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

By Sara Parkman | AEC firms that fail to invest in young professionals today will struggle to find leaders tomorrow.

By Logan Neitenbach | Recruiting thrives on curiosity, trust, and purpose, because people – not processes – are the true drivers of organizational success.

By Scott Butcher | AEC firms use seller-doers, business developers, or both, and the best model depends on buyer preferences and firm capabilities.

By Mark Zweig | Meeting people face-to-face builds energy, strengthens relationships, and creates new opportunities.

By Mark Zweig | The right attorney with specialized expertise can save AEC firms significant costs, mitigate risks, and protect their business.

By Mark Zweig | LinkedIn is just one tool in your marketing arsenal, but it can be powerful when used consistently and strategically.

By Mark Zweig | Show everyone it’s not business as usual and your firm is in a new era – you may find it a helpful tool to reinforce your change program.

By Sara Parkman | Zweig Group’s 2025 Rising Stars share what inspires purpose, loyalty, and change in the AEC workplace.

By Chris Catton | Recruiting is tough, but AEC firms that master the basics gain a serious competitive advantage.

By Mailena Urso | The Zweig Group team is hitting the road to share fresh insights on how AEC firms can stay ahead.

By Mark Zweig | Stop procrastinating on this issue and start searching in earnest for some outside directors to help you be more successful.

By Kraig Kern | Packed calendars hurt productivity, but smarter meeting habits can help AEC professionals reclaim focus time and boost meaningful work.

By Anna Kendall | Effective internal communication plays a crucial role in shaping employee morale during times of significant change.

By Mark Zweig | As a leader or manager, you are probably super busy and will get stuck if you cannot offload a lot of what you have to do.

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

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

By John Butt | The transition from being an individual contributor to a people leader is a significant milestone in a professional’s career – but it can also come with many challenges.

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

By Mark Zweig | Sparkplugs are the people in your business who make things happen – and they are essential if you want to grow beyond what you alone can ignite.

By Lindsay Young | Networking is important for your business, but your network can work for you – as long as you stay in front of them and share valuable resources and knowledge.

By Mark Zweig | Here are some ways your CEO could be even more helpful to your company than they already are.

By Elizabeth Preston | Managers can unintentionally hinder their team’s writing by not providing clear standards, dedicated time, and constructive feedback.

By Mark Zweig | Entrepreneurship is all about seeing and doing things differently from everyone else, so maybe you should be more questioning of the status quo.

By Janki DePalma | Late bloomers gain wisdom, resilience, and unique insights, proving there’s no fixed timeline for achievement.

By Mark Zweig | Keep the big picture in mind, and make sure you have the right outside accountants who understand more than the tax consequences of these kinds of decisions.

By Kristin Kautz | AI assistants empower personalized and effective support that will save time and money, and enhance creativity and quality.

By Mark Zweig | At some point leadership has to take action and act like leaders versus just talk a good game.

By Luke Carothers | AEC industry experts shed light on key topics for firm leaders, from employee compensation, career growth, and AI integration.

By Mark Zweig | If you take an honest look at people who are really good project managers, you’ll find they have some specific personality traits and abilities that lead to their success.

By Mark Zweig | Anything that requires human intelligence to deal with different complex human behavioral issues isn’t going to be replaced by AI any time soon, if ever.

By Jesse Sievers | Enhance recruitment by focusing on individual connections, forming partnerships with diverse institutions, and building robust internship programs.

By Mark Zweig | Those who read your emails, letters, reports, social media posts, and resumes are all deciding how intelligent you are in large part from your writing.

By Conrey Guy | Your mission, vision, and values make up the backbone of your firms’ identity.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Davis & Floyd, a firm with more than six decades of experience solving complex engineering, planning, and landscape architecture challenges.

By Mark Zweig | These are some of the characteristics of people who bring out the best in us and steer us to the “right path” for business and personal success.

By Luci Hogue | Whether you love your job and want to get to the next level or if you’re feeling unsatisfied in your current position, these tips may help gain perspective.

