprehensive range of HR solutions and technology to help businesses gain a competitive advantage.

By Angelique Silvestre | Companies can still create strong team bonds by using technology to implement team building activities that foster company values, trust, and friendship among co-workers.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Campos Engineering (Dallas, TX), an MEP engineering, testing, adjusting and balancing, and commissioning firm.

By Rick Cloutier & Kart Vaith | By formalizing a few key integration strategies, you could effectively leverage the synergy of each new acquisition leading to sales, operations, and delivery benefits.

By Jennifer Waters | Employees of firms are in many ways stakeholders of an organization’s success, and they can reap the dividends in a variety of ways.

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 Liisa Andreassen | President of Dewberry (Fairfax, VA), a nationwide planning, design, and construction firm with more than 50 locations and more than 2,000 professionals nationwide.

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 Callum Roxborough | Five ways to develop company culture and how taking these steps can improve your firm’s work environment and your business.

By Eduardo Smith | With more work than we can handle and the current recruiting challenges we face, we need to be sure that our organizations have the foundations for sustained growth.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | It’s time to reevaluate every penny of our cost structures and ensure that our investments are going to our workforce.

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 Abdo Kardous | How an initial leap to the Middle East jump-started success around the globe for U.S.-based Hill International.

By Mark Hirschi | Mentoring remains the most effective mode of knowledge transfer from older professionals to younger generations.

By Mark Zweig | Stop lamenting the labor shortage and start doing what you should to find and keep the very best people in spite of it.

By Mercedez Thompson | While weak language can dilute your message, assertive language fosters attentiveness, boosts credibility, and increases authority.

By Liisa Andreassen | Owner of 3-Tier Alaska (Fairbanks, AK), a firm that specializes in land surveying and civil engineering in the interior of Alaska.

By Jane Lawler Smith | In the AEC industry, technical knowledge is important – but sometimes it’s equally important to step back, look around, and see what lessons can be learned outside the AEC realm.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of CallisonRTKL, a global firm that has created some of the world’s most successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions, and public entities.

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.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and founder of PaleoWest, a heritage consulting firm that guides clients’ projects through regulatory challenges posed by prehistoric, historic, and paleontological resources.

CEO and president of SEH (St. Paul, MN), a firm that’s simplifying the world’s complex challenges by designing better places, engineering clean water, and renewing infrastructure.

By Kevin Token | A singular leader, in place for all time, might not be the best model for your firm. Consider a different way, one that plans for transitions and accommodates change.

CEO of Olsson (Lincoln, NE), an employee owned 1,300-person firm that is working to leave the world better than they found it.

In an increasingly global marketplace, equity, diversity, inclusion, and engagement strategies will be integral to the success of your organization for the foreseeable future.

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

President and CEO of RJN Group (Wheaton, IL), a firm that is passionate about the environment, committed to community, and devoted to the welfare of its employees.

By Eduardo Smith | It’s more important than ever to stay close to our clients, to understand their changing needs, and to help them achieve their business goals.

Exceptional brand leadership is a must for a firm to be exceptional in today’s challenging business environment.

Learning to learn, praising the process, and reflecting on your progress all point your mind toward the common goal of persistent development.

If you are within the leadership group of your company, there are times when you may need to purge your leadership team to move forward.

“[These tactics] can help you keep control of your business while creating a culture that leads to continued growth and success.”

Believing in your value is the first step to success in winning on value. The next step is to walk away when clients don’t fit your new standards.

By Phil Keil | Use careful thought and consideration when defining your firm’s value, moral, and ethical framework.

As Zweig Group’s director of ownership transition, Will Swearingen understands the emotional stakes at play when a firm founder decides it’s time to pass the torch.

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

“There is no question that after working as long as I have in the A/E industry with so many firms throughout the land, certain common undeniable truths present themselves.”

“What causes AEC firms to fail? I have been a student of this business for 39 years now. Here’s what I have seen.”

President of CEI, a 20-year-old minority-owned engineering and contracting firm based in Miami Lakes, Florida.

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.

“Are you making decisions as quickly as you should, or is this a problem that you keep facing over and over again? Just like all problems in this business, there’s always something you can do!”

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

Do you want to survive the next year, the next recession, and the ongoing reset of the workplace, the marketplace, and the recruiting space?

