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By Dave Williams | Policy slack combines structure with flexibility, empowering leaders with the room to move, own decisions, and grow.

By Dathan Gaskill | Fractional CFOs offer flexible, expert financial guidance to help AEC firms grow, reduce risk, and improve efficiency.

By Megan Valencia | Every employee plays a crucial role in recognizing and attracting top talent, shaping company culture, and ensuring long-term business success.

By Janki DePalma | Ghosting job candidates damages trust, reputation, and your firm’s future recruitment success.

By Mark Zweig | Success comes from bold, consistent marketing efforts that push visibility, build trust, and attract high-quality clients.

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

“I think the employee experience—and we've seen over the last five years how important the employee experience has been with how tight the labor market has been and how everybody is competing for the same...

By Sara Grayum | By collaborating closely, marketing and business development can craft stories that will steer your firm toward success.

By Mark Zweig | Too many firm owners want different results and want to be more successful, yet keep doing things the same way they always have.

By Andrew Cushman | Publishing an article with a client strengthens relationships, enhances visibility, and fosters long-term collaboration while showcasing project success.

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

By Ezequiel Tovar | These common leadership mistakes hinder the growth and success of your business.

By Lindsay Young | AEC firms that invest in marketing and business development enjoy higher profitability, attract aligned clients, and foster top talent.

By Daryl Simons Jr. & Jeremy Clarke | Rather than a liability, these candidates could offer an opportunity to uncover exceptional talent.

By Mark Zweig | Learn to be open with what your clients and insiders are telling you versus defensive about maintaining the status quo.

By Janki DePalma | Extroverts can create meaningful connections by observing cues, balancing conversation, and actively listening.

By Mark Zweig | These four things are beyond essential if you are serious about building an enduring organization that will evolve over time.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of MG2 (Seattle, WA), a global architecture, design, strategy, construction, and branding studio.

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 Jeremy Clarke | Spot these devastating hires before they sabotage your team.

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

By Mark Zweig | These 10 things will make a difference if you are serious about making your people more entrepreneurial.

By Rolf Armstrong | This exercise empowers employees and provides clear direction, allowing leadership to let go and focus on success during periods of growth.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Kaas Wilson Architects (Bloomington, MN), an architecture and interior design firm specializing in all types of multi-family housing.

By Jeremy Clarke | Job descriptions need radical simplification for authenticity, brevity, and impact in attracting top talent.

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

By Kraig Kern | If you stay disciplined, empathize with your team, and commit to excellence you can meet your deadlines and ultimately win more projects.

By Mark Zweig | Owning a firm that will be profitable and grow over time requires a longer term view and a willingness to invest in the people who generate the revenue.

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 Wendi Shafran | Representation matters and cultivating a diverse pipeline of future leaders can establish a foundation for inclusive and equitable decision making.

By Mark Zweig | When you work in a crowded field full of many companies that do essentially the same thing, you can either be one of many or you can choose to stand out.

By Fran Curtis | You’re shaping the next generation of leaders, so it’s important to be available to junior staff who are looking for a mentor.

By Conrey Guy | A standardized onboarding process is critical for the overall success of any organization, but especially in our industry.

By Cindy Sevilla Esparza | As long as learning is at the forefront of your goals, these skills will help you reach your career milestones.

By Jennifer Haddad | If you can approach the situation with empathy, compassion, and an open mind, you can create a positive experience and leave the door open for future opportunities.

By Mark Zweig | You can learn something from every new experience, so don’t lose the sense of curiosity and wonder you had as a kid.

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

James Garrett Jr., an award-winning architect from St. Paul, Minnesota, has been pushing the needle forward in the design industry for more than two decades. In this episode, he discusses the benefits of having a business...

By Mitch Fortner | To be effective over the long-term for an organization, our personal ambition must be grounded in mutual respect, collaborative teamwork, and integrity.

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 Mercedez Thompson | It’s worthwhile to continue conversations around what marketing is and is not and why it’s critical to your bottom line.

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 Liisa Andreassen | President of Mancini Duffy, a national design firm based in NYC with a 100-year-old history and tech-forward approach specializing in architecture, planning, and interior design.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Martin/Martin (Denver, CO), a full-service civil and structural engineering and surveying firm founded in the 1940s.

