Search results

By Chad Coldiron | The AEC industry is facing uncertainty, but leaders remain optimistic, practical, and focused on adapting to what comes next.

By Mark Zweig | The strongest project managers make the work feel clearer, calmer, and more focused from the very beginning.

By Michael Sanderson | Firms that want to grow must evolve leadership, systems, and culture or risk being outpaced and ultimately absorbed.

By Kraig Kern | AEC firms excel at solving known problems, but creativity is what reveals the opportunities and risks no one sees.

Building Enduring AEC Firms: VHB’s Approach to Ownership, Balance, and Strategic Renewal     “An infinite arc of success requires stewardship, purpose, and a relentless focus on people.” Mike Carragher, CEO of VHB What does...

By Matt Cooper | Repeat clients keep AEC firms stable, but winning new work is what determines long-term growth and resilience.

By Andy Cushman | When firms show up authentically for causes they believe in, goodwill follows, and so do lasting business relationships.

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

By Lindsay Young | Firms that invest in marketing consistently drive growth, credibility, and long-term success.

By Chad Clinehens | Record-breaking performance, bold innovation, and a new generation of leaders are redefining what’s possible in AEC.

By Janki DePalma | Recognition matters, but real growth happens when leaders value quiet progress, not just visible wins.

By Robert Jones | Government contractors in AEC must understand and follow GAAP to meet compliance standards, secure contracts, and ensure accurate financial reporting.

By Alan Lloyd | In a fast-paced AEC world, servant leadership empowers teams, boosts outcomes, and shapes a culture people want to join.

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

By Will Swearingen | Firms that are truly boosting profitability aren’t just raising rates; they’re reengineering how they charge.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Cedarville Engineering Group (Pottstown, PA), a civil and environmental design-build firm that delivers value through innovation.

By Mark Zweig | It’s time to take some action inside your business; do these 10 things now to be ready for whatever lies ahead.

By Morgan Stinson | Leading with purpose helps firms navigate uncertainty by reinforcing values, fostering trust, taking ownership, and turning challenges into opportunities.

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

By Ezequiel Tovar | The decisions you make today will have monumental impacts on your next generation of owners tomorrow.

By Rennee Richardson | Embracing cross-generational collaboration in the workplace helps bridge experience, skills, and fresh perspectives.

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 Morgan Stinson | Delegation is crucial for growth, helping managers shift from doing the work themselves to empowering others effectively.

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

By Mercedez Thompson | Win themes should tell a compelling story about why your firm should win a client’s work, but without the right strategy they can inadvertently lose you the deal.

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

By Ezequiel Tovar | Deciding what you will do with your firm, whether you decide to sell internally or externally, will be life-changing.

By Ezequiel Tovar | What qualities give founders peace of mind and the necessary trust to hand over the reins of their business?

By Wesley Jones | Strategies for successfully managing work-life balance and reclaiming your personal life while continuing to grow in your career.

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 Stephen Dominguez | AEC firms struggle to retrieve all of the revenue they bill out, however there are some solutions firms can use to counteract commonplace issues.

By Mark Zweig | Being able to see things through the eyes of the people you work with and who work for you is one of the most critical leadership skills you can develop.

By Steve Hammel | Business developers play a crucial role in maintaining client relationships, resolving issues, and ensuring long-term success – even after contracts are signed.

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

By Paul David | Boost your staffing by training your interns from day one to become some of your best employees.

By Ezequiel Tovar | You must consider the financials before you can fully understand what it takes for a succession plan to be feasible.

By Sara Karstetter | There are several questions a seller needs to be able to answer beyond just the financials.

By Julia DeFrances | The more you make interns feel like a valued part of the team, the more likely they are to stay with your firm long after graduation.

By Mark Zweig | Know the pros and cons of both, and don’t kid yourself about the ramifications of either insisting everyone be there or allowing people to work remotely.

By Liisa Andreassen | Founder of Chrisland Engineering (Lebanon, PA), a small civil engineering firm which specializes in subdivisions, land development, and municipal engineering.

By Gordon Greene | If you trust your staff and have hired people with integrity, you will never need to tell someone you want them 90 percent utilized.