By Joseph Losaria | A happy team is more productive and engaged, so make sure happiness isn’t just a personal goal but a business goal, as well.

By Mark Zweig | Choosing the right partners for your business, and then keeping a good relationship with them, has always been an important subject.

By Mark Zweig | Firm leaders have to stay optimistic, or their ability to fully function and meet their responsibilities will be compromised.

By Eric Wilson | With the right set of values and organizational alignment, you may find yourself in a positive feedback loop where shared principles guide you toward collective goals.

By Mark Zweig | Doing so will help you organize your thinking, present and preserve your work, and give you more credibility with your client base.

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

By Mark Zweig | Helping other people develop and be successful could be one of the most rewarding aspects of your career.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and chairman of the board at McFarland Johnson, a national consultancy providing program management, planning, environmental, engineering, and construction phase services.

By Julie Smith | Podcasting is a unique way to share the story of your company, and it should be part of your marketing strategy.

By Randy Wilburn | Podcasting is one of the best ways you can tell the story of your brand.

By Keyan Zandy | The best way to foster a lean culture is by engaging with people, celebrating what they do well, and empowering them to be a part of the change you seek.

By Jay Kennedy & Julie Thiel | Be thoughtful in how you approach and manage your emotions, and you will find success building and maintaining meaningful client relationships.

By Mark Zweig | While you undoubtedly have other responsibilities, one of your primary roles as a leader is assembling, maintaining, and motivating your team.

By Kyle Ahern | Gathering data on your employees’ experience is the first step, then you have to create action items to effect positive change.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of MKSK, a collective of planners, urban designers, and landscape architects who are passionate about the interaction between people and place.

By Liisa Andreassen | Vice president of strategy at Westwood (Minneapolis, MN), an awarding-winning firm that provides multi-disciplined surveying and engineering services.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Grace Hebert Curtis Architects, an architecture and interior design firm that is still experiencing substantial growth in size and reputation after more than 50 years.

By Mark Zweig | This is a reality in our industry and knowing the typical issues faced by these people can be helpful to working with them.

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

By Mark Zweig | Improving this will not only help you attract and keep good people, but it will also bring in new clients.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Cushing Terrell, a multidisciplinary firm that empowers creative designers to discover imaginative, responsible first-of-their-kind environments.

By Lindsay Young | Knowing what people really think will help you grow your business and serve your clients even better than you already do.

By Liisa Andreassen | Partner at Orcutt | Winslow (Phoenix, AZ), a design firm that aspires to positively disrupt architecture through innovation, experimentation, and invention.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of JMC², a civil and structural engineering firm that offers solutions for land development and building projects of various scopes and sizes.

By Mark Zweig | The payoff is a more valuable company that is healthier and provides more opportunities for its employees.

By Carol Martsolf | Many may find these discussions uncomfortable, but there are steps firms can take to make staff feel safe.

By Malory Atkinson | If your logo no longer corresponds with your brand image and values, it’s time for a change.

By Mark Zweig | You are in control of your business, and its success depends on your ability to keep a level head and keep making things happen.

By Mark Zweig | It’s time to take a good hard look at what everyone in your business is doing for you.

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

By Mark Zweig | Just like any professional sports team, your firm is made or broken based on how effective you are at recruiting talent.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Psomas (Los Angeles, CA), an employee-owned firm providing engineering, environmental, construction management, and survey/geospatial services.

By Jerry Holder | Three lessons learned from stories of leaders’ successes and failures – and their ramifications.

By Justin Smith | Training is an investment with big payoffs, so do your research when determining the best fit for your firm.

By Mark Zweig | Use these tactics to respond to the things that trigger you emotionally and contribute to you losing your temper.

By Mark Zweig | In the new year, remember that we're responsible for creating our own luck. You can start by focusing on these five things.  

By Gordon Greene | Get to know your people, find out what’s important to them, and understand that work-life balance looks different for everyone.

By Sara Parkman | They are the senior principal and president of Genesis (Blue Bell, PA), a full service firm that delivers facilities for life-saving therapies.

