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By Gregory D. Teague | A strong culture isn’t built once – it’s nurtured daily through shared values, genuine investment in people, and lasting community impact.

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

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

By Josh Crawford | Our industry currently faces unique hurdles; success hinges on adopting tailored solutions combined with tried-and-true principles.

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

By Kevin Norgaard | Together, younger and older employees create a dynamic and innovative workplace where every generation has something valuable to offer.

By Will Swearingen | A well-thought-out, proactive plan is essential for ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of your firm.

By Emily Gaines | The words and numbers used to describe design concept, building component, and client goal form a dataset that guides decisions and improves project success.

By Mark Zweig | These employees go through the motions without adding value, negatively impacting growth and performance across organizations.

By Greg Sepeda | Seizing opportunities fosters a mindset of continuous improvement, enabling us to refine our skills and expand our horizons.

By Stephanie Putzke | As the AEC industry continues to push boundaries, the importance of building relationships has emerged as a cornerstone for success.

By Kraig Kern | The line between persuasive marketing and over-promising can be particularly fine and fraught with potential hazards.

By Jayna Duke | Reflections from a new principal on unexpected challenges, uncharted opportunities, and what it really takes to earn the title.

By Janki DePalma | It’s hard to shake off the feeling of being lazy, but it’s critical that we redefine our work-rest balance to enhance well-being and productivity.

By Mark Zweig | To have extraordinary success, you need to make an extraordinary effort and have your full attention on the business.

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

By Todd Perry | Lessons learned after taking a big risk to launch a new firm in an up-and-coming sector.

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

By Stephanie Warino | Improve your win rate by listening to what your clients say they want, instead of pushing the services you want to sell the most.

By Will Swearingen | A clear understanding of how your firm will be managed after a large shareholder’s exit can greatly increase success going forward.

By Katie Harrel & Charlotte Knight | Finding commonalities can help you build trust and strengthen relationships in this changing work environment.

By Talin Espinoza | Now that we’ve been working from home for a year, let’s unpack the pros and cons of our new lifestyle.

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

By Julie Benezet | Time limits tighten focus, propel you over challenging hurdles, and maximize your chances of success.

By Mark Zweig | It’s great to be needed, but it’s not really where you want to be. The position you should really seek to attain is to be wanted.

Firms are discovering new ways of operating that will allow them to be more effective and efficient throughout the rest of the pandemic and after.

If your firm has the following characteristics, the more likely an ESOP is a good and viable option for your firm.

It’s important to revisit your purpose and values statements from time to time to make sure they still hold true for your firm.

Founder of edg (New York, NY), a technology-driven firm that leverages the power of software and equipment to deliver higher quality projects in less time.

By Chad Clinehens | Now could be the perfect time to give yourself and the workings of your firm some much needed attention.

Burnout prevention is the key to healthy, growing, and resilient organizations, especially now.

CEO of Sambatek (Minneapolis, MN), a professional services firm with an authentic culture that promotes openness, transparency, and trust.

Exercise these 12 roles with care and you will be surprised by how many admire and understand why your firm has grown so successfully.

Why is work today so unfulfilling and how can we change that? Let’s set our sights on having an impact and figure out a way to get there.

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

We’re not too late in achieving gender balance and equity in engineering, but to make it happen, a lot of work needs to be done.

President and CEO of Eclipse Engineering (Best Firm Structural #12 for 2018), a Montana firm that likes to have a little “phun.”

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

President and CEO of Kleinschmidt (Best Firm #34 Multi-Discipline for 2018), a 140-person environmental consulting firm.

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...

“Just as it is easier (and cheaper) to keep an existing client than to get a new one, so goes it for your employees. Keeping good people is essential to your firm.”

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...

Innovation demands that we think, struggle, act, and sometimes fail. A tough slog, but it has to be done. It’s a balancing act to fit innovation into the daily practice of the AEC industry. Whether...

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

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...

It’s time to build a list that matters to you, and as you do, don’t let anything stand in your way, including skeptical friends and colleagues. With so many day-to-day responsibilities, it’s easy to postpone...

Claims are not like fine wine – they do not get better with time. So take these four steps to assess and manage potential exposures. Design firms are always looking for ways to increase revenues...

The decision to pursue an M&A growth strategy can benefit your firm, but it helps to know what you’re doing on the front end. At our annual Hot Firm and A/E Industry Awards Conference in...

While it is widely acknowledged that hiring people is probably the single greatest challenge faced by AEC firms today – and the problem WILL get worse and worse over the next 20 years – we...

If you want to achieve great things and have fun in the process, it’s best to foster a collaborative attitude. Review and approval processes vary greatly around our country, and two extremes are California and...

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...

Sonia A. Martinez, Chief Financial Officer of BCC Engineering, Inc. a Miami, Florida based engineering firm, is named as the 2016 recipient of Zweig Group’s Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award. When Martinez first joined...

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...

Understanding the nuances of a Happily Employed Job Candidate can boost your ability to hire the best people. I recently received an email from a client who was in the middle of arranging an interview...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Sept. 15, 2015) – Marian Young, CEO of BrightFields, was awarded the 2015 Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award by Mark Zweig, Founder and CEO of Zweig Group on Thursday September 3, 2015...

Habits that will make people not like you – yes, it includes always checking your phone. It’s been said before that for people to want to do business with you, they have to know you,...

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

In 2013, use the lessons learned in 2012 to have a better year – propelled by a slight breeze. Like many readers of The Zweig Letter, I’ve been working to refine the ZweigWhite business plan...

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

Is all business planning necessarily strategic planning? That was the topic of a lively discussion among some of our most successful management consulting folks a few weeks back— whether or not to lump all business...

With times as good as they are, particularly for architecture, engineering, and building-related environmental consulting firms, it’s hard to think about failure. But there are still firms going out of business and firms on the...

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...