By Megan Chang | Delegating is one of the best ways for senior staff to train and transition responsibility to junior staff, but many leaders find it challenging. There’s a better way.

By Kraig Kern | Identifying and fixing crucial problems is the job of leadership, but sometimes the most debilitating problems are with the leaders themselves.

By Mark Zweig | For every situation that mandates disruption, there will be an equal number of situations that require maintenance of the status quo.

By Josh Nord | As we continue improving work-life balance, we need to keep asking how we can foster those growth opportunities that come through listening and proximity. 

By Jane Lawler Smith | By applying various levels of rewriting, redesign, and repackaging, you can successfully bring adaptive reuse concepts into your AEC marketing realm.

By Tom Godin | If you have goals you want to achieve in the new year, start taking action and building habits today.

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 Liisa Andreassen | President of Prairie Engineers, P.C. (Columbia, IL), a firm made up of engineers, surveyors, and scientists focused on solving problems for public and private clients.

By Mark Zweig | The future will be here before you know it, so there is no time to delay your ownership transition planning efforts.

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 Lauren Rhodes Martin | Small, medium, or large, firms of every size should have a regular process in place for collection of their fees.

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.

By Will Anderson | A few reasons this is one of the safest and most rewarding industries to be in.

By Keyan Zandy | It is up to us to do what we can to improve our employees’ mental and physical health, as well as our own.

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

By Mark Zweig | Older folks bring perspective, patience, and gratitude to your firm, so think twice before you run them off from your company.

By Andy Chavez | Who are these private equity extraterrestrials, what do they want, and how long will they be here?

By Mark Zweig | Here’s what you really need to do to get more job candidates for any opening you have, increase your job offer acceptance rate, and speed up the hiring process.

By Stephanie Warino | How employees answer a question about where they see themselves in two years, and what their responses really mean.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Galloway (Denver, CO), a firm with a streamlined process that addresses all its clients’ design needs – from architecture to civil engineering and survey.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | Zweig Group’s new website combines three old websites into one for a seamless user experience.

By Mark Zweig | This isn’t easy, but it will ultimately make you more successful – not just as a business leader, but in life itself!

Knowing who does what, who needs to weigh in, and who makes the final decision is critical to success.

By Liisa Andreassen | Owner and managing principal of Arrive Architecture Group (Bedford, TX), a firm that specializes in multi-housing residences for individuals, families, and seniors.

By Liisa Andreassen | Chairman and CEO of Landry/French (Scarborough, ME), a 100 percent employee-owned commercial construction company.

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 Mark Zweig | You need to be identifying your successor and preparing the road for them so they can be successful.

By Eddie Wade | Burnout is blazing through workplaces at a rapid pace and negatively impacting productivity, morale, and retention.

By WSB | In 1959, Kennedy became the first Black woman to receive an engineering degree from a school in Texas. Here, she reflects on her more than 55 years of experience since then.

By Keyan Zandy | Many firms have been slow to engage in conversations with their employees about mental health. It’s time to make a change.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing partner and CEO of Croy Engineering (Marietta, GA), a multidiscipline consulting engineering firm that believes in engineering the extra mile.

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 Mark Zweig | If you’re trying to buy or thinking about buying another company in this business, here are a few things that may be helpful to you.

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.

By Kim Fowler | If you chip away at your organization goals one task at a time, you will begin to see the benefits.

By Phil Keil | Decentralization of structure within our firms allows for a more agile, adaptable, and unified organization.

Focus on getting stuff done and moving forward by fitting the tasks on your to-do list to either the time slot or energy you have available.

President and CEO of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (Northbrook, IL), a global firm that’s committed to helping clients solve, repair, and avoid problems in the built world.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Respond to your call to action, whatever it may be, and build a legacy that will leave your profession better than you found it.

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

There are countless ways to develop business without being a business developer, and you are most likely doing some of these things already.

Leaders of employee-friendly firms talk about recruiting, culture, and the importance of employee feedback.

COVID-19 has pushed leaders in the design industry and beyond to develop new strategies to manage an increasingly untethered workforce.

Baby boomers and millennials may use different leadership styles and cope differently in business and in life, but the interaction of both can deliver some key benefits.