President of Ampirical (Best Firm Multi-discipline #21 for 2018), a 200-person firm on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

By Phil Keil | People need something to rally behind. Identifying a mission for your firm is more than just a box to check when creating a strategic plan.

President and CEO of LACO (Best Firm Multi-discipline #46 for 2018), a California firm with a famously branded shirt.

If you’re like the rest of us, your firm is busy. But as the projects and revenue pour in, so do plenty of problems that you’ll have to deal with.

President and CEO of RLG Consulting Engineers (Best Firm Structural #13 for 2018), a Dallas-based firm in business for 65 years.

A firm leader must break out of the deadline cycle and make a meaningful connection with employees. If not, performance will (predictably) suffer. Most of what we do today as leaders is not leadership. In...

President and CEO of CME (Hot Firm #36 for 2018), an engineering firm headquartered in Connecticut that refuses to be affordable and mediocre. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “If we cannot grow fast enough to provide...

“If we know recruiting and retention are the biggest challenges and our employees are telling us that training and development are the solution, isn’t the investment in a training program at your firm worth it?”...

Director of Global Diversity at Perkins + Will, a 2,500-person architecture firm with offices across the world. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Bronx, New York native Gabrielle Bullock has been the Director of Global...

Ditch the ego, the fancy title, and the unnecessary rules. Instead, be the spark that inspires your team members to follow their passions. If you are a manager, you have people following your orders. If...

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...

With the unequivocal success of this year’s Hot Firm & A/E Industry Awards Conference in Dallas, all eyes now turn to Las Vegas in 2019. By Richard Massey Editor Chad Clinehens, Zweig Group’s president and...

Co-founder, president, and CEO of WSB (Hot Firm #34 for 2018), a 475-person full-service consulting and design firm based in Minneapolis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The best PMs create their own brand, supporters, and clients,”...

Chairman and CEO of NV5 (Hot Firm #1 for 2018), a 2,000-person global engineering firm headquartered in Hollywood, Florida. By Richard Massey Editor “I must convey to every employee that we are in this together,”...

A lot of firms say they have a great culture, but for that to be true, a firm must be intentional about implementing its core set of values. At Mead & Hunt, we say we...

Honoring your clients’ business success above all else will enhance your firm’s reputation and bottom line – without compromising design. This is the third installment of a three-part discussion on the topic of job success,...

President, CEO, and chairman of the board for T&M Associates (Hot Firm #73 for 2016), a 350-person engineering firm based in Middletown, New Jersey. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Gary Dahms, PE, PP, CME, has been...

Founder and president of Gunda Corporation (#32 Hot Firm for 2017), a 60-person engineering consulting firm based in Houston. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “I’m not a big fan of utilization rates,” Gunda says. “I believe...

Banish profit centers in small to midsize firms. Focus on your people by letting each do what each is best qualified to do. An engineering, architecture or planning professional services firm can be very successful...

An acquired firm can double your size, elevate your design reputation, and give you a foothold in a new market – if the cultures fit. Editor’s note: Design Organization was acquired by Shive-Hattery in 2012....

CEO of Sullivan Engineering (Hot Firm #89 for 2017), a 20-person building envelope consulting firm based in New York, New York. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We strongly reward autonomy and encourage each other to make...

President and CEO of BKF Engineers (Hot Firm #44 for 2016), a 415-person engineering firm based in Redwood City, California, with 13 offices primarily in Northern California. “It’s easy to get a job, but more...

President and CEO of VHB (Best Firm Civil #23 and Hot Firm #46 for 2017), a 1,400-person firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Bottom line, when it’s the right move, and when...

In a hot M&A market, the opportunity to sell is there, but staying put could also be a good path to take. The activity with mergers and acquisitions is quite high. There seem to be...

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,”...

Employees can help attract, recruit, and retain great talent in a tight labor market, so look to them as an augment for HR. A steady stream of job postings for engineers, architects, and construction workers...

Generational ownership and leadership transitions pose unique challenges. Anyone you promote to the highest level must be cut from the right cloth. The statistics bear repeating: Most professional services firms are aging at the top....

We’ve all heard about (and do) multitasking, but the real ticket is figuring out how to do one thing at a time, and do it well. Editor’s note: Perry Shea will be a speaker at...

