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By Mark Zweig | Most AEC firms play it safe with bland marketing, but bold, consistent outreach is what actually drives results.

By Liam Watson | These four virtues will help you survive and thrive in all parts of daily life, both personally and professionally.

By Javier Suarez | Instead of trying to fix “the big problem,” we should handpick issues that we could have a decent chance of addressing successfully.

By Mercedez Thompson | How a book club sparked connection and a genuine sense of belonging in a hybrid workplace.

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

    Domestic Transactions: 9/2/2024Civil engineering firm, Northern Engineering & Consulting (Bemidji, MN), providing land surveying, right-of-way design, GIS, site development, water, and sewer design services, joined industry leader, IMEG Corp. (Rock Island, IL) (ENR #52). Read More.   9/3/2024CLEAResult (Austin,...

  Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

Zweig Group is proud to announce the release of its 2024 Recruitment & Retention Report of AEC Firms, which covers all areas of recruitment and retention from the search process, integrating a new candidate into a firm, HR...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

      Domestic Transactions: 8/1/2024Kimley-Horn (Raleigh, NC) (ENR #10), a leading planning and design consulting firm, joined forces with A.D. Engineering (Chattanooga, TN), a firm with expertise in planning, site layout, grading, stormwater design, water system design,...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

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

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is proud to announce the release of its  2024 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report, which provides AEC industry leaders with industry statistics on policies and procedures, so they can support policy decisions with hard data. In Zweig Group's 2024 Policies,...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

By Wesley Jones | Strategies for successfully managing work-life balance and reclaiming your personal life while continuing to grow in your career.

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

Kyle Cheerangie, a department manager in South Florida, discusses the importance of gaining technical skills early in one's career, the value of mentorship, the power of continuous learning, and the challenges facing the industry, including recruitment...

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

By Mercedez Thompson | Proposals have adapted to a new way of reading, emphasizing concise, compelling headings to convey complex solutions and deliver winning messages.

By Mark Zweig | Stand out by steering clear of cliches, as they make firms seem generic and may push clients away.

By Mark Zweig | Those who read your emails, letters, reports, social media posts, and resumes are all deciding how intelligent you are in large part from your writing.

By Morgan Stinson | Reading books across a wide spectrum of topics can help you develop the skills needed to calmly and confidently tackle the challenges you face as a firm leader.

By Javier Suarez | Successful newsletters are relevant and valuable to readers, easy to consume, actionable, and loyal to your brand.

By Alexis Eades | Rapid company growth and shifting circumstances require intentional efforts to maintain and shape a company culture that serves everyone.

By Lindsay Young | We need to be more intentional about prioritizing communication, appreciation, and understanding to enhance customer service.

By Tom Godin | An org chart can be an invaluable tool for your business because it provides clarity and communicate roles.

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

By Jane Lawler Smith | For AEC marketers, crafting messaging that makes sense, resonates with your intended audience, and lodges in their minds is simply the job.

By Keyan Zandy | This tool can help you develop a deeper understanding of your client’s experience by exploring their emotions, motivations, and attitudes.

By Mark Zweig | If you don’t want your people or yourself to be judged unfairly, there are a few common problems that must always be avoided.

By Alexis Eades | Put your interns to work and gain long-term positive benefits for yourself, your firm, and the young people who may one day be your employees.

By Miles Gullingsrud | When leaders take the time to invest in the development ambition of staff, they can create a system that supports people’s personal and professional sustainability.

By Chad Coldiron | AEC firms must offer variety, identify employee interests, and create a positive work environment to retain top talent.

By Mark Zweig | Companies in this industry could be more successful if they spent more time on writing better fee proposals.

By Mark Zweig | Things are only going to get more competitive, so it’s time to raise the bar with your marketing.

By Robert Speed | If you can make your culture about the employees, you and your firm will reap the rewards over the course of your career.

