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By Janki DePalma | A “hell yeah” mindset helps firms move from fear-based decisions to choices grounded in clarity and strategy.

By Mark Zweig | When family enters the org chart, leaders must manage perception, opportunity, and accountability with far more discipline.

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

By Jessica Warren | AEC firms that invest in community impact are not just doing good, they are building more resilient and competitive organizations.

By Gina Rodriguez | In AEC, expertise builds credibility, but engagement is what creates trust, strengthens relationships, and drives better outcomes.

By Sara Grayum | AI is accelerating fast, but in AEC the real opportunity lies in using it to expand capacity, not replace people.

By Mark Zweig | High-performing skeptics can sharpen decisions or quietly poison culture – the difference lies in how leaders engage them.

By Mark Zweig | Great planning forces hard choices, clear accountability, and alignment across the entire firm.

By Sara Parkman | AEC firms that fail to invest in young professionals today will struggle to find leaders tomorrow.

By Kyle Ahern | A closer look reveals hiring and retention pressures demanding smarter, people-focused strategies.

By Michael Sanderson | This is one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce risk, train effectively, grow sustainably, and do better work.

By Greg Sepeda | To drive real accountability, leaders must pair logic with storytelling that engages emotions, creates ownership, and motivates lasting process adoption.

By Mailena Urso | This year’s winners prove marketing done right delivers higher margins and stronger growth.

By Hannah Miller | Great content builds trust by showcasing expertise, culture, and value, creating lasting impressions long before opportunities arise.

By Mark Zweig | Winning big design projects requires strategy, preparation, credibility, and connecting authentically with decision-makers to secure long-term success.

By Sara Grayum | In a world where perception drives engagement, the AEC industry is waking up to a new kind of visibility.

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

By Chad Clinehens | Honoring the firms building the future of AEC through culture, creativity, innovation, and smart growth.

By Sara Parkman | The top 2025 Marketing Excellence Award winners share how strategy, authenticity, and collaboration drive real AEC marketing impact.

By Mark Zweig | Success comes from bold, consistent marketing efforts that push visibility, build trust, and attract high-quality clients.

By Marcía Alvarado | From the court to the C-suite, female athletes bring discipline, drive, and dynamic leadership to the AEC industry.

By Mark Zweig | As a leader or manager, you are probably super busy and will get stuck if you cannot offload a lot of what you have to do.

By Matt Verderamo | Finding a mentor can provide direction, accelerate career growth, and offer valuable insights, but it requires commitment and openness.

By Sarah R. Adams-Slominski | Step back and check in on how your employees are doing, learn what they care about, and discover what helps them stay engaged in their work.

By Ashleigh Powell | Building sustainability into an AEC firm requires passion, patience, collaboration, and a focus on business value and long-term impact.

By Greg Sepeda | Taking time to slow down, prioritize self-care, and recharge improves productivity, mental clarity, and overall well-being.

By Todd Hay | Adapting to smaller AEC markets requires leveraging networks, building staff-client trust, and scaling operations for sustained success.

By Gabe Lett | Enhance marketing by embracing creativity and disruption to craft surprising, memorable, and engaging campaigns.

By Mark Zweig | These four things are beyond essential if you are serious about building an enduring organization that will evolve over time.

By Harry Hawkins | Networking’s enduring value lies in fostering genuine connections, enhancing career paths, and cultivating meaningful, human-centric relationships.

By Jane Lawler Smith | Creating non-traditional peer groups allows AEC marketers to gain fresh perspectives and enhance creativity.

By Jeremy Clarke | Spot these devastating hires before they sabotage your team.

By Mercedez Thompson | Win themes should tell a compelling story about why your firm should win a client’s work, but without the right strategy they can inadvertently lose you the deal.

By Sam Graves | Effective team management involves setting clear expectations, equipping and empowering members, and fostering engagement and evaluation.

By Mark Zweig | Entrepreneurship is all about seeing and doing things differently from everyone else, so maybe you should be more questioning of the status quo.

By Mark Zweig | The benefits of getting everyone together in the office each week are simply too great to ignore.

By David Hostetter | Mentoring the next generation of professionals requires care and dedication – and it will have a profound impact on your people and firm.

By Mark Zweig | At some point leadership has to take action and act like leaders versus just talk a good game.

By Janki DePalma | Leadership must communicate work meaning and impact in order to foster employee engagement and understanding of individual contributions.

By Mark Zweig | A lack of willingness to confront these things honestly has caused way too much frustration and unhappiness in the individuals who work in our organizations.

By Janki DePalma | Having the ability to admit your own mistakes can be refreshingly liberating and lead to real growth and connection.

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 Matt Verderamo | The way you handle yourself as an employee directly correlates to the level of success you can reach in your organization.

By Mark Zweig | AEC firms must do better with delivering feedback and rewarding exceptional people, or risk losing their highest performers.

By Janki DePalma | When you notice feelings of resentment, take a moment to explore what that warning sign is trying to tell you before it escalates into something more.

By Mark Zweig | These are the practical implications of defining the culture you want and then making that a reality.