By Bill Fox | Knowing your clients and finding out how you can solve their problems is key to building long-lasting, profitable relationships.

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 Keyan Zandy | There are a lot of heroes in our companies, but some are less noticeable. Their successes are quieter and less dramatic, but no less valuable.

By Corey Fenwick & Andrew Chakmakjian | Networking is a key part of any business – no matter the industry – because it can lead to a new job, experience, or business for your firm.

By Stephanie Warino | These 10 ideas can increase engagement and create a truly effective doer-seller culture.

By Mark Zweig | We create much of our own good luck – and a lot of that comes down to understanding probabilities and doing things that increase our odds for success.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Parkhill (Lubbock, TX), a multidisciplinary firm that is building community by creating inventive, relevant built environments together.

By Mark Zweig | Here are 12 things you can actually change in your business that will help you win the talent war.

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 Mark Zweig | Your ability to establish and maintain relationships over time is essential to your personal and business success in the A/E business or any business.

By Lindsay Young | Making mistakes is an essential part of running a successful firm, so stop waiting around and start taking action.

By Mark Zweig | Saying you want to buy another firm in this business is one thing – actually doing it is another.

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 Stephen Lucy | Actively work to shape your own legacy, otherwise it will be defined by others and probably not as positive as you would want.

By Eduardo Smith | Strategic thinking enables us to enlarge the value and impact of our work, connecting it much more than a technical solution.

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 Lindsay Young | This is our opportunity to get creative and bring in new ideas for our firms to get work.

Positively impact your firm’s retention rates by turning abstract ideas into actionable goals.

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

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

By Mark Zweig | There are 10 things practically every firm in this business should do but won’t. If you try these things, your firm will be more successful.

Make a great first impression, showcase your experience and expertise, and stand out as a top architect in your market.

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

By Mark Zweig | If you make these 50 calls, you will not only get new projects, you will also learn a great deal and renew old friendships.

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

By Mark Zweig | None of these is a panacea. All of these things do, however, have the potential to bring you new clients, opportunities, and projects.

By Mark Zweig | Now is a good time to take stock of the many positive aspects of our industry to help keep yourself and your employees motivated and directed in the midst of uncertainty.

By Mark Zweig | “Profound changes are coming to our industry. As is always the case when the external market makes huge shifts, those companies that can adapt will do well.”

By John Bray | Connect with your people and bolster your business so you come out of this pandemic stronger on the other side.

“Getting on the phone and staying on the phone for a few days every week for the next couple months will be good for you.”

AEC Leaders – Now is the perfect time to give yourself and the workings of your firm some needed attention. Our research shows and the stories confirm that many of you have been so busy...

CEO of A&E Architects (Billings, MT), a firm that believes all disciplines can live together within any given project.

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

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

“Whether or not our businesses survive is going to be up to our response to the problem as leaders. It won’t be easy, but this, too, shall eventually pass.”

Create a three-year vision thinking about what you need to achieve personally and professionally to be happy with your progress, and then work to reach your mountain.

Many firms still cling to old-school attitudes and business practices that chase away top performing employees looking for a more future-friendly place to grow their careers.

“If you have lofty ambitions for the growth of your firm, but aren’t exactly sure of what you need to do to accomplish it, here is my best advice.”

Don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth. You want clients who value your relationship and appreciate your talent.

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.

Before you pass the torch, you need to make sure that your next generation of leaders is up to the task.

“For those of you running A/E firms – if I were you, I’d focus on recruiting in 2020.”

As Zweig Group’s director of executive search, Chad Coldiron’s passion is connecting top talent with AEC firms.

A lot can go wrong while establishing an office in a new market, but if you find a niche and hire strategically, you can succeed.

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

Thankful organizations will grow with engaged employees, loyal clients, trusted partners, and supportive communities.

You have to keep the blade sharp through the long process of making key connections, educating oneself, and repeatedly rising to the challenge.

“Social media is a virtual world. It’s a false world. Spend more time in the real world and less time on your individual PR program, and encourage your staff to do the same.”