Digital twins, photogrammetry, and analytics are paying off for owners and developers when this technology is in the hands of experts who push it to its limits.

In these uncharted times, we run the risk of only thinking about the immediate and not about where we are going to be three months, six months, or a year from now.

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

“It will take everything we have as leaders to get our firms and ourselves through this.”

President and CEO of BSI Engineering (Cincinnati, OH), a consulting and process design engineering firm that’s building on the past to design the future.

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.

By John Bray | The value you will add and the time you will save is worth the cost almost every single time.

Leaders of employee-owned firms must focus on people, transparency, and vision to achieve long-term success.

It can lay the foundation for a positive relationship with bosses, subordinates, and co-workers when the time comes to go the extra mile.

CEO of Ardurra Group (Tampa, FL), an engineering consulting firm with a focus on the positive.

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

Should the US Women’s National Team have let up on Thailand during the World Cup? Of course not, and let that be a lesson to you.

“Are you trying to play the role of the high-flying entrepreneurial CEO in a large firm with lots of resources instead of thinking of yourself as a business owner?”

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

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

“If any of these situations sounds familiar – and you have tried to correct the situation by directly confronting it – it may be time to let that person go.”

We might not pitch and catch over nine innings for a living, but we can learn a lot from what happens out on the diamond.

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...

Breaking into new markets isn’t easy, but it can be done if you have a long-term, coordinated plan of attack. Following 30 years as an Army Engineer officer, I went to work as a market...

One of the most coveted characteristic traits an engineer can possess is also one of the most elusive.

As an industry, we generally leave a lot of money on the table and drive up costs with our lack of effectiveness in management and training. When we think of improving, we often turn to...

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...

When you look at principals of firms in this business who are really happy and successful – who have growing, profitable companies – you’ll see certain common traits that emerge. Here are a few of...

Approximately 10,000 baby boomers will retire every day over the next decade. By 2030, millennials will comprise three-quarters of the U.S. workforce. A common blood sport at leadership team meetings these days begins with, “WHAT...

In recently revising our own policy manual here at Zweig Group, it became apparent to us that we cannot have a policy that addresses every single thing that someone in our employ could do (or...

By Kyle Ahern | This year’s group of Best and Hot Firms provides a treasure trove of information across thousands of data points, from employees up to the C-suite.

It’s not about taking one step, but about taking 10. This could also be painful, but there’s a lot of additional revenue on the back end. The employee utilization rate is one of a handful...

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...

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...

So many firms want to be at the top of the list for growth, but to get there, you have to be good, not necessarily fast. There is much hullabaloo made in our industry about...

We’re seeing more and more multi-office A/E/P and environmental firms wrestle with this issue: should branch offices be profit centers or not? Or should some other organization units be the place where we measure profitts...

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...

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...

President of Ross & Baruzzini (Hot Firm #57 for 2017), a 270-person international design and consulting company based in St. Louis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We’ve offloaded some of our IT functions to the cloud...

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....

Eroding profitability. Never good. Never fun. The result is less and less money to go around. I’m not going to talk about the obvious things such as labor costs that are too high, overly lavish...

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...

Firms that prepare together find that the investment in time and resources equates to project wins and good relationships. Teaming with other AEC firms is a common strategy to win work that requires different types...

President of Passero Associates (Best Firm #5 Multidiscipline for 2016), an 85-person engineering and architecture firm based in Rochester, New York. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There’s lots of calculated risk,” Caruso says. A conversation with...

🍀 Happy St. Patrick's Day 🍀 It's Your Lucky Day to Save some Green! To celebrate all things GREEN, from the environment to cash, Zweig Group is having an Irish 🇮🇪 Flash | Save some...

If your firm is small but you want it to be big, don’t be afraid, just hold onto your values as you also accept inevitable changes. A company’s growth directly correlates with the company’s culture....

Much has been made of how to design workplaces that attract and inspire millennials. But there might be a better demographic filter for your workplace. Millennials. Gen Y. Echo Boomers. Regardless of the name, this...

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up. Cast your net again and chances are you’ll catch another fish. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Rob Matthews, president of Matthews Design Group, Inc. (#10 Best Firm...

