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By Daryl Simons Jr. | As employees rethink the role of work in their lives, AEC firms must reconsider what long-term performance really requires.

By Lauren Martin | A simple “time is of the essence” clause can transform routine schedule delays into costly legal and insurance risks.

By Kubilay Şahinler | While attention gravitates toward AI in design, the strongest business value often emerges elsewhere.

By Mark Zweig | Better project management isn’t about new systems, it’s about disciplined leadership, clear decisions, and relentless execution of fundamentals.

By Lucas Gray | Tech becomes a strategic advantage when firms measure real ROI and budget for tools that drive profit, productivity, and long-term capability.

By Steve McAdams | A seasoned financial executive plays a pivotal role in enhancing profitability, growth, and market value.

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.

Randall Stevens is a long-time veteran in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, boasting over three decades of experience. He studied architecture but found his calling in software development, founding ArcVision in 1991 and...

By Mark Zweig | Don’t turn yours into a joke by getting the wrong help and taking the wrong direction with revising your strategic plan.

By Kristin Kautz | Can AI consulting and development be used for state and federal R&D tax credits?

By Samantha Boeck | This type of culture drives people to compete at their best, challenges everyone on the team, and pushes boundaries to elevate the entire game.

By Jesse Fortune | Technology evolves quickly and it is imperative that AEC firms make smart decisions when selecting the software that powers project files, data storage, and financials.

By Ying Liu | Insight into the unique challenges and opportunities often faced by CSOs in the AEC industry.

By Mark Zweig | Open-book management is about sharing financial performance data with employees to foster trust, educate, and improve the firm’s overall performance.

By Shannon Koop | A well-developed business plan gives insight into growth potential, possible disruption, and resource constraints.

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal of Vector Structural Engineering (Draper, UT), a full-service structural engineering company licensed in all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and Canada.

By Tom Godin | If you have goals you want to achieve in the new year, start taking action and building habits today.

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

By Liisa Andreassen | Principal at VMDO, an architectural planning and design firm that creates community-centered environments that connect people and place through design.

By Tom Godin | To get your people working better as a team, you need to bridge the divide between the different groups in your firm.

By Stephanie Warino | How employees answer a question about where they see themselves in two years, and what their responses really mean.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of PRIME AE Group (Baltimore, MD), a firm that creates vibrant communities by connecting people and conserving culture and the environment.

By Rob Hughes | Enterprise risk management provides a formal process for firms to examine their critical risks in context, and implement cost-effective risk management and risk-financing solutions.

By Phil Keil | This will inform your strategy development and ultimately allow you to build a legacy.

By Stephanie Warino | Be selective with the actions you’re recognizing and the behaviors you’re amplifying, because we’re all driving the culture bus.

By Mitchell Shope | Leveraging reinforcement theory will connect the action to the reward and bolster your firm’s morale and cultural identity.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Companies are adopting fluid work from home policies and people have begun migrating away from dense cities.

Taking a break and letting your mind wander can bring a fresh perspective and the extra boost you need to make it through the day a happier, healthier you.

By Kyle Ahern | Engage the people at your firm and they will tell you all you need to know to recruit, retain, and utilize every employee.

Former president of CobbFendley (Houston, TX), a 530-person firm that is committed to providing innovative engineering solutions with the goal of bettering communities.

Use this seven step process to focus on project management for year-over-year improvement.

There are plenty of tell-tale signs your AEC firm needs a set of third-party experts to help you achieve your goals.

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

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...

Having the ability to offer candidates participation in the ESOP may provide your company a benefit your competition cannot offer.

CEO of Woodard & Curran (Hot Firm #69 for 2018), a 1,000-person integrated engineering, science, and operations company based in Portland, ME. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Give them that opportunity and watch them soar,” McKeown...

A successful marketing campaign is difficult to measure using hard metrics, so don’t get caught in the quicksand of trying to quantify nebulous numbers. It’s Monday, 9 a.m., and as you get comfortable in an...

Senior employees are outperformed by their subordinates all the time. Use metrics to reward the doers and identify the dead weight. The subject of compensation is a challenging and emotionally-charged issue. It affects all of...

Generational ownership and leadership transitions pose unique challenges. Anyone you promote to the highest level must be cut from the right cloth. The statistics bear repeating: Most professional services firms are aging at the top....

If your firm does not have a well-crafted system for handing out employee bonuses, you run the risk of creating the haves and the have nots. 2016 was a good year in the domestic A/E...

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...

A command of soft skills is essential to delivering a project that’s on time, on budget, and with no surprises. If you’re in the business of infrastructure and you manage projects, staff, or both, you...

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...

Technical professionals should appreciate the importance of timely and accurate time-sheets for determining appropriate project billing and more. For most A/E/P firms, it is the talent, technical expertise, and experience that are sold to clients...

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,...

Are you investing in consistent, brand-building marketing activities, Mark Zweig asks. Let’s face it. Living too well can be a problem. I’m talking about eating your seed corn, spending too much, and not reinvesting in...

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...

Are you able to charge the fees you think your services should command? The July issue of Interior Design magazine featured the “2013 Rising Giants 101-200” – in other words, the second group of 100...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Deciding how to reward principals is a perennial problem. Spread out the rewards equally, and one principal is bound to feel cheated while another principal gets more than he deserves. Vary the compensation of principals,...