“If you approach feedback from the standpoint that you are trying to help your people – even if it is negative – most will appreciate you.”

“Entrepreneurs are not unique to the ownership group of small, privately-held companies. They can also be found working as employees in larger organizations.”

These days the recruiting game is tough. The good news is that your best talent scouts might already work in your firm.

It’s not easy to do, but if you want lifelong clients who are also friends, you have to commit yourself to the long haul.

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

If you figure out the big question, it’ll invigorate your culture, differentiate your company, and inform everything you do in your business.

It might sound a bit odd, but there’s plenty of things the C-suite can learn from stand-up comedians.

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

Being cautious and reasonable about your growth plans is a smarter move than filling seats just for the sake of beefing up the org chart.

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

By Kyle Ahern | Employees at AEC firms say they need ample opportunities to learn and train. My advice is to give them what they’re asking for.

A lot of people leave their jobs because they hate their bosses. They stay because the C-suite listens to what they have to say. The results of the Best Small and Medium Workplaces 2018 present...

“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...

If we want to grow as people and as firms, we have to first find the fine line, and then what’s on either side of it. Choice breeds chaos, or so the saying goes. Even...

If you request even a minute of precious time to meet with your firm’s leader, make sure you don’t waste the moment. If there is one thing I have learned growing up in an increasingly...

Let’s try to tell our story so that we can go above and beyond the traditional marketing that AEC firms are known for. Think about some of the most iconic advertisements of the past. Many...

Finding and keeping good people is the number one problem AEC firms have today. And it will get worse if any of the predictions are true about the demand for talent and the lack of...

Do you have a job interview on the near horizon? If so, do your research, stay on topic, and don’t forget to wear a nice pair of shoes. A close architect friend of mine recently...

President of Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering, Inc. (Hot Firm #30 for 2017), a 200-person civil engineering firm based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Marketing is very important,” Galdes says. “We actually increased...

Voice activation is coming to customer relationship management, and if you adopt it, you’ll save time and succeed. We spend a lot of time talking to our gadgets these days. Whether we’re seeking directions from...

Here is the full transcript of a great conversation that we had with Mark Zweig. He gave us a history lesson on AECWorkforce and the importance of an effective job board for the Design and...

Here is the full transcript of a great conversation that we had with Mark Zweig. He gave us a history lesson on AECWorkforce and the importance of an effective job board for the Design and...

AECWorkforce.com, a digital ecosystem where great firms can find great people. Transformative job site launches in November. For the past several months I’ve been working with a fantastic team. We’re figuring out just how many...

Leaders of employee-friendly firms talk about how being a Best Firm affects marketing, recruiting, and team building. The Zweig Letter: How has being a Best Firm To Work For helped you recruit and retain top...

It’s hard to find outstanding people to work in your AEC firm. It’s also hard to keep them working for you these days when they have so many other options. What are some things you...

The idea of sustainability has to expand to include the development of buildings that promote healthy outcomes for the public. After reading Ed Friedrichs’ article, “The New Grand Strategy,” I was inclined to email him...

The workplace is at its best when teams are as close as tribes, but the only way to get there is to retain your talent. Retention is a growing concern, fueled by lower unemployment rates...

Getting people to do what you want them to do. This is what leadership is really all about. And it is never easy. Especially today in the A/E industry, where finding a job is not...

Company leaders play an important role in making sure their people are aligned, capable, and engaged – a recipe for success. Are your employees fulfilled? If not, it may be costing you a bundle. While...

Figure out what your firm is and what its values are, and remain disciplined if you want to flourish in a competitive market. The competitive environment continues to change at light speed, and that in...

Demanding a resume is a good way to scare off potential hires, but your chances improve if you pick up the phone and sell your firm. One of the biggest challenges facing the AEC industry...

Blame is a form of punishment that rarely works, and removing it from a firm’s environment will increase productivity and collaboration. Would you rather have an employee change her behavior, become more motivated, or make...