As a firm grows, new people have to come on board. But if those people threaten to damage your culture and sink the ship, you can always toss them back out to sea. We tell...

HELIX CEO Michael Schwerin headed into the New Year with double-digit profits and a strong book-to-bill ratio. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent In 2001, Michael Schwerin started as an assistant environmental planning group manager with HELIX...

Over the years, we have developed work styles that are not good for our physical, mental, or emotional health, but that can be changed. It’s not that we’re bad people, or that we aren’t working...

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...

From job to job and firm to firm, all with the push of a button on a mobile app. Is that the future for the design industry? There’s plenty out there who sure hope so....

Beantown’s tarnished redevelopment agency comes up with a new name, a new logo, and a new mission, but locals aren’t convinced it’ll do any good. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Boston Redevelopment Authority may...

Did your interns live the dream? If so, great, but if not, it might be time to retool your program by taking these six simple steps. As a communications major with an interest in broadcast...

Much like a “perfect” farmer, marketing professionals must take charge of each step of the growing (submittal) process, or else risk disaster. Dedication, hard work, persistence, and pride are some of the most commonly used...

If you are you stuck in neutral, break out of the rut by asking questions, altering your approach, and accepting the possibility that there may be a problem. Some of us have a hard time...

You have to keep your firm moving if you hope to stay ahead of the competition, and if you want your firm to age gracefully. If you’ve ever spent any time at the beach, you...

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...

Make your firm more valuable by making yourself irrelevant and surrounding yourself with leaders. Firms that command high market premiums are ones in which the owners are, in many ways, always seeking to become less...

Hickok Cole Architects (Washington, DC), a 95-person architecture and interior design firm, is the second place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its “Great Chemistry, Great Design”...

Top ranking AEC firms have positive organizational cultures, provide employees with the tools they need to be successful, and foster open communication. How do you get your firm to a place where every one of...

Don’t let the current market surge allow you to become too busy or lazy to effect needed changes, and don’t underestimate the time and resources this will require. ​Have you ever been at the controls...

Several organizations have found that bringing financial management staff onto the project management team results in heaven-sent synergies. In Zweig Group’s consulting practice, we see many firms grapple with the interface between project managers and...

Show paints difference between risk-takers and everyone else. Mark Zweig shares some additional food for thought. Watching “Shark Tank” episodes back-to-back last night was a great case study in the differences between entrepreneurs and most...

Think of leadership not as a single person but as a team of individuals, each with his or her own strength and talent. For years I’ve watched firms struggle with leadership transition, particularly firms started...

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...

Need help identifying targets for potential recruiting? The answer is in the headline. Sometimes in the recruiting world, you’ll hear the term “sourcing.” It sounds like something you would hear in the buying/procurement business, right?...

Smart investments and ability to effectively manage debt are key to success at these firms. By Christina Zweig What are fast-growth firms doing differently than their competitors in the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry? We...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 994 Originally published 2/11/2013 Most architects and engineers never studied how to run a business, so the issue of governance becomes increasingly complex...

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 Christine Brack Principal, Business Planning Consulting Many firms are glad to be leaving 2011 behind and are casting a warmer, more positive outlook to the New Year. Other firms claim they enjoyed moderate success...

Press Release: November 8, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (November 8, 2011) – Take cue Apple. Holding on to too much cash can be perilous for business enterprises, not the least design firms. An article in the...

Press Release: July 19, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 19, 2011) – Leaders in the design industry are overwhelmingly using smartphones with email and web capabilities to stay in constant contact. They define that connectivity as...

Press Release: July 12, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 12, 2011) – Confused about integrated project delivery (IPD) and building information modeling (BIM)? As little three letter acronyms and similar concepts, it is easy to use...

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...

By Mark C. Zweig CEO, ZweigWhite Some could argue that human resources management has taken a blow in the past three or four years with such a soft economy. Many employers have probably felt they...

Press Release: May 16, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (May 13, 2011) – People feel the need to work harder than ever in order to stay afloat. Taking work home, not taking paid time off, and staying...

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...