By Randy Wilburn | Zweig Group’s podcast has gone through several evolutions over the years – and it just had its biggest yet.

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 Kraig Kern | Your firm’s collective strengths can and should be applied to make your new employees’ onboarding a standout experience.

By Rob Hughes | Many design firms that adjusted their workplace to address COVID-19 face heightened exposures to employment-related litigation and related negative consequences.

By Dathan Gaskill | Our industry hasn’t done a great job of managing risk comprehensively or systematically. There’s a better way.

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

By Jim Pappas | How scalable systems can be used to find the right people, bring a new product idea to life, and help it grow quickly and profitably.

By Lindsay Young | Investing a small amount of time and money to train employees on presentation skills could lead to millions of dollars of work for your firm.

By Jane Lawler Smith | When interviewing your co-workers, peers, and clients, take a walk and harness the power of storytelling together.

By Michael Syracuse | There are many ways to connect to others and contribute to a person’s professional and personal growth.

By Jenny Phan | Get your technical professionals comfortable with sharing their stories and they’ll promote your firm, their good work, and their team.

By Will Swearingen | Problems can arise when two leaders have distinctly different philosophies about how to run a business.

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 Mark Zweig | This is essential if you want to build a good firm of competent people who can keep the business going whether you’re there or not.

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

Getting creative with your video marketing efforts requires a continual adaptation of your strategy, but doing so will allow you to make the most of this valuable marketing tool.

By Mark Zweig | Many people in this business will say they agree with this idea, yet the people doing the hiring rarely do it.

We need to remain flexible for the foreseeable future as we continue to determine what is resonating with our clients.

By Mark Zweig | “Sometimes I think it is good to reflect back on all the lessons I have learned over the years. Here are a few that stand out to me.”

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

Zweig Group, a leading provider of advisory services, research, and education for the AEC industry, is pleased to announce a partnership with Workfolio, the innovative leader in professional visibility applications. With the increasing reliance on...

It comes down to respect and providing for your employees. If you do these two things, your people will quickly become your biggest cheerleaders.

For many leaders, business development resides outside their core competencies and comfort zone, to their firm’s detriment.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | In this year of upheaval and change, the most important component of any successful firm remains the same.

Educating yourself about these biases as well as potential strategies for mitigation can help you avoid prejudice in your decision-making.

LaShawn Stewart-Baylor, founder of Integrated CM Solutions, talks about how she got her first project within days of starting the business, the challenges faced by minority AEC firms, the importance of relationships, and more.

By Will Swearingen | In recent months, long-time issues like communication have been trumped by new challenges: loneliness, problems with technology, work-life balance, and distractions.

Co-founder and managing partner of Shear Structural (Chamblee, GA), a 100 percent women-owned and women-managed structural engineering firm.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Though the immediate impact of COVID-19 is bleak for many in our industry, there is reason to see the foundation forming for a different type of AEC firm.

Submit to: ElevateHer@zweiggroup.com Deadline: 6/15/20 Across multiple industries companies are realizing that diversity is more than just a buzzword. Project teams with individuals with diverse ages, values/beliefs, traditions, ethnic backgrounds, and personalities are continually outperforming...

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 Jamie Claire Kiser | Lessons learned from conversations with industry leaders about separation anxiety, empowerment, and calm confidence.

By combining traditional marketing tactics with unique approaches for our industry, AEC firms can get ahead of the competition, stay relevant, and win more and better contracts.

President and CEO of Wallace Engineering (Tulsa, OK), a structural and civil engineering consulting firm that believes in being active citizens, in both our profession and communities.

Finding and hiring good engineers is critically important, but difficult to accomplish. Don’t be afraid to seek outside help or use assessment tools to help you along the way.

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

By Christina Zweig Niehues | Their characteristics, differences from their male counterparts, and how to create an environment that fosters women leaders.

Connections across teams and offices increase employee engagement and performance, but the connections must be fostered.

“Even if you don’t apply it to your business, knowing probabilities of success will at least keep you from buying scratch tickets or blowing your cash in a slot machine at a casino somewhere!”

Undisciplined growth, poor people focus, low financial performance, and a weak capital structure can sink a firm – even big ones with brand names. I’ve been working with several colleagues for the past four years...

