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By Kyle Ahern | Employee survey data reveals the hidden drivers of culture, retention, and performance in AEC firms.

By Kraig Kern | AEC's next competitive advantage isn't expertise; it's how fast you unlock it.

By Mark Zweig | There are things you can do to stay positive and prevent pessimism from ruining your ability to lead.

By Earl Mott | Thoughts from both sides of this mutually beneficial relationship over the course of a career.

By Eileen Shields | Growing from a startup to nearly 100 employees, this firm thrives through agility, teamwork, and delivering high-quality solutions at the core of its business.

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

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 Mark Zweig | These four components all work in concert to make buying the business more affordable and easier to fund.

By Mark Zweig | See how you stack up against the best in the industry – and remember, it’s never too late to change your behavior.

By Mark Zweig | Becoming an owner in the firm you work for means you are making a total commitment – don’t make it carelessly.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of UES (Orlando, FL), a privately held, rapidly growing engineering and consulting firm and No. 1 Hot Firm three years in a row.

By Mark Zweig | Every entrepreneurial company should have some big, game-changing things it is working on.

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

By Mark Zweig | Looking back at more than 30 years in business, from the founding of the company to today.

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 Mark Zweig | People who exhibit these qualities are likely to be well-thought of by their people and, more importantly, are able to achieve goals that others deemed impossible.

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

By Liisa Andreassen | President of 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 | If you want your business to be a multi-generational enterprise, you need to recognize when it’s time to step aside and pass the reins to your successor.

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 Mark Zweig | This is the time of year many of us, and many of our clients, will take a family vacation, so do what you can to step away and enjoy it.

By Mark Zweig | There are so many positive aspects of this industry, and it’s important that we keep reminding ourselves and our people why this is such a great business.

By Mark Zweig | Business ownership can be one of the most rewarding things for any person to participate in.

By Stephen Schwind | Employee retention is a two way street, requiring trust between both the company and the employee.

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

By Mark Zweig | If you really know your business, you can make money in any market – even one as crazy as this.

By Liisa Andreassen | Owner of Croft, Inc. (Acworth, GA), a full-service architecture and engineering firm that serves clients nationally in many diverse markets of the public and private sectors.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing principal at GGLO (Seattle, WA), a firm that believes it’s both the opportunity and responsibility of design to inspire the best aspects of community.

By Liisa Andreassen | Co-owner of UMA Geotechnical Construction (Colfax, NC), an experienced design-build, geotechnical contractor with a proven record of performance in diverse soil conditions.

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 Kyle Ahern | A good, standardized parental leave policy is a major benefit that can set your firm apart.

By Mark Zweig | There are many ways to show courage, and Jerry Allen showed real courage in his willingness to confront every single obstacle in his life.

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

By Mark Zweig | Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are still doing what you want to do every day. Maybe now is the time to get really serious about your transition.

By Mark Zweig | Things are real messy right now, but we can all get safely to our destinations if we keep our cool.

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

By Mark Zweig | “My good friend of more than 25 years, Jack Portman passed away suddenly on the morning of August 28.”

President and senior principal of ICON Architecture (Boston, MA), a women-owned, SOMBDA certified firm that’s staffed over 50 percent by women.

By Phil Keil | Developing a legacy-building strategy requires looking within to the sources of your greatest purpose and potential.

Principal at GH2 Architects (Tulsa, OK), an international architecture and design firm founded in 1973 that’s flexible, engaging, and fun.

We must inspire, include, empower, and educate all genders, races, and ages to look past biases and change the cultural norms that have shaped and still affect our industry.

Managing a client’s expectations is a delicate art that requires planning, restraint, and diligence.

Don’t put your wins and losses into the magical hands of fortune. It’s better to look at your career as a product of your own actions.

CEO of Caldwell Associates, a firm that’s not afraid to fail, and that’s strong enough to pick up and keep going.

Using both sides of his brain, and with empathy, can-do man is engineering a great career in Seattle.

President of PDC Engineers (Best Firm Multidiscipline #45 for 2018), a 100-person firm headquartered in Fairbanks, Alaska.

“Years ago, I worked for an A/E firm in Memphis by the name of Pickering, Wooten, Smith and Weiss. My boss was Don Smith and my mentor was Irving Weiss. Both of them taught me...

When the veteran transportation engineer changed lanes from the public sector to a private firm, he used his blinker and stepped on the gas.

President and CEO of Chen Moore & Associates (Best Firm Multidiscipline #26 and Hot Firm #88 for 2018), a 70-person firm based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Even more important than a...

CEO of Apex Companies, LLC (Hot Firm #41 for 2017), a 700-person environmental engineering firm based in Rockville, Maryland. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There is nothing that drives value creation for an organization more than...

Transparency, training, and feedback are all important, but so is remembering that people don’t live to work, they work to live. In recent TZL articles you’ve heard my thoughts about sharing the company’s financial results...

President of CMTA (Hot Firm #2 for 2017), a 250-person consulting engineering firm, and a leader in net-zero energy, based in Louisville, Kentucky. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “I think it’s important not to micro-manage people,”...

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...

As a coach, your choices can impact the fate of your team members, so take pains to put the right people in the right places. I didn’t grow up in a very sports-centric family. We...

Assignments, attitudes, and acknowledgment – if you take care of the Big Three, your marketing people will do great things. I have been an A/E industry marketer since the early 1980s. In those 30-plus years,...

(HOUSTON, TX – July 28, 2017) WGI is pleased to announce that Jacob Gonzalez, PE joined the firm’s Parking Solutions Division in its new partner, Carl Walker, a division of WGI. Jacob, as Vice President-Parking...