We’ve all been there because every A/E firm in existence seems to have one. I’m talking about the person in the room who is completely, utterly negative. You’re in a meeting. Changes are being proposed....

Finding and keeping good people is getting increasingly difficult. Paying people properly – it’s one of those areas that is a constant issue for those who own and run a business – is essential if...

Demanding a resume is a good way to scare off potential hires, but your chances improve if you pick up the phone and sell your firm. One of the biggest challenges facing the AEC industry...

Here are nine tips on how to be successful in the A/E/P business. Hint, most of these tips are not specific to the A/E/P business. I have the honor of being a guest lecturer once...

Friendships are not only good for the soul, their good for business, so make as many of them as you can if you want your firm to prosper. Personal engagement with clients determines so much...

My extensive observations on the AEC business tell me that the only training most of us do is catch-as-catch-can, luck-based training. There's no structure or thought or meaningful budget applied to it in most companies...

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...

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...

Here are a few tips on ensuring that potential employees accept your job offer, and have a back-up in case they don’t. It’s a big problem today. You go through a long search process, interviewing...

More so than the everyday small business, organizations that aim to grow must employ specific types of people. Not every A/E or environmental firm is an entrepreneurial firm. But, if you’re reading this, odds are...

Taking the time to get these 8 items in order might make all the difference when seeking a buyer for your business. A lot of us don’t want to plan for it. We don’t even...

Though most everyone on your team is important, there are 4 major positions that no successful firm can do without. Managing your business effectively means the business grows, makes a profit, and has good employees...

Firm leaders would be wise to reflect on current happenings in industry and to prepare for what’s next. When you’re lucky enough to survive to a “certain age,” you suddenly become aware of “certain things.”...

Niche positions sometimes require out-of-the-box thinking, increased diligence, and willingness to pivot in order to fill them. Finding the best and brightest people to work at your firm may require you to think outside the...

Some firms want to stay small; here’s some advice for them, and they’re welcome to ask for more. Small firms … small businesses … entrepreneurial businesses: Are they all the same thing? No! Some firms...

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...

Avoid dropping the ball with that perfect out-of-town candidate. I recently left a fairly comfortable existence in New England to relocate here to Fayetteville, Ark. the home office of the Zweig Group. I spent a...

As hiring picks up in 2015, make sure you are taking all factors into consideration, Mark Zweig writes. Some years ago, I got a call from a good client and friend of mine. He ran...

Five facts to consider during the recruiting process at your firm. Managing expectations in an executive search process can be a burdensome task. After all, you’re eager to quickly find that perfect new team member...

It’s lonely at the top and hard to find someone who will listen and provide useful advice, Mark Zweig writes. It’s been said before that it’s lonely at the top. There’s a lot of truth...

This over-used word can be working against you. In one of our seminars, we ask the attendees to spend 5 minutes developing a short pitch to convince a potential client why they should hire the...

Mark Zweig offers five things you can do to keep valued employees who just don’t see eye-to-eye. After working as an owner, consultant, and employee in A/E firms for more than 34 years, it’s interesting...

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 provides 10 tips how to treat potential new employees right. One of the things we do at ZweigWhite is a limited amount of executive search consulting. Most people don’t really understand that. They...

Search outside the firm or groom from within? To this author, the answer is obvious. I wrote last month about a position description for an office leader. But where do you look for the talent...

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...

Listen to your staff, have an appealing culture, hire selectively and keep your employees for the long-term. I’m hearing more and more about the market firming up and people being in demand. So, I think...

Good communication includes good writing. Everyone sort of scoffs at the English Lit majors in college – questioning the validity of such a general degree and wondering what sort of jobs those graduates land upon...

Mark Zweig offers five steps to keep your expanded departments happy and productive. When I started working in the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry in 1980, most companies in the business did NOT have a...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 997 Originally published 3/4/2013 More is within control than you think. Mark Zweig offers three ways to add to your ranks. As an...

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...

By W. Hobson Hogan Principal, Investment Banking ZweigWhite Owners often ask me when is the best time to sell their firms. It’s a common question. The answer that they are seeking typically hinges on valuation...