If your firm has a weekly or monthly newsletter, great. But if not, you need to get cracking on that important piece of internal communication. Does your firm have an internal newsletter or some kind...

AEC firms struggle with it, but if a firm is to thrive in the good times and the bad, a quantifiable plan of attack is essential. Marketing, business development, and sales aren’t usually the top...

By Christina Zweig Niehues | AEC credentials are necessary for the work of designing and building, but that’s not the case regarding firm management and ownership.

They are everywhere, but they don’t have to win. Identify their behavior and rectify it, or risk losing your staff. Regrettably, we have all been there, regardless of the profession. Whether it’s real estate, marketing,...

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...

Sharing something personal about your history is a great way to connect with a selection panel – and, of course, to win work. Making a strong first impression and connecting with the selection panel are...

I was thinking about social media and what a phenomenon it is and how it is now such a big part of our culture. Even though the odds are against it, you may be someone...

Tribes provide compelling places for support, validation, and direction, but tribalism cannot be allowed to thwart a firm’s success. I chose psychology as a major in college because I thought it would help me understand...

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

Shared values among staff are certainly important, but if a good fit is all you’re looking for, your firm could go stale. Editor’s note: This post first appeared on the Perkins + Will blog at...

If you’re a CEO, you need to take a good look at your team. Their passion projects outside of work could end up being multipliers for your firm. The title printed on my business card...

‘Why in the hell should we hire you over all these other firms?’ It’s a simple question you’d better be ready to answer if you want the contract. If you watched any of the Olympics...

Zweig Group just released its 2018 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Environmental Consulting Firms. The report covers many of the questions that firm leaders are faced with when they look...

By Scott Johnston | Time is a luxury AEC teams do not have. And time spent on a losing effort drains resources, morale, and bandwidth on existing projects.

Ditch the sleazy misconceptions. When you’re talking about how much enjoyment and pride you take in your work, and making connections, you’re selling. What sets you apart? That question is asked of all of us...

Talent and skill are essential, but keep a close eye on cultural fit if you want to avoid the mistake of bringing the wrong person on board. I was recently talking with a client who...

There’s always something nice about a new year. It’s a fresh start. It’s time for a new plan. The accounting starts all over at zero. Let’s get going! Here are my thoughts: Org structure. Do...

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...

After 14 years of teaching entrepreneurship at The Sam M. Walton College of Business at The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, I have learned there are two paths to entrepreneurial success. The first path –...

No generation owns the work ethic, but when it comes to motivation and anxiety, there’s a big difference between millennials and boomers. I recently read a report from Project: Time Off called, “The Work Martyr’s...

"Client satisfaction surveys" or "client perception studies" in the architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting industry are about a lot more than putting a quick happiness rating on a client. When conducted correctly, these surveys...

The ‘next big thing’ in marketing and business development is not a piece of software, but the people behind it. I recently provided a day-long marketing and business development consultation for a very well-known niche...

There’s nothing wrong with using visuals in your presentation, but you must remember that you’re the star, not the slide show. From PowerPoint and Keynote to Prezi and boards, visuals are an important element of...

If you want entrepreneurship in the DNA of your firm’s culture, a top-down commitment to innovation and risk is essential. How important is culture? Since it’s the amorphous, intangible, and mysterious thing that drives your...

All of us have a story to tell, so don’t shy away from it in your professional life. It could be the key ingredient for your firm’s success. Everyone loves a good story. That’s why...

Company culture is about much more than the fun you have, the events you sponsor, time off, and cushy health benefits. Our personal core values are developed from an early age. For me, they were...

Ditch the lecture-and-listen style of training and replace it with something much more effective – the do-it-to-learn-it style. In the ultra-competitive AEC job market, professional growth is becoming the new perk. Employees and candidates –...

Your next generation of business builders has arrived. Have you shown them the way forward with a comprehensive set of goals and expectations? What are the career paths in your firm? The next generation wants...

Co-founder, president, and CEO of P2S Engineering, Inc. (Best Firms To Work For Multi-discipline #8 and Hot Firm #27 for 2017), a consulting engineering firm in Long Beach, CA. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The belief...

A visit with a successful principal from a fast growing MEP firm in London, Ontario. In this episode, Randy Wilburn interviewed Derek Reid, principal with Callidus Engineering in London, Ontario. Reid became a principal this...