By Mark Zweig | These are the most important qualities that decide who gets to move up as firm leaders, managers, and future owners.

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

By Mark Zweig | Know the pros and cons of both, and don’t kid yourself about the ramifications of either insisting everyone be there or allowing people to work remotely.

By Raoul Rañoa | There are various techniques and tools you can use distill complex data into digestible and actionable insights.

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

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

By Mercedez Thompson | Many of the biggest obstacles AEC marketing teams face are ultimately the same – regardless of firm size.

By Mark Zweig | Your CRM should be a major asset for your firm, but you have to make sure your people are using and updating it.

By Todd Perry | Early successes, failures, and significant challenges, and how a young firm navigated through them.

By Matt Hoying | Open up and embrace full company transparency, not just financial, to enhance your firm’s culture.

By Mark Zweig | Four things you can do to build the kind of workplace over time that good people want to stay in.

By Mark Zweig | Improving this will not only help you attract and keep good people, but it will also bring in new clients.

Chad Clinehens, president and CEO of Zweig Group, discusses Zweig Group’s ElevateAEC Conference & Awards Gala. Attendees will experience three days of celebration, learning, and networking that will allow them the chance not only to let loose, but...

By Chad Clinehens | At this year’s ElevateAEC Conference, we’ll celebrate and show the world what a successful career in AEC looks like.

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 Alan Lloyd | With all the discussion about the “great resignation,” why isn’t anyone talking about the employees that aren’t jumping ship?

By Mark Zweig | If you are seeing your cashflow slowing down and your average collection period rising, you may want to take a look at why that is happening.

By Julia DeFrances | With the right tools and some best practices, anyone can create a persuasive and compelling proposal.

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

By Mark Zweig | Just like any professional sports team, your firm is made or broken based on how effective you are at recruiting talent.

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 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 Ryan Suydam & Blake Godwin | This new award is the strongest way to differentiate your firm from the competition.

By Mark Zweig | Here’s what you really need to do to get more job candidates for any opening you have, increase your job offer acceptance rate, and speed up the hiring process.

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 Mark Zweig | These five points will get you thinking differently about how you interact with potential clients in the future.

By Mark Zweig | Whether or not the AEC industry experiences a ‘great resignation,’ there are some things you should do to keep turnover low.

By Mark Zweig | While there are no doubt some costs associated with making a brand for your firm, a lot of it just boils down to a little work and some discipline.

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 Jane Lawler Smith | When interviewing your co-workers, peers, and clients, take a walk and harness the power of storytelling together.

By Mark Zweig | A lack of speed is a big problem for too many A/E firms. You all really need to pick up the pace!

By Mark Zweig | The leadership abilities of you firm’s principals and managers will determine your collective success this year.

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

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

By Mark Zweig | There are 10 things practically every firm in this business should do but won’t. If you try these things, your firm will be more successful.

Make a great first impression, showcase your experience and expertise, and stand out as a top architect in your market.

There are countless ways to develop business without being a business developer, and you are most likely doing some of these things already.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Takeaways from a truly exceptional virtual discussion experience.

By Mark Zweig | What your firm becomes should be the result of a plan, of deliberate efforts. You can and should “design” your design firm.

By Mark Zweig | When people are demotivated they become negative and cynical, and can pollute the attitudes of their co-workers. And if they’re really demotivated, they may quit.

Lean methodologies can truly move the needle in an industry beleaguered by workforce shortages and increasingly pressed for our most valuable commodity – time.

Marketing has a role in building brands, developing strategies, winning work, and more – and the firms that invest heavily in marketing reap the rewards.

By Mark Zweig | Getting on the phone right now may be the single most important thing you can do to bring in new work.

“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.”

President and CEO of BSI Engineering (Cincinnati, OH), a consulting and process design engineering firm that’s building on the past to design the future.

“There are many ways to ‘cook the books’ so they show certain results. Here are some typical problems that we see showing up in the financial statements of A/E firms.”

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

Implement these tips to decrease tension and drastically increase the utility of your feedback.

Believing in your value is the first step to success in winning on value. The next step is to walk away when clients don’t fit your new standards.

Don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth. You want clients who value your relationship and appreciate your talent.

It can lay the foundation for a positive relationship with bosses, subordinates, and co-workers when the time comes to go the extra mile.

If you want to be a great consultant, you have to step into the client’s shoes and see the world as they do.

"Doing these 20 things will only make you more effective and your company more successful. And none of them are difficult, so go to it!"

“People who show any signs of a lack of character must be confronted and dealt with immediately.”

It might sound a bit odd, but there’s plenty of things the C-suite can learn from stand-up comedians.

Prepare and execute a plan for balance and growth in the three biggest areas of your engineering career: technical ability, social skills, and stewardship of the profession.

Find your ‘why’ and ‘how,’ make a plan, and – with the help of a few strong mergers – achieve astronomical growth.

By Kyle Ahern | Employees at AEC firms say they need ample opportunities to learn and train. My advice is to give them what they’re asking for.

“Just as it is easier (and cheaper) to keep an existing client than to get a new one, so goes it for your employees. Keeping good people is essential to your firm.”

