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By Mark Zweig | Firms that ignore AI will look slower, more expensive, and harder to work with.

By Kyle Ahern | A closer look at the structures, risks, and rewards shaping leadership in today’s AEC industry.

By Mark Zweig | You will be less stressed and might find your business more successful if you can shed some baggage.

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

By Mark Zweig | Simple, intentional habits like time management, strategic investments, and effective communication can significantly enhance personal and professional success.

By Rennee Richardson | Embracing cross-generational collaboration in the workplace helps bridge experience, skills, and fresh perspectives.

By Brandon Pinkerton | When the time comes, the best thing you can do for yourself, your legacy, and your organization is to end the journey well.

By Katherine Wilczek & Ceclia Martin-Smith | While it can be helpful to use generational trends to inform your management practices, it is most important to get to know your employees as individuals. 

By Kristin Kautz | Six skills to succeed for the next five years in an AI-driven world.

By Liisa Andreassen | Chief administrative officer at UES (Orlando, FL), a privately held, rapidly growing engineering and consulting firm and No. 1 Hot Firm four years in a row.

By Dawn Landry | By leaning into our self-awareness to understand diverse personalities, we can transform challenges into opportunities for growth and success.

By Will Swearingen | By being proactive and creating spaces to learn and grow, firms can benefit from this evolving workplace landscape.

By Keyan Zandy | Generation Z can teach older generations valuable lessons about how they think and view their work.

By Mark Zweig | Parenting is a lot like leadership in a business in that your behavior affects everyone and your actions determine how harshly you will be judged.

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

By Christina Zweig Niehues | AEC professionals have a choice about where they live and work, so what makes them choose their workplace?

By Mike Nunley | We have a responsibility to take the lessons we learned from older generations and refine them to prepare a new generation for success.

By Mark Zweig | A few of the reasons a great, successful firm can falter and experience a fall from grace.

By Liisa Andreassen | CFO of Studio+ (Fort Myers, FL), an architecture and interior design firm focused on design solutions that transform lives.

By Brian King | Firms with a strongly integrated multigenerational workforce will experience tremendous power and opportunity for success over the next number of years.

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

By Christina Zweig Niehues | We’re about to be short on leaders in AEC industry firms. It’s time to act now before it’s too late.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO and president of MKN (Arroyo Grande, CA), a firm specializing in water, wastewater, and water reuse engineering for public agencies.

By Mark Hirschi | Mentoring remains the most effective mode of knowledge transfer from older professionals to younger generations.

By Mercedez Thompson | While weak language can dilute your message, assertive language fosters attentiveness, boosts credibility, and increases authority.

By Peter Atherton | Playing to win requires a real investment in organizational redesign, and the creation of both a vision and a culture that’s worth the work.

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 Jamie Claire Kiser | The decisions firms make today will determine the talent available for the next professional generation.

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.

Contract disclaimers reflect the reality that estimating is an art, not a science – and that design professionals cannot guarantee or warrant the actual costs of construction.

By Mark Zweig | Best practices may be safe, but they won’t differentiate your firm. Make these changes and your firm will stand out.

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

By Mark Zweig | With new cases of COVID-19 on the rise, now is not the time for complacency. Instead, it is a time for self-reflection and new action.

Baby boomers and millennials may use different leadership styles and cope differently in business and in life, but the interaction of both can deliver some key benefits.

By Chad Clinehens | Break out of the spreadsheet mentality and build an ownership team that drives value and performance long-term.

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.

“There is no question that after working as long as I have in the A/E industry with so many firms throughout the land, certain common undeniable truths present themselves.”

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

“How do you stack up in these seven areas? Is money being wasted? If so, take action now!”

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

A look at what it means to be a principal in the AEC industry and how this has and hasn’t changed over the past two decades.

The blunt honesty typically associated with the old gray hairs is something that should be embraced by the younger generation.

Unless you put yourself out there as perfect, courts will typically hold you to the standard of reasonable care if you make a mistake.

“This was the fourth or fifth time since 1997 that Zweig Group has done one of these events coupled with a racing school. They always get me thinking.”

By Jamie Claire Kiser | At what should be an incredibly productive and exciting time in the lives of young professionals, the AEC industry is failing to engage.

It might seem far fetched, but it’s true. AEC firms can learn a thing or two from the fast-food industry.

As it relates to the AEC “industry,” we all should know by now that those who can sell a lot of work are the people who rise to the top of their firms, have the...

Smaller housing within walking distance to essentials and amenities is appealing to both the young and the old. We’re listening closely to the market desires for our West 2nd District Project here in Reno. We’re...

The transition from boomers to millennials is going to happen anyway, so put in a good-faith effort and make it a positive experience. By 2020, 50 percent of the U.S. workforce will be millennials. In...

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!...

Get the word out to your people that any form of illegal conduct – bribery and racketeering among them – will be grounds for immediate termination. Last week, attorney G. William Quatman, FAIA, Esq. wrote...

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...

Today’s workforce is multigenerational, so those with experience and seniority must learn to understand, and teach, younger colleagues. I was born in 1944, a couple of years before the Baby Boom. But my values and...

Here are some tips to help you make positive changes for your A/E/P or environmental consulting firm in the new year. The year has dawned and as many of our clients report, it has started...

By Mark Zweig | If you’re hiring people without these traits you’re doing a disservice to your firm.

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...

Mark Zweig offers remembrance on passing of dear friend and firm leader Joe Lalli. We lost a great leader, design professional, and friend with the passing Joseph J. “Joe” Lalli, FASLA, in Fort Lauderdale on...

Mark Zweig lists seven concerns, so it’s time to act. With the construction economy roaring back, it’s interesting to me to see some A/E and environmental firms cashing in on it and others that still...

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I have a passion for this business. I have always enjoyed both doing design and being critical of design— I love seeing construction projects get built— and...

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...

As 2006 winds down and planning gets underway for 2007, I frequently find myself being asked about what the top trends are for our industry that future-oriented leaders need to be aware of. Where do...

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...

We went to see my Mom and Dad in Kirkwood, Missouri, last weekend, for my Mom’s 85th birthday. While I was there, we had a lively discussion with my 85-year-old father, my 55- and 52-year-old...

When you are young, you do things just because you want to. “Fun” is an important part of your life. Too many people forget that when they get older, however. The responsibilities grow and grow,...

Talk to some architects and engineers and their real feelings will come out: They believe there’s something bad, something sick, something wrong, something immoral about business. Their attitude is that design or technical work is...

Every A/E/P and environmental firm I’ve encountered that has survived over the long haul has periodically made a push to improve its profitability. All the growth in the world won’t do you any good if...

Quickie Conference Review— This year’s PSMA National Convention held at the Red Lion LaPosada Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, was the association’s best ever. It also marked the 20th anniversary of PSMA, which stands for Professional...

I am continually reminded of the bizarre sense of risk some principals in A/E/P and environmental firms have. I am talking about the obsession so many principals seem to have about extracting as much as...

You would think that architects and engineers would pay better attention to the location of their own office space. For many firms, location analysis and site selection for office facilities is part of the work...