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

In this episode of the podcast, Randy Wilburn and Sanjay Jenkins discuss the rise of AI in the job application process, referencing the Wall Street Journal article “In Unilever’s Radical Hiring Experiment, Resumes Are Out,...

When a client selects another firm, learn why and stay in touch. Who knows, you just might win the next round. Think back to your childhood. Did you play on a sports team that had...

Learning from external sources can be highly beneficial, but you must also master the art of blocking out the noise and staying the course. I have to admit it: I often feel like a fraud...

Keeping a good team together requires lots of maintenance, great perks and benefits, and the willingness to toss out the bad apples. I get asked the same question all the time – how do I...

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...

Your firm’s reputation can be made, or broken, on the internet. Maintain a clean online image if you want to attract and keep top talent. I’m constantly fielding questions from clients and potential clients about...

Break free from immediate metrics and returns, because with marketing, the ROI could take months or even years to realize. Growing up in the ‘80s, the recent passing of George Michael brought a lot of...

By Phil Keil | Strategic planning is the roadmap to your firm’s success. Without it, you might get knocked down and never get back up.

Strategic planning is the roadmap to your firm’s success. Without it, you might get knocked down and never get back up. I have a lot on my mind this week, so get ready, buckle up,...

In this episode of the podcast, Randy Wilburn talked to Richard Massey, Zweig Group’s director of newsletters. They talked about Massey’s role with TZL and how the newsletter has evolved over the years (you can...

They wreck the recruiting process, and a lot of them want a great offer to use as leverage for a raise where they already work. Remember how recruiters used to sneak up and wow candidates...

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

If you make it that far in the interview process, don’t forget to show the potential client your best asset – your ability to make a human connection. A few weeks ago, your A/E team...

People always laugh over here at Zweig Group when I launch into a tirade about a guy who worked for us long ago. This fellow was a consultant – an engineer with an MBA –...

While many of them might have flopped, you still have a chance to make the most important one a reality – ownership transition. Welcome to March! And congratulations on making it through all those resolutions!...

99 is a lot of problems, how about 9 common problems and some solutions. 1) Difficulty making a decision. Engineers too often really struggle with this one. There’s never enough information. Therefore, it is deemed...

There are four ways AEC project managers can shine in team interviews. Try them all and win more work. Juggler. Cat herder. Diplomat. They go by many names, but project managers have one of the...

Building a relocation program to recruit and retain talent in the design industry should be a primary focus of any sound HR program. You’ve been there before. You’ve spent time sourcing, researching, and recruiting the...

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...

McKim & Creed’s Building, Energy, and Infrastructure division is taking off in North Carolina and is set to expand in Florida and Texas. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent In 1978 McKim & Creed, Inc. (Best Firm...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about dealing with the negative people or "Debbie Downer's," in your...

Sure – it’s hard to hire good people. There are lots of reasons for it. One of them is that we aren’t keying into the talent pool all around us. People in our network. People...

The two don’t have to be at odds with each other. Make sure someone’s at least answering the phones so perks don’t impede responsiveness. Coming off the high of our annual Hot Firm and A/E...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about collecting your Firms money. ( "Collect your money," Issue 1162,...

Thanks for checking out our TZL Extra video series here at Zweig Group. Our goal is to bring you the best and brightest minds leading the Design Industry. In this episode, we have Will Schnier,...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about the role of HR in the Recruitment process ( "The...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about dealing with the unexpected departure of an employee. ( "When...

In our brand new podcast format, we interview Mark Zweig, CEO of Zweig Group about an article he recently wrote in The Zweig Letter about improving your business development skills in the AEC space "Becoming...

Recruiting top talent to small markets is an adventure, but with persistence, you can ride the horse all the way to the summit. As I was discussing the need for a lead architect with a...

Architect Mike Reynolds, founder and owner of an unconventional design-build company, uses recycled materials to construct a sustainable enterprise. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Mike Reynolds, the founder of Earthship Biotecture, rose from obscurity outside...

If the recent case of NBA superstar Kevin Durant can teach us anything, it’s that the recruitment of rare talent takes an equally rare effort. The NBA free agency period that recently unfolded was quite...