Sell your firm to recruits, don’t overburden them with a marathon interview process, and cover yourself if a candidate pulls a fast one. I recently finished a webinar series called Becoming a Better Recruiter. It...

So you’re thinking about acquiring an A/E firm? You’ve got a lot of questions to ask yourself, and you need to have honest answers. In a recent article, I wrote about how important it was...

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...

Alabama firm looms large along the Gulf Coast, and a lot of that’s due to a laser focus on service and always starting out at the top. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Years ago, while working...

President and CEO of ISG (Hot Firm #58 for 2016) a 200-person architecture, engineering, and environmental planning firm based in Mankato, Minnesota. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent With the recent acquisition of Green Bay-based Raasch Associates,...

Michigan firm takes the extra steps to create a family atmosphere, and that translates into employee retention, quality work, and client satisfaction. By TowerPinkster Best Firm #1 Architecture for 2016 Our firm culture is at...

Hiring good people isn’t easy, and hanging onto them is just as difficult. When you find the right person, offer an excellent benefits package. By Gale Associates Inc. Best Firm #4 Multidiscipline for 2016 Recruitment...

If you think there’s too much recruiting, then you probably don’t realize there is no ‘season,’ but an unending grind. There is no preseason or final game for recruiting. A/E firms that don’t understand the...

U.S. bridge-building firm opens office in Prague to be closer to work in Israel, but over time, role of European hub expected to increase. By Richard Massey Managing Editor There are certainly many reasons why...

What did I learn about running an A/E/P firm from a 62-year old former British equestrian Olympian? Quite a lot, as it turns out. I recently had the opportunity to ride in a two-day clinic...

In a recent article, I wrote about how important it was to prepare your firm for sale even if you are not thinking about an external ownership transition. You can read that article here. This...

Successful ownership transition is difficult to achieve, and for it to happen, the first tier has to embrace the transformation brought on by the second tier. Over the last two years, Zweig Group has supported...

Architectural colleague shares new scale for assessing employees’ impact on the firm, community, world in areas of attitude, capability, performance. I’ve always been skeptical of the “performance review” style of evaluating. I believe in a...

These comprehensive campaigns are more than a marketing exercise. Do you roll your eyes when you hear of a firm going through a rebranding? Be honest. Certainly the concept of branding has been slow to...

If vertical or horizontal expansion (or both) is in the cards for you, approach with caution. Business has been good lately in the A/E professions. Opportunities abound, yet many firms struggle with the question of...

Several things happen when a new person joins your firm. Don’t scare them away. This term seems to have come into popular usage among HR folks lately, referring to how a firm brings a person...

By W. Hobson Hogan Principal, ZweigWhite Consulting In today’s environment, many firms believe that they must become more diversified and larger to compete. In most cases, firms turn to mergers and acquisitions as a way...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 991 Originally published 1/28/2013 When the sky is a different color on the other side, the likelihood of coming to an agreement is...

Editorial: By Mark C. Zweig It seems to me that many – if not most – companies in our business today have given up on the idea that they can grow in this economy. Instead,...

By W. Hobson Hogan Principal, Investment Banking Our ego makes us think that we are irreplaceable; there is no way that our organizations could soldier on without us. You imagine your office falling apart the...

By Mark C. Zweig It’s funny how firms in our business— many of which have been around for 20, 30, 40 or more years— can get to a certain level and then start to let...

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...

Stereotypes exist for a reason. Sometimes there’s a lot of truth in them. Good examples of this can be found in how bosses are portrayed in pop culture. The problem is if any of these...

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,...

When I first got out of graduate school with my MBA back in 1980, I went to work for a consulting/recruiting firm in St. Louis that specialized in serving the construction and real estate development...

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...

Although most of our readers are unaware, 65% of our revenues here at Zweig White & Associates come from providing consulting services. We’re much more like our readers (and clients) than many folks think. That’s...

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....

We hear it a lot these days: “We can’t compete with the five-man firm across town— they’ll do the job for half what we charge,” or, “How can a big firm like ZH43C do that...

I have tremendous respect for any A/E/P or environmental firm that has learned to successfully manage a network of satellite or branch offices. It's not easy. There's no question that having multiple offices greatly complicates...