CEO of Woodard & Curran (Hot Firm #80 for 2016), a 1,000-person integrated engineering, science, and operations firm based in Portland, Maine. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Live by the contract; never lose sight of it,”...

CEO of HGA (a multiple Hot Firm award winner), a national, 750-person integrated architecture, engineering, and planning firm based in Minneapolis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Our most successful proposals help the client visualize the journey...

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

Casual leader of engineering firm is doing what he wants to do, surrounding himself with smart people, and getting the job done. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent After 20 years of working for someone else, David...

Working with millennials was a hot topic at the recent Hot Firm and A/E Industry Awards Conference. Most researchers define the millennial generation as those born anywhere between 1982 and 2004 (although some sources end...

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...

Arbitrary or unduly bureaucratic rules demotivate employees, impose unnecessary constraints, and can even spark an office rebellion. Years ago, I started work at a new office where I had two administrative assistants supporting me. One...

A Q&A might be just what the doctor ordered if you want to shed new light on your career and the choices you’ve made along the way. A start-up company I’m mentoring here in Reno...

Take a look at the strategic plan, the budget, and the checklist, before making the decision on whether or not to attend. Attending trade shows can be a very expensive proposition, ranging from whether your...

Dear Christy, I have a son who is in engineering school. I'd really like to have him join our firm and eventually succeed me in running this business. How do you suggest I make that...

Inspiration is necessary for technical/design professionals and those who manage projects to be successful. I watched an outstanding documentary recently on the life of Henry Ford. I learned a lot about him – and heard...

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.”...

Strategic cooperation among competitors can result in big gains for each firm and better projects for clients. I hadn’t heard of “coopetition” – a contraction of cooperation and competition – for a while, but it...

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...

Mark Zweig offers five suggestions on how to stay out of trouble and in the black. One of the greatest challenges is keeping your business profitable. It’s easiest when you’re growing. Revenue is going up...

Mark Zweig contrasts five examples of individuals best avoided. It has been said before that you “can tell a lot about someone by the company they keep.” It is such a true statement! Successful people...

Mark Zweig offers 13 lucky suggestions on how to be closer to your clients. How you manage your clients is a big part of success in the A/E or environmental consulting business. And these skills...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 994 Originally published 2/11/2013 Twitter is riddled with management experts. Mark Zweig dispels them all. I spend a little time every day on...

By Ed Friedrichs Chairman, ZweigWhite As architects and engineers, we’re in a long-cycle business. That means we work on long duration assignments, often with extended start/stop cycles— waiting for a public hearing, an EIR to...

By Ed Friedrichs Chairman, ZweigWhite A good friend and business associate, Kit Miyamoto (CEO of Miyamoto International, a structural engineering firm based in California) recently sent me a reference to a one-minute video by John...

Press Release: May 2, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (May 2, 2011) – Industry leader Daniel A. Cuoco will become the editor of Structural Engineer (formerly Structural Engineering & Design), effective June 1, 2011. The magazine is...

I first predicted the recession on Aug. 13, 2007, in an article in The Zweig Letter, Issue No. 724, entitled, “Many have been lulled…” (referring to the false sense of security about the economy that...

If you look at why most A/E firms just sort of muddle along, and yet a few are growing by leaps and bounds, you’ll find the “secret ingredient” in the growing firms’ recipe is often...

When I passed the baton to Dick Ryan as our CEO three years ago, it allowed me to move on and do some other things I have always wanted to do. One of those activities...

It’s time to call an end to something that there are entirely too many of in A/E/P and environmental firms everywhere— lazy marketing directors. I am talking about those marketing directors who do very little...

I was surprised to see in our latest 2004 Principals, Partners & Owners Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms that the balancing of work and personal life issue was barely on the radar screen...

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

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

It’s popular to say that everyone in the firm needs to be able to sell the firm’s services. Heck, I’ve even said it myself at times. The problem is that not everyone can sell. It’s...

Right now may be the best time ever to go out and buy another firm. People are depressed, their sense of optimism is considerably dimmer, and many A/E/P and environmental firms are performing accordingly. That...

Everyone in our country seems to be worried about terrorists. Undoubtedly, there are some good reasons to be concerned. But maybe the trouble is even closer to home— like in your own firm. We find...

Friday afternoon finally rolled around. Joe Jetson gathered up everything he needed to work at home over the weekend and tossed it all into his briefcase. This was the worst week Joe could remember in...

One of the best benefits of working at ZweigWhite is the free food and drink we get. We give everyone whatever they want as long as you can store it in a cabinet or a...

The idea came to me at 3:50 p.m. on Sunday, January 2, 2000. It was a balmy afternoon here in the Boston area— temperatures in the 60s, sunny and bright. I took out my wife’s...

Let’s face it. Some clients just aren’t worth dealing with. They are too much trouble, they are dishonest, they don’t pay, they don’t do what they say they will...and the aggravation that comes from trying...

The headline for this week’s editorial sounds like the title of a bad country and western song, but there’s a lot of truth in it. Maybe it’s human nature, but we don’t seem to appreciate...

We went to Scottsdale, Arizona, on a family vacation last week. Of course, we did the usual tourist stuff. We visited Montezuma’s Castle near Sedona and rode the stagecoach at Rawhide, the quintessential tacky tourist...

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

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

Everyone knows the old adage: “You have to spend money to make money.” But who follows it? Take the example of two of my wife’s friends. Both are smart, educated, and come from good families...