The towers just south of Central Park are supertall and eye popping, but as sales taper off, and as opposition to them grows, a hush envelopes the design community. By Richard Massey Managing Editor At...

Project needs and client needs are two different things. If you want to win more work, figure out the human side of the equation and you’ll be rewarded. AEC firms often approach proposals and interviews...

I love human resources people. Believe it or not, I was one of them once. I even authored the only hardcover book published on the topic for the A/E industry, Human Resources Management: The Complete...

As with most things in life, there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to going after new work in the AEC industry. This is especially true when times are good, as they...

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...

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...

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...

If a firm is to achieve something spectacular, its leaders have to have big hearts, and they have to galvanize the entire staff. One of the most rewarding things we do as consultants is guide...

It’s easy to spout acronyms, tell inside jokes, and use empty jargon, but oftentimes, people are just pretending to know what you mean. Have you ever been in one of those meetings where a topic...

Registration for the Best Firms To Work For Awards, Zweig Group’s ranking of the best workplaces in the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry, has come to a close, but entries to Zweig Group’s other awards...

If you are planning an event, pay attention to the details so that your firm can reap the full benefits of publicity, business development, and old-fashioned fun. Holding an event is not something just for...

For most of my career, I have defended the "new generation," i.e., those just getting out of school and starting their careers. The older people have always complained about the group coming in behind them,...

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...

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...

Garver, LLC (North Little Rock, AR), a 375-person multidiscipline engineering firm, is taking home fifth place in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its 95th anniversary campaign. 2014 marked...

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...

Thornton Tomasetti Group, Inc. (New York, NY) – an 850-person structural engineering, façade engineering, sustainability, and multidisciplinary forensics firm – is the third place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing...

Forbes released an article today titled Trying To Sell A Business? You Need To Look At It The Way A Buyer Would by Steve Parrish outlining the process potential sellers should follow to make themselves...

Over-confidence going into a proposal or interview can create a self-fulfilling prophecy; front-runners must be sure to wow clients. We have all been there. We find out we are short-listed for that project that we...

A/E/P and environmental firms have tons to juggle, but ensuring that your company is finding the best candidates to fill openings should top the list. Recruitment is important to the health of a company, and,...

Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Firms, 2nd edition covers projects from inception to completion and beyond. By Andrea Bennett Managing Editor On April 30, Zweig Group will release the second edition of its...

Quantitative and qualitative data provide industry leaders with valuable information for making decisions. One of the distinctions of companies that do well over the long-haul, versus those who enjoy only a limited period of growth...

Bad résumés, Skype, and doing favors Why flexibility is key when hiring your next top employee. By Randy Wilburn Recruiting Notes Image courtesy of Flanzingo https://www.flazingo.com/creativecommons One of the things that always stands out to...

Three ideas to help you implement a successful HR recruiting program. I sit here writing this article the day after Super Bowl 49. I’m neither a Patriots nor Seahawks fan but it was an exciting...

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...

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...

Is personality a window to culture when interviewing candidates? It’s amazing how often the word “culture” is used in the recruiting process. More often than not, a candidate’s fit with, or should I say into,...

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...

Recruiting may not be immediately seen as a great branding tool, but it is. I’ll bet you never imagined your recruiting process could be an important brand-building tool for your firm. How can that be?...

Make your company stronger by involving marketing folks in the sales process. I recently attended a SMPS “Spring Training” one day seminar in Oklahoma. The first speaker, Carolyn Ferguson, asked several probing questions about developing...

Feel trapped at work? Four suggestions from Mark Zweig to help you have a saner lifestyle. It’s interesting – and frustrating as well – to see how many A/E/P and environmental firm owners and managers...

Go deeper on the statements you make to potential clients. Convincing them to hire you takes a customized approach every time. How many times have you used the “we’re local” crutch as one of your...

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...

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?...

Eight suggestions from Mark Zweig to motivate staff, from office decor to proposal-making. I can’t stand it when my seven-year-old tells us how bored she is. Drives me absolutely insane! But I’m afraid that boredom...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 997 Originally published 3/4/2013 HR, recruiting and hiring teams also need to take a critical look at their operations, so make use of...

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

By Jeremy Clarke Director, Executive Search Consulting ZweigWhite Recruiting and selection can be a meticulous and costly campaign. Those who recruit regularly know that an average management-level search can last 90 days or more. These...

