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By Mark Zweig | AEC firms that want better marketing need to sound more human, move faster, and stop hiding behind safe, forgettable messaging.

By Sara Parkman | Rising Stars reveal what today’s young AEC leaders truly value in their firms.

By Ricardo Jesús Maga Rojas | The middle is where emerging talent either grow into leaders or quietly disengage.

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

By Mark Zweig | It’s time to take a serious look at this stuff in your strategic plan and instead of fluff, focus on coming up with some substantive actions.

By Jeremy Clarke | Organizational optimization isn’t just a cost-saving measure – it’s a strategic imperative.

By Brad Thurman | To attract and motivate the best team, you need to be able to articulate your vision and the steps you’re taking to get there.

By Liisa Andreassen | JQ, now IMEG, a team of professionals providing structural and civil engineering, geospatial and facility performance services within a diverse group of markets.

By Travis White | You must attach the right structure, systems, and incentives in order to shift employee mindset.

By Daniel Houf | Build a resilient design firm with quality work, attentive service, and a strong team for long-term success and adaptability.

By Kevin Brown | To become an employer of choice in AEC, you must prioritize getting the fundamentals right before investing in advanced employee programs.

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

By Mitch Fortner | As demand for our industry’s services continues to increase, the firms that listen to their employees and evolve to meet their needs will continue to grow.

By Matt Verderamo | Talk to your employees about manipulation, get clear on your mission, and invest in marketing to transform your business from low-bid to negotiated work.

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 Matt Verderamo | Defining your mission, vision, and values is key for uniting, motivating, and differentiating your firm.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Sunrise Engineering (Fillmore, UT), a full-service professional engineering and consulting firm that has been providing its services since 1978.

By Liisa Andreassen | Founder of Indigo River (Nyack, NY), a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise committed to helping our society evolve together with our environment.

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

By Christina Zweig Niehues | This group will require more flexibility, autonomy, and learning opportunities in order to stay engaged and motivated. 

By Phil Keil | Strategic planning is an incredibly deep and nuanced practice that every firm needs to consider.

Zweig Group, a full-service AEC management advisory firm, is proud to announce that Drake Hamilton and Andrew Chavez, CM&AA, have been promoted to advisors on Zweig Group’s Mergers and Acquisitions team. "Drake and Andrew have...

By Amanda Hartman, Hannah Rico & Jules Ackerson | Huge organizational milestones can be reached when you step away from your day-to-day operations to evaluate your firm’s past and plan for the future.

By Shirley Che | As leaders, we must be the ones in “the room” recognizing and advocating for the rising stars we work with.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of LaBella Associates (Rochester, NY), a firm with diverse service offerings that can address any aspect of the built or natural environment.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Hafer (Evansville, IN), a firm that has created environments that impact people’s lives with fun, thoughtful. and inspirational design since 1978.

By Mark Zweig | If you’re not doing a good job with these, you’re losing an opportunity to further your culture and to provide meaningful motivation to your employees.

By PeteR Atherton | Most of us have been taught to believe in projects and profits, but do we also believe in people and purpose?

By Josh Rubero | This should reflect your core values, be your higher calling at work, and sustain your motivation to not only keep going, but to keep improving.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Sasaki (Boston, MA), an interdisciplinary architecture, planning, landscape, and design firm with offices in the U.S. and China.

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

President and CEO of Blueline (Kirkland, WA), a firm that’s committed to building relationships, enhancing communities, and improving lives.

By Seth Carlton | This requires more than just a clever slogan. It is a call to be focused, driven, and dedicated to a common goal.

By Stephen Lucy | In the past year, we’ve learned a great deal about how we can do better and have begun to seize opportunities created by 2020.

By Wendy Culver | ERGs to get your people involved to make changes from the heart of your organization, rather than being imposed from the top down.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of HEAPY Engineering (Dayton, OH), a leader in sustainability, engineering, and commissioning solutions with a vision to build a more resilient and sustainable society.

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

When you underestimate the proposal and fail to invest in its development, you risk losing money and wasting business development resources.

By Phil Keil | We can learn a lot about mission and vision through the context of some of America’s founding documents.

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

President and CEO of CORE Consultants, Inc. (Littleton, CO), a professional services firm with a unique culture that empowers its people to thrive at home, at work, and in their community.

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

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

Founding principal of Kudela & Weinheimer (Houston, TX), a landscape architecture firm that has produced beautiful, exceptionally built environments for more than 25 years.

“You would be surprised how quickly your employees get in the bandwagon when they can be part of the solution.”

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

Winning today is about serving others and providing value. Both are good. They always were, and always will be.

Successful leaders have to be able to deliver tough messages. Use these six strategies to navigate difficult conversations.

To maximize outputs and outcomes, leaders need to become great managers of managers and together create “great jobs.”