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 Megan Chang | Delegating is one of the best ways for senior staff to train and transition responsibility to junior staff, but many leaders find it challenging. There’s a better way.

By John Shaw | Communication and relationships are the greatest driving forces in success or failure during a change journey.

By Javier Suarez | SOQs that are assembled without any direction just end up in the delete folder or the wastebasket. There’s a better way.

By Mark Zweig | None of us knows how much time we have, so don’t put off making the changes you need to make in your life.

By Julie Smith | Podcasting is a unique way to share the story of your company, and it should be part of your marketing strategy.

These are 10 of the most read columns that appeared in The Zweig Letter last year, but they represent only a small fraction of the content we released. Thank you to all of our contributors and readers...

By Jay Kennedy & Julie Thiel | Be thoughtful in how you approach and manage your emotions, and you will find success building and maintaining meaningful client relationships.

By Tom Godin | What stories is your firm telling, and, more importantly, how are they being received?

By Lauren Rhodes Martin | Besides placing an undue and inappropriate burden on architects and engineers, warranties are expressly excluded in their professional liability insurance policies.

By Kraig Kern | The next time you have a proposal or presentation kickoff, trust and empower your marketing team to do what they do best.

By Leo MacLeod | Email is a great tool, but if it’s not managed efficiently, it can dominate our day and rob precious time from getting work done.

By Mark Hodges | If you’re not taking a proactive approach to your firm’s cybersecurity, this could be the year you decide to go out of business without realizing it.

By Kraig Kern | Real innovation is about a shift in perspective to progress forward, not the latest gadget or software.

By Tim Spence | With a clear purpose, empowered professionals, and a drive for ongoing development, design firms can motivate all of their employees to row together.

By Tom Godin | People don’t leave companies, they leave managers – so make sure your managers have the skills they need to succeed.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | The words you use have the power to influence your audience: choose them carefully.

By Mark Zweig | It’s time to turn your firm’s HR upside down and make some big changes to your policies and practices.

By Carol Martsolf | Many may find these discussions uncomfortable, but there are steps firms can take to make staff feel safe.

  Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team here. Domestic...

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.

In this episode, John Wheaton, CEO of Wheaton Sprague Building Envelope in Stow, OH, shares his origin story and how we came to embrace engineering as a profession. 

By Nea May Poole | Universities do their students a disservice if they leave their programs without a fundamental understanding of what the career they have chosen entails.

Justin Smith, principal with Start 2 Rise, discusses how he and his colleagues help AEC firm leaders build stronger project management playbooks to focus on growing their people and their business.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | The rapidly changing economic conditions we’re experiencing are putting salary pressure on AEC firms.

By Justin Smith | Write your project goals in ink and your plan in pencil, because you’ll likely need to make some changes and adapt your plan as your project unfolds.

Burke Pemberton, CFO and principal with Stok, discusses his firm's focus on the built environment, sustainability as a good business practice, equitable governance, and why Stok invests so much in its company culture.

By Mark Zweig | You are in control of your business, and its success depends on your ability to keep a level head and keep making things happen.

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

By Alexis Eades | The consequences of burnout can be detrimental, so give your mental health the care it deserves.

By Mark Zweig | If you are a leader in an AEC firm, it’s crucial that you stay positive in spite of all the bad news we’re seeing these days.

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

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 Mark Zweig | If your business requires so much attention from you that you don’t have the overall quality of life you want, it’s time to do something different.

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.

Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team here. - Domestic...

By Aya Shitanishi & Megan Chang | A good project meeting is like a dinner party: You’re the host and it’s your job to make sure your guests have a great experience.

Happy New Year! Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory...

By Tom Godin | A look back at 2021 – and ahead to 2022 – through the lyrics of Billy Joel.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | Zweig Group’s new website combines three old websites into one for a seamless user experience.

By Mark Zweig | This isn’t easy, but it will ultimately make you more successful – not just as a business leader, but in life itself!