Press Release: June 23, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 23, 2011) –Social media is quite the hot topic, but are architecture, engineering and environmental consulting firms achieving their intended goals with the use of these outlets?...

Ketan Chawla is a 22 year-old Financial Analyst who has been working at ZweigWhite in the Fayetteville office for nearly one year. In his time, Ketan has seen a lot of change. “I’ve seen change...

Press Release: March 28, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (March 28, 2011) – ZweigWhite’s first course in its new Project Management eLearning Inititative—“Managing Project Communications”—recently achieved approval by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), allowing course takers...

Press Release: March 8, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (March 8, 2011) — Architecture enhances people’s lives, and the emerging recognition of this effect is earning the profession newfound respect, says Clark Manus, the new president of...

By Ed Friedrichs What, you may ask, is this all about? A few days ago I began a blog dialogue (I feel like I’m finally entering the 21st century when I participate in a blog...

By Jeff Clark From a personal viewpoint, I often wondered in the past what I would say, and with such frequency, on this celebrity-glamorized and ego-centric platform called Twitter. I’m not John Mayer and if...

Press Release: February 22, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, AR (February 23, 2011) – ZweigWhite’s new eLearning courses offer easy, convenient project management (PM) training ideally suited for today’s time-pressed, on-the-go professionals in the architecture, engineering, planning and...

By Mark C. Zweig Many folks in our business want to act like they have a “purpose-driven organization.” What is that, you may ask? To me it is very simply a company that exists for...

Press Release: January 7, 2011 If the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry has learned one thing in 2010, it’s that recov­ery doesn’t happen overnight. Last year there was an expectation that 2010 might provide the...

The Architecture Billings Index, the American Institute of Architects' monthly gauge of design activity, moved up for the third straight month in August from 47.9 to 48.2, but still reflects an overall decline by falling...

I was recently interviewed for a magazine article about the residential redevelopment projects we do here in Fayetteville. In addition to figuring out why my houses sell either before we start working on them or...

It’s pretty well accepted by most firm owners that if you want to be successful in the A/E/P or environmental business, you MUST keep the good clients you have. No one’s marketing is so good...

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...

With so much negative information coming in— project cancellations, Warren Buffet stating in an interview that “the economy has fallen off a cliff,” and amazing stock market declines— along with layoffs and, for those who...

If you have a firm of any size and have been in business for any length of time, you will at some point discover one of your key people is interviewing with a competitor. You...

Lawrence Tunican was really starting to wonder what was wrong. Was the company he started nearly 30 years ago— Tunican Engineering— that uncool of a place to work? He could not hire young people any...

Bob Cunningham was the 57-year-old CEO of C-6 Architects and Engineers in Seattle, Washington. He became CEO of the company in 1992. Cunningham took great pride in witnessing the firm’s growth from 30 people when...

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

A recent article in The Zweig Letter where various A/E and environmental firm principals were asked about the best interview questions to ask prospective employees got me thinking. It got me thinking about what I...

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...

It is conventional wisdom that our companies are only “as good as the people we employ” and that “our greatest assets go home each night.” Over the years, I have heard literally thousands of owners...

One trait that I have often observed in those design and environmental professionals who are known in their field is they aren’t afraid to stand out in a crowd. Whether it’s their bowtie, their red...

No doubt about it— A/E and environmental firms do waste money on useless research. Finding out, for example, how large the land development market is nationally, when you have a need to create work for...

When it comes to keeping clients truly satisfied and coming back year after year for every service your firm provides, most A/E/P and environmental firms have a long way to go. Creating a genuine experience...

As the new year gets ready to start, most companies in the A/E/P and environmental consulting business are gearing up to hire. Sure— most of the needs are for experienced staffers— but, since there are...

You’ll hear it at any gathering of A/E/P and environmental consulting firm owners— hiring is at the top of the list of challenges they’re facing as we head into 2006. That said, there’s still too...

As most long-time readers of The Zweig Letter know, I can’t stand it when someone quotes the latest pop management book or article. The authors are always a little too smug in the universal applicability...

It’s been said before that success comes from 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration. That’s one reason why I never worried about who saw our strategic business plan. Knowing WHAT to do is the easy part....