By Tracey Jeffers Principal, Valuation Consulting ZweigWhite I have found that the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry has many unique qualities, but one I find intriguing when compared with other industries is the longevity of...

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...

I’m often asked two questions about leadership: 1. Are leaders born or made? 2. How did you become a leader? I believe everyone has the potential become a leader. Despite endless debate on the subject...

By Mark C. Zweig I may make many folks mad at me with this week’s editorial. But too bad. I never wanted to be one of those CONsultants who tells his clients what they want...

By Ed Friedrichs In a fascinating recent book, Fred Reichheld asks The Ultimate Question (also the title of the book), “On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to refer __________ (fill...

By Mark C. Zweig Sooner or later one comes to the realization that the answer doesn’t always lie in growing revenue. It may just not be possible with the time you have to fix the...

By Ed Friedrichs I admit, I’m of a generation that grew up and spent the early part of my career without a computer, to say nothing of the Internet, e-mail or Facebook. Every time I...

Economic crisis or not, there’s a lot of it going on these days— firms in our “industry” buying other companies— for a variety of reasons. And while there is lots of information out there on...

After 29 years observing leaders and managers in A/E/P and environmental firms (as well as many other professions and industries), I have learned that one of the keys to success is simply “being nice.” That...

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...

Regardless of how you feel about the results, the national, state, and local elections are now over. Yea! We can move on with our lives and get back to business. Lord knows many A/E/P and...

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...

More and more design and environmental firms are adding outsiders to their Boards of Directors. There are many reasons for doing so but that’s not the point of this article. Instead, what I want to...

I have written many times in the pages of The Zweig Letter about the importance of open book management (sharing the financials with everyone in the firm). It’s much more than a buzzword. It’s the...

Turnover is costly. All of the human resources experts can tell you that— some could even give you the real cost of turnover for any specific position to the penny if you wanted it! Staff...

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...

Now that we are fully working ourselves into a recession frenzy (whether we needed one or not), many A/E firms will be facing some tough choices IF they want to remain as profitable as they...

I was at Lowe’s the other day buying a Jacuzzi tub for a 1925 bungalow we are redoing from top to bottom to resell. While the plumbing guy ran off to get my tub, I...

One decision I made recently in my redevelopment business was to start running it more like a “real” business. This may seem strange coming from me— we always tried very hard to practice what we...

Like it or not, most firms in this business of any size have to borrow money. Whether the firm needs the money to provide operating capital while waiting to collect accounts receivable, to finance business...

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...

Much has been written on how to be a more effective seller— lots aimed at design professionals and much more written for other industries/professions. The problem with most of this stuff is the credibility of...

I just got back from ZweigWhite’s 2007 A/E Marketing Now Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was our biggest and best-attended marketing conference ever! My task was to open the show with a short talk...

By Mark Zweig | If you really want to raise your effective labor multiplier, here are some things to try.

I was sitting in a meeting of top managers in a fairly large A/E firm the other day when the topic of candidates for their vacant HR director’s position came up. The woman who had...

We have a terrible problem with accounts receivable in this business. The average A/E or environmental firm waits 80 days or so to get paid for their services whereas attorneys and accountants often get their...

As the fall air turns crisp and cool here in Northwest Arkansas, many folks’ thoughts turn to football, leaf raking, and the upcoming holiday season. Owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, however,...

Just about anything you read nowadays for our business mentions the top concern of firm owners everywhere is finding and keeping good people. Finding good people is never easy. Nor is it the topic of...

This morning, I am sitting on a bench outside Vol Walker Hall in the beautiful old campus area here at The University of Arkansas. Vol Walker Hall is home to our School of Architecture. Today,...

Somewhere in the journalistic masterpiece known as USA Today during the week of July 17 is a small blurb about business ethics. It was one of their polls that they regularly take. Forgive me for...

It’s been said before that “cash is king.” It’s also been said that you can be profitable and still go out of business if you run out of cash. That said, our industry— that of...