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 Toby | The quality of your projects sets your firm apart from the competition, so urge your prospective clients to look beyond the costs.

By Gordon Greene | Get to know your people, find out what’s important to them, and understand that work-life balance looks different for everyone.

By Chad Clinehens | With both a virtual and an in-person conference this year, ElevateAEC has something for everyone.

Zweig Group's newest managing director, Dathan Gaskill, shares his origin story and how his career has been a series of challenges and upgrades that find him running a brand new business unit for Zweig Group...

By Stephanie Warino | These 10 ideas can increase engagement and create a truly effective doer-seller culture.

By Mark Zweig | Ed Friedrichs, former president and CEO of Gensler, truly understood strategy and how all the pieces of a business fit together into a cohesive whole.

By Stephanie Warino | To be successful, firms must find their “blue ocean” of uncontested market space.

By Mark Zweig | As design professionals and business managers, this is your only real path to business sustainability and personal freedom.

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

By Eduardo Smith | Strategic thinking enables us to enlarge the value and impact of our work, connecting it much more than a technical solution.

By Mercedez Thompson | Create client-focused cover letters that build trust, provide clear client benefits, and connect to your client’s broader goals or vision.

By Adam Zach | Whether it’s by reading a book or going to a seminar, taking an active interest in your personal development could be the best thing for your career.

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

Through recessions and tough times, innovations explode as people are forced to slow down and think. Many are already working on the next big thing for their business. Are you?

By Mark Zweig | Know your purpose, intent, and philosophy of business, but be willing to change if it becomes prudent to do so.

Through collaboration, mentoring, and continued professional development, we can continue to grow and support each other, no matter what the pandemic throws at us.

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

To manage time effectively, you need to know – not just believe – you are spending time productively.

Click here to take the NEW Q3 Impacts of COVID-19 on the AEC Industry Survey This is a short questionnaire that should take no more than 10-15 minutes. In mid-March 2020, Zweig Group launched a...

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

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 Chad Coldiron | Prioritize the tasks on your to-do list in order of importance and how long they will take to maximize efficiency.

The next time you have a critical project or important concept to communicate, forget the jargon and consider telling a story.

Brian Sullivan, CEO of Sullivan Engineering, talks about what it's like running a design firm in NYC in the midst of a pandemic.

Most of these ideas take very little money – just your time. Invest in yourself and your business and you’ll be stronger and better for it on the other side of this.

Changing your mindset and discarding your assumptions allows you to start a dialogue to improve performance, relationships, and model the type of leadership that you want to see in others.

By Mark Zweig | “If there’s a silver lining in this crisis it is that we may each have a chance to reevaluate our priorities and improve the quality of our lives from here on.”

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.

“Getting on the phone and staying on the phone for a few days every week for the next couple months will be good for you.”

“The new reality of living with the coronavirus is just getting started.”

Christina Zweig Niehues and Randy Wilburn discuss the results of Zweig Group’s ongoing AEC Industry Outlook & Response to COVID-19 Survey.

Zweig Group is excited to announce an expansion to its robust awards program with the growth of The Rising Stars Awards. Originally developed by CE News and Structural Engineer Magazine (now C+S Engineer Media), these...

Take time each day to do things that rest your mind and body. This will help you be more creative, more productive, and a better leader.

In this digital era of PURLs, OKRs, and java scripts, a dimensional mailer and handwritten note are still the best way to grab attention.

There’s plenty of things, from the simple to the complex, that project managers can do to engage the important people in their database.

Sadly, fewer and fewer of us are interested in developing writing, speaking, or other communication skills as a significant professional goal.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | There’s plenty of support out there for women in the AEC industry, but the stats still have to catch up to the sentiment.

Willdan Group (Anaheim, CA) signed a letter of intent to acquire substantially all of the assets of energy efficiency services and project implementation firm Onsite Energy Corporation (Carlsbad, CA). Link to details Anser Advisory (Orlando,...