Press Release: December 30, 2010 The down economy presents many real estate options for the small business owner; but the tight A/E/P and banking climate might prove too difficult for many businesses to grasp the...

With the consolidation wave just starting to gain momentum in the A/E/P and environmental industry, it seemed appropriate to get into a subject that many firms in our business seem to have an ongoing problem...

As I begin to write this article I am sitting at “The Tournament of Kings” show at The Excalibur in Las Vegas with my two oldest daughters. Earlier today we finished off the 10th annual...

Project management training tends to emphasize the legal and liability aspects of what we do, along with scheduling and budgeting techniques. But, there is so much more to it beyond the science of project management....

Making money is rarely the reason one either buys into or starts their own A/E/P or environmental firm. It certainly can work out that way— i.e., that one makes a lot of money in this...

Bud Tomlinson was finally starting to feel pretty good about things again. Business was turning around. But the last eight months or so had been a real wake-up call... Back in July his firm, Tomlinson...

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...

There are no easy businesses in this economy. And if you think there are— still— watch out. You’ll probably learn soon that I am right about this one. Everyone— no matter what they do— has...

The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List for 2008 is chock-full of success stories. Many are incredibly inspirational and serve as great examples of planning, execution, and character. Some Hot Firms have even been on the...

Last Thursday night/Friday morning, I found myself in a tough situation. I went to bed and all was well until I woke at 2 a.m. feeling like I had to use the bathroom. Thursday was...

We all seem to spend a lot of money on training. That’s a loosely applied term. Many things fall into the “training pot” in a typical A/E/P or environmental firm. My anecdotal understanding is that...

It seems like yesterday that I was “the young guy.” And that’s the last thing I wanted to be. I always tried hard to look and seem older than I really was so people would...

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...

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,...

I know it sounds corny, but the fact is, a client is precious. They are hard to get and harder to keep happy. We need to treat them as if they are as valuable as...

Every year, after we announce the winners of The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List, we get contacted by other firms wondering why they are not on the list. It’s always one of two reasons: Either...

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...

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 next question is, “Now what?”...

I should be reading now, sitting here in my tight blue “pleather” Northwest Airlines seat on my umpteenth flight this month. But I’m not. Instead, I just wasted a half hour on “Brick Breaker,” a...

Years ago in The Zweig Letter, I wrote an article entitled, “Go local” as a rebuttal to all of the pundits who were advocating A/E firms “go global.” It just made sense to me that...

We all know it. If we cannot train a second generation of leaders who will be able to take over the firm and run it successfully after we are gone, we probably won’t see any...

It’s hard to grow if you can’t keep the people you already have working for you. Every time someone leaves you have to replace them. And it’s as hard or harder than ever— as well...

Years ago, I coined a term called “supply-side human resources management.” The basic theory of supply-side human resources management goes something like this: If an A/E or environmental firm invests heavily in its recruitment function,...

When we remade our Revolutionary Marketing newsletter into The Zweig A/E Marketing Letter, we had a simple idea. Cut the theory and direct the focus of our efforts to implementation. What can firms DO differently...

A couple weeks ago, a motley group of A/E firm principals and I went on a 700+ mile ride on two-lane roads through some beautiful countryside in New Hampshire, Vermont, and just a little bit...

For whatever reason— and I have seen it countless times— sometimes the work environment just goes bad. Like fruit that sits in the bowl too long, it rots, it molds, and it becomes intolerable. Just...

On the one hand, it would be easy to get negative and discouraged about the current business climate. The war efforts are dragging on with no clear end in sight. The Middle East, in general,...

It’s kind of funny. I was out visiting a firm the other day— a rapidly growing, multi-office, multi-service firm— that is apparently beating the pants off of its larger, more established competitors. I’ve seen it...

Air travel is at an all-time high for me. It’s always frustrating... so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share some of my recent thoughts and observations: E-tickets. It always amazes me when I see...

It’s always distasteful to compare your employees to your children. I hear firm owners do it all of the time, and I see the non-owners cringing when they do! That said, I have noticed 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...

Davis Grey was the new man at the top of Frinklemore-Datuna Associates. He had been hired by Charlie Datuna a couple years ago with an understanding that at some point, Davis would be in Charlie’s...