Anyone who knows me or who has read my writings on management for architects and engineers over the years knows that I absolutely HATE buzzwords. They automatically raise the suspicions of the smart design, management,...

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....

Regardless of your opinion of Bill Clinton (and I am sure, for the majority of A/E firm principals, it’s negative— as a group, you are 48% Republicans and only 17% Democrats!), you cannot deny one...

I was talking with a client of ours the other day— a very successful founder and CEO of a mid-sized engineering, planning, and surveying firm. I asked him the typical pleasantries such as, “How are...

I’ve written before in The Zweig Letter about the need for passion. Anyone who is going to be truly successful in an A/E or environmental firm has to have it. You have to LOVE what...

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...

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...

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...

The utilization data of A/E/P and environmental firms over the last several years pretty much proves that if you keep everyone overloaded you can’t help but be profitable. That’s easily accomplished in a heated market...

In the nineties, executive coaching became a popular management fad, particularly outside of the A/E/P and environmental industry. So while budget cutbacks in Fortune 500 and high-tech companies have eliminated a lot of these expenditures,...

Want to get some new jobs? Need them fast? If so, you aren’t alone. We have seen a number of our consulting clients and readers of The Zweig Letter face major reductions in their workload...

It’s becoming more apparent to me every day that human resources management as we know it needs a total overhaul. Many human resources experts (staff and consultants) are perpetuating bad advice, and the typical A/E/P...

Everyone says they’re interested in it, and there are all kinds of articles out there on the subject. How to attract and keep an outstanding workforce is clearly on the minds of many principals and...

I had a 56-year-old client say to me the other day that he just isn’t having any fun anymore. He wants to change his life, and he had decided to sell his firm so that...

I just got back from a College of Business Advisory Board meeting at my alma mater, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Thanks to the State of Illinois, I got my BS and MBA degrees...

I have had a chance to work with a great number of firm leaders over the years. Some were incredibly effective people. Some were incredibly ineffective, too. When you look at the characteristics of those...

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...

I don’t mind telling our readers that it’s a great feeling to have a vehicle such as The Zweig Letter to share my thoughts so widely. Along with that comes a certain responsibility not to...

Most intelligent, ambitious people working in A/E/P and environmental consulting firms aspire to be a leader some day. Whether it’s the CEO, managing partner, director of operations, or office manager job they covet varies from...

We just got back from the 15th Annual Inc. 500 Conference and Award Ceremony held in Philadelphia. Zweig White & Associates made it onto Inc. magazine’s list of 500 fastest-growing privately held firms for the...

Although conventional wisdom says that an A/E/P or environmental firm’s greatest asset is its staff, that may not always be so. I don’t want to diminish or underestimate the importance of the workers to a...

The long anticipated, talked about, and dreaded shortage of qualified people is here. Ask principals in most firms, and they will tell you that it’s very difficult right now to find staff— particularly engineers, geologists,...

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m not the sentimental type. But I must say— I love the people who work here. I love them because they work so hard, they never complain,...

If you are like a lot of our clients, 1994 was a really great year. For many firms, all indicators were up— including sales, backlog, revenues, and profitability. Our ZWEIG 100 index (based on 100...

Because marketing really is “where it’s at” for firms in this business, it’s hard for me to keep from writing about it. You see, an A/E/P or environmental consulting firm can solve just about any...

Ever been house hunting? No matter what you can afford, it’s never enough. Especially with the appalling things some people will do to their homes. I’m not just talking about starter homes (here in Boston,...

Good professionals have a lot in common— no matter what their profession. Take my six year-old’s kindergarten teacher, Ms. Donohoe. Many of the professionals working in design and environmental consulting firms could learn a thing...

We’ve all heard it before from people we work with: “I’m going to...” or “We’re going to...” or “I would have, but....” or “Some day, we’ll...” These “do-nothing” people may work for you, with you...

In any number of surveys conducted over the years on what demotivates professionals in the workplace, “not feeling in on things” always ranks at or near the top. By “demotivation,” we are referring to what...

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...