A small investment of your time, energy, and creativity can yield a large return with your clients. Start gently and build your confidence.

“There’s a lot to know about your people. And we have to keep updating this information because your people are constantly changing.”

“It’s a debate that’s been ongoing for years in our industry, thanks in no small part to the popularity of Good to Great, an academic study of huge, publicly-traded corporations and other organizations.”

We all know meetings are a necessary evil, but do we have to let them wreck our productivity? Did you know that a typical American professional attends more than 60 meetings per month? That is...

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...

We’re all busy with our personal and professional lives, but that doesn’t mean we should stop educating ourselves. I have spent a good portion of the last eight months crisscrossing the country training professionals in...

By Edward Friedrichs | In a time of polarization and crass tribalism, don’t forget the founding norms of respect and civility. It’ll be good for you, your firm, and your clients. 

If you want your AEC firm to stay fresh and relevant, YOU – as the owners and managers of the enterprise – HAVE to stay fresh and relevant yourselves. That gets more and more difficult...

Today’s AEC industry is experiencing significant growth, demanding that our leaders evolve and communicate far beyond the check-the-box approach. Have you ever asked yourself, “What the heck is real leadership?” This is the question that...

Randy Wilburn sits down with Mark Zweig, founder and chairman of Zweig Group, to talk about what it takes to sell a lot of work in the AEC industry. Mark says it's possible to be...

Brenden Sherrer, an M&A consultant at Zweig Group, talks about the state of M&A in the design industry, a legal extern program that Brenden introduced, and millennials in the design industry.

In this episode of The Zweig Letter podcast, Randy Wilburn talks about his experience at Podcast Movement, the world's largest and longest running podcast conference with more than 2,000 podcasters in attendance. This year, keynote...

After just two years, they want to be the CEO. Molding the go-getters (early on) is crucial if you don’t want them to leave for better opportunities at another firm. OK, two years might be...

In this episode of The Zweig Letter podcast Randy Wilburn sits down with Mark Zweig to talk about the importance of speed and why those who move the fastest will win most of the time....

The collective achievement of any given AEC firm is oftentimes shared only with prospective clients during the proposal process, and that’s a lost opportunity. Every few years, I find myself working closely with our corporate...

In this episode of The Zweig Letter podcast, Randy Wilburn speaks with Mark Zweig about the importance of managing clients for any owner or leader of an AEC firm. There are several keys to effective...

Marketing text has to be what the project owner needs to see. If you can standardize to accommodate an array of proposal types, great. If not, develop new recipes. Standardizing marketing text seems like a...

This week, Randy Wilburn spoke with Peter C. Atherton, PE, president and founder of Actions Prove, LLC. Peter is a successful professional engineer with more than 25 years of experience in public infrastructure projects. Peter...

On this episode of The Zweig Letter podcast, Randy Wilburn had a chance to visit with Mitch Fortner, PE, president of KSA Engineers in Longview, Texas. Mitch joined KSA in 1984 and has been president...

‘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...

10 things that will actually make you a better seller: 1. Stop thinking you need to be someone else. You need to be you. 2. Make people like you by asking them questions about themselves....

In a recent article from The Zweig Letter, Mark Zweig shared his best travel tips amassed over 38 years of business travel. Either you know what you're doing, or you don't. There is no in-between....

Randy Wilburn recently had a chance to speak with Anthony Fasano, PE, author, speaker, and host of The Civil Engineer Podcast and The Engineering Career Coach Podcast. Their wide-ranging discussion covered everything from the millennial...

Randy Wilburn had a chance to sit down and talk with architect and journalist Murrye Bernard from Architect Magazine. Murrye had a lot to share on the podcast about the pros and cons of licensure....

Randy Wilburn had a chance to sit down and talk with architect and journalist Murrye Bernard from Architect Magazine. Murrye had a lot to share on the podcast about the pros and cons of licensure....