Architects, engineers, and planners are always talking about what they will do to keep their clients happy. In marketing meetings, repeat business statistics of 80% or better are bandied about with pride, and chests are...

I’ve said it before. The standards— what we expect— from people who are supposed to sell the work to keep our staffs busy in our A/E and environmental firms— are woefully low. Forty calls a...

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?”...

Every single A/E or environmental firm in this country needs more people who can sell work. These people feed the rest of the firm, allow the owners to sleep at night, and are generally the...

As anyone who’s read any business books in the last decade can tell you, Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” is a classic that will be talked about for years to come. In the book, Collins...

As management consultants to the A/E/P and environmental industry for many years, we get up close and personal with literally hundreds of firms each and every year. Many of these are very successful companies that...

It is a sad day as I write this. I am at Boston’s Logan International Airport waiting for a flight to Dallas-Fort Worth so I can attend the funeral of my long-time friend and mentor,...

The older I get the more convinced I am that being a successful leader in a design firm is every bit as much an art as it is a science. You just can’t teach someone...

Mike Fruitwood, seven months into the job of COO of his firm, shook his head. “How are we ever going to build this company if we can’t get our act together on scheduling?” he wondered...

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...

With all of the employment-related pressures that firms face today, it’s getting harder and harder to figure out what you really need to pay somebody to do a given job. There are so many ways...

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...

We talk a lot about marketing in The Zweig Letter. And we’ll continue doing so until we think all our readers have gotten the message about what it takes to really start using the knowledge...

“Process marketing” is a term you’ll see a lot of in The Zweig Letter. Heck, we even have a supplemental, stand-alone Process Marketing Advisor devoted entirely to the subject! The reason is that process marketing...

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...

t seems to me the only way to really be successful is to be different from everyone else. Whether it’s your career or your firm we are talking about, it’s all the same. Yet many...

This week, you get three topics for the price of one. What makes for value? An article in the February 21 edition of The Boston Globe under the headline “Internet ad company stock gains 57%...

“The client will hire us because we have a long-standing relationship.” Don’t get too comfortable. Many firms take existing clients for granted. And when this happens, the deterioration in service quality is almost imperceptible (in...

From my experience, I’d say that most owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental firms have forgotten that recruiting is selling. Instead of trying to create the best impression they can on every person who...

Until the 69,000 firms who make up the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry wake up and start doing something different marketing-wise, we’re destined to remain a fragmented group of small firms owned by people who...

After I got my MBA, my first job was with a consulting firm that served the construction and real estate development industry. They worked for large and small companies of all kinds— general contractors, heavy/highway...

Mention “human resources management,” and too many principals and managers working in A/E/P and environmental firms will turn their noses up. They immediately associate it with benefits administration or eight-page performance appraisal forms, instead of...

We’ve all experienced the joy of doing business with a company that acts as if their people like serving you. It really is a great feeling. Most of the time, it happens with businesses like...

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)...

When you hear the word “elitism,” it usually strikes a negative chord. Used in the context of describing an A/E/P or environmental consulting firm, the first thing that comes to mind is: “They think they’re...

I visited one of my favorite client companies the other day. It’s a mid- to large-sized consulting engineering firm that has been around a while. The principals are entrepreneurial. The staff is pretty good, too,...

I hear from a lot of disgruntled people working in support roles in A/E and environmental consulting firms— (“support” meaning anyone whose primary job function does not create revenue for the firm). I know how...

When it’s time to hire, most A/E and environmental consulting firms do a pretty good job defining their needs in terms of education, registrations, experience, and so forth. But they don’t do a good job...

It’s the time of year when you can’t reach anyone on the telephone, when important decisions seem to be postponed, and when, as one CFO who participates in our ZWEIG 100 index remarked recently, firm-wide...

The ability of an A/E or environmental consulting firm to quickly hire qualified people for any opening affects virtually every aspect of its management. I call it “supply-side human resources management.” If you think about...

The importance and difficulty of maintaining quality was driven home to me personally last month. We sent out 12,000 pieces of mail promoting a new book, only to discover after the fact that the price...

Although I’ve been trying to preach the gospel for years now, most principals of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms still do not understand what human resources management is all about. First, there’s the way so...