When you do what I do you see a lot of smart people. Architects, engineers, planners, scientists … who own and run firms. Many of these smart people started their companies; others were strong enough...

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...

In spite of the post 9/11 travel slowdown, it seems like there are more trade shows and conferences for A/Es and construction companies than ever before. As dutiful ZweigWhiters, we seem to get to all...

Fifty-eight-year-old Frank Gristleling was a strong leader of his firm. Other than a three-and-a-half year tour with the Navy from 1968 to 1971, Gristleling worked at Johnson, Smatters, and Tattersham (JST) since he started as...

Ask a CEO or managing partner of the typical A/E/P or environmental firm what keeps him or her up at night and you know what you’ll hear? It probably won’t be “selling work” or “getting...

While it certainly wasn’t the case 20 or even 10 years ago, today most design and environmental firms have a business plan. Most of them are labeled “strategic plans,” though I’ll confess that I usually...

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...

Jose Piranha listened to his two partners, Stephanie Straighthair and Jason Loseria, discuss how to dole out the firm’s profits in the coming year. They were sitting at their favorite table at Hugo’s, the little...

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...

I read somewhere once that being in love is a mental illness. All logic goes out the window. Rationality does not prevail. The ugly can become beautiful. Suffering is tolerable. Sacrifices can be made. Walls...

I was out working in my yard this weekend, cutting brush and chopping up fallen branches with my 18-horsepower trailer-mounted chipper, when one of my friends and clients dropped by. He’s an architect and was...

It’s what we’re all looking for: young people that we can move up. And if we aren’t, we’re fools. Why would we hire someone, especially a younger person, who we don’t think has any potential...

I just got back from the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) (Washington, DC) national convention in San Diego (held October 4-6). What a turnout! Their estimates were that they had somewhere between 1,400 and...

We’ve talked about it for decades, but the labor shortage in the A/E/P and environmental industries is finally here. Our clients are telling us that it’s hard to hire just about anyone. Every job takes...

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...

When I was a kid I worked at the local bike shop. It was underneath an optician’s shop accessible only from an alley. The place was a dump, as some readers of The Zweig Letter...

While we’re big believers in building a brand name for your firm through a variety of means so your phone rings off the hook with new opportunities, we also know that somebody has to eventually...

I would say that most readers of The Zweig Letter work in firms that export themselves beyond their immediate local area. Although not everyone gets on a plane every week, some travel is required to...

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...

I would be surprised if more than one of our readers hasn’t said to themselves recently, “We really ought to be thinking about what we’ll do if things slow down.” Well get ready folks, it’s...

Every single firm we deal with at Zweig White & Associates, Inc. could benefit from working on their hiring process. Everyone in the A/E/P and environmental business agrees that it’s hard to hire. Well here...

Summer’s here. Our local swimming hole— “Farm Pond”— in the town I live in (Sherborn, Mass., pop. 4,300) is also a social gathering spot. Late in the afternoon and on weekends you’ll see all of...

At our new “Managing a Growing Firm” seminar series, which kicked off last week in Boston, a hard-driving CEO from a local area firm took exception to one of our recommendations on how to improve...

Although I sometimes wish I were more clever or entertaining than I am, writing about what makes A/E/P or environmental firms more successful is what you pay me to do. Occasionally I think I sound...

These are the good old days for the A/E/P and environmental consulting business. Times are good. Firms are growing. Employment offers are going out weekly, daily, and in some cases, hourly. But did you ever...

A lot of firms are successful right now. But the question they should ask themselves as the new year approaches is, “Are we successful because of what we are doing as management, or in spite...

A common theme is emerging in our business right now, especially with large firms— but certainly not limited to them. Firms need to improve their profits. Volume is up, optimism is up, backlog is growing,...

I spend more of my billable time helping A/E/P and environmental consulting firms with their business planning than anything else. Most firm owners want to do more with their businesses, to be more successful. But...

Every owner in an A/E/P or environmental firm knows you can make all the paper profits you want, but unless you turn those profits into bank deposits, you have nothing. I’ve written so much about...