They count, so gather your leadership team, find the set of behaviors they admire, and make them part of your mission and vision.

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

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

By Phil Keil | People need something to rally behind. Identifying a mission for your firm is more than just a box to check when creating a strategic plan.

In business development, many missteps can be traced back to a lack of understanding and acceptance of who we are.

Director of Global Diversity at Perkins + Will, a 2,500-person architecture firm with offices across the world. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Bronx, New York native Gabrielle Bullock has been the Director of Global...

With more competition, more intensive procurement, higher costs, and increasingly lower fees, firm leaders must leverage the power of mission. We have a mission as an organization. It is why we exist. The best ones...

Everything feels different. Three weeks after the 2018 Hot Firm & A/E Industry Awards Conference in Dallas, our team is still on a high. Fueled by positive feedback, a wealth of exciting ideas for Las...

In the AEC industry, both individuals and firms need to brand and present themselves as ‘core brands for core viewers.’ Christina Zweig Niehues and I are conducting a Building your Personal Brand workshop at the...

President and founder of Brudis & Associates, Inc. (Hot Firm #36 and Best Firm Multi-discipline # 51 for 2016), a 90-person firm based in Baltimore. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “While I like to say we’re...

July 19, 2018 Press Contact: Christina Zweig (800) 466-6275 corporate (479) 445-7564 mobile Zweig Group, LLC 1200 N. College Ave Fayetteville, AR 72701 czweig@zweiggroup.com www.zweiggroup.com FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 19, 2018) – American author, television host,...

By Jamie Claire Kiser | A meandering mission statement won’t inspire your team. If you want your employees to rally around your brand, give them something they can believe in.

So you got the position you wanted, but that’s just the first step. You have to (help) create something bigger than yourself. Last month I wrote about my good fortune of meeting Art Gensler and...

Chad's very real, (although slightly less than serious) outlook on 2018... What will happen in 2018? The words “ solutions”, “creative”, “unique” and “innovative" will continue to be in the industry's most overused buzzwords in...

There’s three big reasons why employees choose where they work, and a firm’s rationale for its very existence can tie them all together. The “why” of a company matters. I ask the question during strategic...

CEO of Coffman Engineers (#62 Hot Firm for 2016), a 400-person virtual, multi-discipline firm with offices across the West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Outside members can act like guests at...

Marketing is the backbone of sales and business development, so be proactive and stop thinking of it as just an overhead function. I am passionate about marketing. Everyone who works with me knows it. I...

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

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,...

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...

Even if the strategic planning process turns out as hoped, it can still be an adventure with plenty of thrills and spills. Strategic planning connotes an organized, step-by-step effort. It’s true, but it’s also quite...

Competition can be a good thing, especially if it stimulates others to make themselves better; survey data shows that now is the time to think about your competitive edge. I’ve spent most of my career...

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...

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

(The following is an excerpt from the book Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms, by Ernest Burden) Client service. Client-focused. Client-driven. Client-centered. Every A/E/P and environmental consulting firm includes these words in...

Five ways to increase your digital footprint in branding and recruiting the best and brightest in 2015. As we approach the end of 2014, I’m amazed at how much has changed in such a short...

And since they are, follow these eight tips to improve their effectiveness. What is a job posting? C’mon, think about it. It’s simply an advertisement. Aren’t you advertising an opening that you want to fill?...

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?...

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...

Being crystal clear on intent and purpose allows you to build a powerful and consistent value proposition. Your organization has a culture and brand, whether by intention or happenstance. When asked about their brand, most...

Press Release: October 7, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (October 7, 2011) – It’s impossible for a firm to be successful without great employees, and to have great employees, a firm has to be an excellent place...

Press Release: October 04, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (October 4, 2011) – Tired of jumbled, jargon-laden “mission statements” that are filled with platitudes and megawords? A firm’s motto should embody what it is about and encapsulate...

For years, we told principals of architecture, engineering, and planning firms that they should have a mission defining what their firms were all about. The question of “why are you in business?” is fundamental, we...

Now that A/E/P and environmental consulting firms have been doing business plans regularly for the past 10 or 15 years, it may be time to beef them up a bit. The old platitudes, goals, and...

We are now in our 17th year of working with A/E/P and environmental firms of all types and sizes around the world. And, over that time, we have seen literally thousands of different companies’ business...

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

Schweitzer, Rosenblatt, Tunick, and McBlarsky had just ended one heck of a run. The 250-person E/A firm had grown from 40 people to 250 over the past five years. And while it was undeniably exciting,...

Scott Adams, the creator of comic strip “Dilbert” and author of the best-seller “The Dilbert Principle,” is clearly familiar with the absurd, idiotic stuff some companies do in the name of “better management.” In fact,...

Now is the time of year that many A/E/P and environmental firms are taking a look at what’s to come and what needs to be done in the year ahead. Budgets are being set, goals...