Every design firm has lost a good employee to the competition. It’s even tougher when the individual is a project manager overseeing and completing work on your firm’s behalf. ("What to do when your PM...

Randy Wilburn sits down with Mark Zweig, founder and chairman of Zweig Group, to talk about what it takes to pull together a winning presentation. Mark has worked on many presentations over the last 38...

It can be harder than writing more, but oftentimes it’s necessary, so learn how to cut without gutting your message. When I started writing this column in 2004, the size limit was 800-850 words. Sometimes,...

Listen, read between the lines, communicate, understand your style, and don’t forget to set the tone, solve the crisis, and do the right thing. There is a difference between being a manager versus being a...

Keeping up with the latest and greatest in marketing is tough, but it’s easy to see what techniques need to be left behind. If you’re still doing the same kind of marketing you were doing...

In this episode, Randy Wilburn speaks with an up-and-coming project engineer with BIG RED DOG, Shaun Theriot-Smith. Shaun is a veteran who graduated from the University of Houston as student body president. He's declared himself...

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...

We all need a lengthy, unadulterated turning-off of our brains. How do you start? Try taking a break from the lifelong grind. Sabbatical – rooted in the Greek word sabbatikos – the word speaks to...

The benefits are higher prices, less competition, and a better ability to withstand downturns in the economy. It seems to me that one of the core tenets of any business today – especially those that...

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...

Participate in the Policies, Procedures, and Benefits Survey and save $320! The 2018 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms provides you with industry norms on policies and procedures,...

In this episode of the TZL Lifehacker Series, Randy Wilburn and Sanjay Jenkins discuss their morning routines, the importance of having a routine, and some steps A/E professionals can take to make the most of...

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...

In this episode of the podcast, Randy Wilburn speaks with Brenden Sherrer, an M&A consultant with Zweig Group. They covered a number of topics, including Sherrer’s experience after joining Zweig Group and the overall view...

The idea of sustainability has to expand to include the development of buildings that promote healthy outcomes for the public. After reading Ed Friedrichs’ article, “The New Grand Strategy,” I was inclined to email him...

There are dreamers and planners, and then there are those who actually get something done. For every one of those who gets something done, there are 20 who can only talk about it. Why do...

Business planning in an AEC firm is such a critical function. It really is one of the key roles of the CEO. Yet we seem to struggle with it. Here are some of the ways...

In this episode of The Zweig Letter podcast, Randy talks to Bill Murphey, Zweig Group’s director of training and events. Bill introduces himself by talking about what he does at Zweig Group. To give TZL...

As architects and engineers, we need to be on the front line in the campaign against inefficiency and waste. I just listened to an excellent edition of National Public Radio’s TED Radio Hour titled “Finite,”...

In addition to it being time to renew your Amazon Prime account so you can buy presents for people who don’t actually need a thing, it is also business planning time! One of my favorite...

Outdated or “dead” contacts are a real problem for any company that has a marketing program that uses a CRM or Client Relationship Management System. CLICK HERE TO UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO WITH US The...

Bells and whistles are nice, but when it comes time to write a winning proposal, a strong, focused message is still the way to go. In recent months I have seen a number of questions...

In the form of growth, profitability, and important projects, multidiscipline firm based in upstate New York is reaping the benefits of a well-executed ownership transition. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent In 1977, when Wayne Wegman joined...

When J. Peter Devereaux joined the Detroit-based firm in 1985, there were nine employees. Today, Harley Ellis Devereaux (Hot Firm #23 for 2016) has 324 employees and has undergone a series of evolutions. After working...

You have to keep your firm moving if you hope to stay ahead of the competition, and if you want your firm to age gracefully. If you’ve ever spent any time at the beach, you...

While success and security are good things, they can also zap your energy, so find something new. Chances are, if you’re reading this, things have gone pretty well for you. The company is doing well...

Allana Buick & Bers, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA), a 100-person architectural engineering firm, is the fifth place winner in the External Newsletter category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for The ABBAE Bulletin. The...