Anyone who studies human behavior in business organizations can tell you that confidence is a critical quality for leaders to have. This certainly applies to A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. When the leader is confident,...

Call me any names you want. It won’t be the first time. But it doesn’t matter. I’m tough. I can take it. I have the power of my own convictions and conscience to get me...

Most of us heard it from our parents at some point in our childhood: “You can grow up to be anything you want, but be the best at it you can be.” It’s a good...

I CAN ADMIT IT. I haven’t always been entirely charitable to business development people in A/E/P and environmental firms. I’ve met too many of them who were too good on the golf course, too quick...

No doubt about it, all of us who are managers in an A/E/P or environmental firm have to face some tough situations from time to time. They aren’t usually “fun” decisions, or situations that give...

There may be truth to the old adage: “Ignorance is bliss.” Because the fact is, there are a lot of people, many of them at the highest levels in A/E/P and environmental firms, who are...

We’re seeing more and more multi-office A/E/P and environmental firms wrestle with this issue: should branch offices be profit centers or not? Or should some other organization units be the place where we measure profits...

Did you ever notice how some companies muddle along while others seem to keep advancing? What allows some firms to make so much more progress and to get so much more accomplished than others? It’s...

We’re in the throes of our annual business planning process here at ZWA. You know the routine— get everyone together, have an office party and a holiday dinner at a nice restaurant and spend a...

I just got back from the annual principals’ retreat of a real successful firm, which was held at The Woodlands outside of Houston. One of the goals for the retreat, established by the firm’s board...

There’s truth to the old adage that “the seeds of destruction are sown along with the spoils of success.” We see it all the time, but that doesn’t make it any more palatable. I’m talking...

We often run into firms that need help turning things around. The scenario usually includes some combination of the following: Principals/top managers who aren’t billable. Excess debt caused by poor collection of accounts receivable. Owners...

The experts will say “You have to learn to delegate if you are going to be an effective manager.” On this point, conventional wisdom is actually right. Delegation is critical to your ability to get...

Everyone in the A/E/P and environmental consulting business wants to be more “successful,” but I don’t recall ever seeing “success” clearly defined. It’s one of those good-sounding words that architects, engineers, and environmental consultants use...

One of the great things about the A/E/P and environmental consulting business is that it always provides you with a challenge. Right now, many firms are feeling particularly stressed— with a higher than normal workload,...

A/E/P and environmental consulting firms have a huge problem when it comes to retaining their best and brightest people. It’s not unusual for us to get a consulting project with a new client, and to...

Every A/E/P and environmental firm I’ve encountered that has survived over the long haul has periodically made a push to improve its profitability. All the growth in the world won’t do you any good if...

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)...

If I could give only one caution to principals of A/E/P and environmental firms, it would not be “grow slowly so you don’t over-expand and outstrip your managerial capabilities.” Nor would it be “watch every...

Just about every A/E or environmental firm wants to grow. And there are a lot of good reasons for it. To paraphrase an old adage, “growth covers a multitude of sins.” When you are growing,...

A/E/P and environmental consulting firms are really in the business of selling time— something there never seems to be enough of. That’s why it’s important that we all use our time wisely. Here are my...

Let me tell you a little story about two managers. Both head divisions for the same large, international engineering and environmental company. By most any standard, one of the two, who we’ll call “Jed,” is...

Almost every motivated person working in an A/E/P or environmental firm is either already a manager, or wants to be one. That’s OK, but I’m not sure all of these people really understand what it...

Deciding how to reward principals is a perennial problem. Spread out the rewards equally, and one principal is bound to feel cheated while another principal gets more than he deserves. Vary the compensation of principals,...

I’ve always been a student of human interaction. So when I hear someone say of another person in a derogatory tone, “That Wilson sure has a big ego,” I immediately ask myself “Who is this...

On Monday, December 20, 1993, William Edwards Deming, the 93-year-old management guru of Total Quality Management (TQM) died in his sleep. A statistician with a doctorate in Physics from Yale, Deming was credited with engineering...

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...

The ability to think creatively is critical for anyone working in an architecture, consulting engineering, or environmental consulting firm— not just the design staff. The business side of the professions is just as demanding as...