In work and in life, our past experiences, relationships, and the information we consume contribute to our outcomes. You know – in life, or in business – things pretty much happen as you expect them...

In my line of work, I talk "big picture" about modeling acquisition outcomes and the pros and cons of stock swaps. But anyone who has worked in the M&A business long enough will be the...

You may have noticed that we currently have two open salary surveys, the Individual Salary Survey, and the comprehensive Salary Survey. We welcome participation in both surveys, as our data depends on survey participants like...

Keynote Title: "THE GOSPEL OF FREDERICO" -- Insights on hot firms from a spiritual seeker and creative devil. Speaker: John Zweig, Chairman of specialist communications, WPP Group Description: Start, build, acquire, sell... lead, collaborate, integrate....

Years of travel have led to some rules-of-thumb that firm leaders can implement while building their companies. In the “good ol’ days” I used to fly 150,000-200,000 miles each year. Now I am down to...

Some firms want to stay small; here’s some advice for them, and they’re welcome to ask for more. Small firms … small businesses … entrepreneurial businesses: Are they all the same thing? No! Some firms...

Portfolio: Mascot delivers the good news Internal newsletter modeled after internal mascot an award-winning success. By Christina Zweig Contributing editor ECS Carolinas, LLP (Chantilly, VA), placed first in the Internal Marketing Category of Zweig Group’s...

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?...

Good communication includes good writing. Everyone sort of scoffs at the English Lit majors in college – questioning the validity of such a general degree and wondering what sort of jobs those graduates land upon...

PM Perspectives: Project re-planning This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 990 Originally published 1/14/2013 Even with a solid plan, some projects will just require a new start. One of...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 989 Originally published 1/7/2013 Novel pays homage to engineering profession and is a great airplane read, Mark Zweig writes. The week before Christmas,...

This time of the year is marked by a frenzy of activity, both professionally and personally. The thoughts we had in September and October of looking to a new year with renewed enthusiasm and at...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 7, 2011 Press Contact: Christina Zweig (479) 582-5700 direct (800) 466-6275 corporate (479) 445-7564 mobile ZweigWhite, LLC P.O. Box 1528 Fayetteville, AR 72702-1528 christinaz@zweigwhite.com www.zweigwhite.com FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 7, 2011) –...

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...

By Debbie Frederiksen Today I was sitting by myself on an outdoor patio eating lunch, checking email on my phone, scrolling through tweets, when suddenly this quote from an article resonated, “What is a place...

By Mark C. Zweig I may make many folks mad at me with this week’s editorial. But too bad. I never wanted to be one of those CONsultants who tells his clients what they want...

Mark Zweig doesn’t mind working with guts. Indeed, he prefers it. Zweig, a Fayetteville businessman perhaps best known as the founder of the firm that bears his name, has drawn attention lately for his work...

By Tracey D. Jeffers Cash and accrual methods each have their pluses and minuses. Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series. In her first article (The Zweig Letter, Feb. 21, issue 899)...

By Ed Friedrichs I admit, I’m of a generation that grew up and spent the early part of my career without a computer, to say nothing of the Internet, e-mail or Facebook. Every time I...

By Mark C. Zweig I thought it might be fun to reflect back on my 30-plus years of working in this business and assemble a list of fundamental laws none of us can get around....

A software update for Kindle is bringing features that really ought to have been around from the beginning: real page numbers that match what's in hard-copy versions of books, a public notes feature that lets...

DUBLIN, Jan 07, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e27350/management_from_a) has announced the addition of the "Management From A to Zweig, Revised Edition - A Collection of Articles from 1992-2010" book to their offering....

The proverbial title gets right to the point but do all staff members understand their role? Who, exactly, are the bees? Rebecca Martinez, associate principal and director of marketing at Cuningham Group (Marina del Rey,...

John Drinkard thinks Mark Zweig, ZweigWhite CEO, had CJMW Architecture in mind when he recently made the case for organizing firms by market sectors. CJMW, a Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based 97-person architecture, engineering, interior design, and...

While I have probably written about business planning in the pages of The Zweig Letter a dozen or more times over the years, it seems necessary to do so again. As you read this, A/E/P...

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...

Stereotypes exist for a reason. Sometimes there’s a lot of truth in them. Good examples of this can be found in how bosses are portrayed in pop culture. The problem is if any of these...

While accounting is widely accepted as the “language of business,” the knowledge of it in a typical architect, engineer, planner, or environmental scientist does not even reach a rudimentary level. You have to know the...

NOW, not later, is the time to take a hard look at your strategic plan for improved performance. The new year is just around the corner. The environment is volatile. It’s hard to see what’s...

More and more design and environmental firms are adding outsiders to their Boards of Directors. There are many reasons for doing so but that’s not the point of this article. Instead, what I want to...

Steve Tomlinson was in shock. He always took great pride in the work output of his now 80-person environmental firm, Tomlinson Consultants. But the truth was, as they grew, their quality was getting worse and...

There’s no question in my mind that using personal letters is one of the best-kept marketing secrets for architects, engineers, and environmental consultants. Newsletters are overused. Every firm has one. And if the firm is...

Everyone who starts a company or ends up as its leader eventually starts thinking about how to get out. You may have the greatest job in the world, but life is short and most of...

When you talk with those folks who have really “made it” in this business, i.e., successful principals in successful A/E and environmental firms, they will usually tell you that being able to write was critical...

I just got another of the many announcements that come through the ZweigWhite e-mail system today— one of our clients just bought/merged with/sold to another firm. We see so much of this that I barely...

I recently agreed to serve as an outside member on the board of directors (BOD) for one of our client companies. This is not the first (nor probably the last) time I have done this....

Let’s face it, the motivation of any A/E or environmental firm’s leaders is, in many ways, more important than the motivation of the staff. Because if the leaders aren’t fired up, how can anyone else...

There’s nothing like a little quality time to do nothing but think. Just sitting in a chair or lying back in your hammock… pushing the mower… driving on a long solo drive. I relish those...

I just read two articles written by management consulting firms that serve the design industry. Each of them staked out ridiculous positions. The first dealt with firm valuation and talked in circles about the difference...

Designers, by all rights, should be fantastic managers. They understand how important motivation is to creativity. They are tuned in to context and are good at seeking input from others. They know how sensitive people...

There may be truth to the old adage: “Ignorance is bliss.” Because the fact is, there are a lot of people, many of them at the highest levels in A/E/P and environmental firms, who are...

Although conventional wisdom says that an A/E/P or environmental firm’s greatest asset is its staff, that may not always be so. I don’t want to diminish or underestimate the importance of the workers to a...

I spoke last week at the Iowa Engineering Society’s Annual Meeting in Cedar Rapids. My topic was “The Future of the Engineering Profession: Engineers as Leaders.” But before I get into that, I want to...

Everyone in the A/E/P and environmental consulting business wants to be more “successful,” but I don’t recall ever seeing “success” clearly defined. It’s one of those good-sounding words that architects, engineers, and environmental consultants use...

“Leadership development” for our industry too often translates into another boring all-day seminar on liability reduction, or a weekend retreat with a soft-spoken consultant who walks us through “team building” exercises. We say we want...

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)...

As Art Linkletter observed: “Kids say the darnedest things.” The other day, my daughter Christina, who is in the first grade, said to me, “Dad, why don’t you do a commercial where you tell everyone...

One of the key determinants of any architecture, consulting engineering, or environmental consulting firm’s ability to get work at decent fees is how well “positioned” it is. Positioning means becoming established as an expert service...

Ask anyone who has risen to the top of a consulting engineering, A/E, or environmental consulting firm where are the greatest weaknesses in their staff, and they will almost always say it’s in their “soft”...