Giving gifts to your clients is a great show of appreciation, but make sure you know the differences between public and private entities. In the AEC business, the holiday season can be 45 very pleasant...

“If we know recruiting and retention are the biggest challenges and our employees are telling us that training and development are the solution, isn’t the investment in a training program at your firm worth it?”...

By Will Swearingen | The words ‘difficult’ and ‘uncomfortable’ are synonymous with ownership transition. If you try to execute one on your own, it might come out half-baked.

“It’s crucial that the individual manager work hard to gain acceptance. Not doing so will almost inevitably lead to getting shot in the back.” While it’s best if you can promote from within, there are...

Ditch the ego, the fancy title, and the unnecessary rules. Instead, be the spark that inspires your team members to follow their passions. If you are a manager, you have people following your orders. If...

Firms are using social media for marketing, but the frequency, consistency, and quality of the content needs to improve. Chaos. Zero strategy. Lack of metrics. Zweig Group’s just released 2018 Marketing Survey shows that while...

By Kyle Ahern | This year’s group of Best and Hot Firms provides a treasure trove of information across thousands of data points, from employees up to the C-suite.

Editor’s note: Originally published 4/25/2005 Every A/E and environmental firm experiences those inevitable departures of key employees. After the notice is turned in and the hand-wringing, self-flagellation, and/or angry statements come out from management, the...

I’ve written about it before but apparently not everyone got the message. In business today, speed is everything. Whoever is faster will be the winner. Good leaders realize this is true and act accordingly. Here...

Let’s try to tell our story so that we can go above and beyond the traditional marketing that AEC firms are known for. Think about some of the most iconic advertisements of the past. Many...

Finding and keeping good people is the number one problem AEC firms have today. And it will get worse if any of the predictions are true about the demand for talent and the lack of...

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...

At some point most of us in the A/E business come to realize that “close” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. That certainly applies to winning projects that you go after! I’ve worked on...

The meet and greet is great, but making long-term friendships is even better. Come to the Hot Firm conference in Dallas this year (Sept. 20-21), and bond with your peers. The 2017 Hot Firm and...

Do you have a job interview on the near horizon? If so, do your research, stay on topic, and don’t forget to wear a nice pair of shoes. A close architect friend of mine recently...

Passing on years of experience to those who will rise behind us is the epitome of leadership. One of the most important things leaders can do is create more leaders. Yet, too few leaders take...

Branding, education, a low barrier to entry, and the creation of fans are all part of it, so what are you waiting for? I rejoined Zweig Group more than three years ago after an almost...

You go to so much trouble to find the right person for your critical job opening. Sometimes, the process takes months. The higher level the job, the longer it takes to fill. Everyone is busy....

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...

With the environment we are living in – crazy political stuff – potential nuclear war – mass shootings by maniacs – it would be easy to let it all get to you. But you can’t....

When you run an A/E or environmental firm, you want your people to feel good. Besides the fact that they won’t do their best work if they don’t feel good, seeing your employees happy is...

Do you want to win a project, identify a new service offering, or attract a new employee? Pick the right medium and have at it! Humans have been communicating through stories for more than 25,000...

All of us have a story to tell, so don’t shy away from it in your professional life. It could be the key ingredient for your firm’s success. Everyone loves a good story. That’s why...

Bringing good people on board is one thing, retaining them is another. Make a concerted effort to keep your personnel engaged. I recently facilitated a roundtable discussion. Never mind that the table wasn’t round. It...

They go hand in hand, and both need regular maintenance if they are to be positive. Take a look at your firm and make adjustments if necessary. A company with a great culture can, and...

It’s always good to periodically take stock and ask yourself what you have recently learned. My experience – if you don’t do this – is that you are bound to repeat the same mistakes. And...

We can always improve. Take these steps and your life as a leader will get much better. Confronting those who are not doing their jobs. This is one of the primary roles of a leader....

It’s hard to find outstanding people to work in your AEC firm. It’s also hard to keep them working for you these days when they have so many other options. What are some things you...

While the lure of them is understandable, there are probably better, more human ways of evaluating candidates before you hire them. Some people are enamored with personality tests. But despite their popularity in certain circles,...

Serving others before serving yourself sounds noble, but if you are low on your own priority list, it’ll show in poor performance. If you’re a fellow frequent traveler, you’ve probably heard the safety announcement that...

Clients want to learn about your firm’s capabilities, resources, and experience, but only as it relates to them and their projects. One of the best-known songs in the Pink Floyd catalogue includes a voiceover that...

What can you use in a proposal? As it turns out, if you are careful with how you include the information, quite a bit. I was recently asked about including a person’s experience with a...

President and CEO of Hargrove Engineers + Constructors, a Mobile, Alabama-based company with 1,200-teammates in 11 states. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent For Hargrove, success starts with company culture. In fact, he says, culture to a...

Donald Trump has single handedly breathed life back into the “other social media app” – Twitter. The platform had gone stale. It loses money every year and had a declining user base. Cue the late-night...

Firms that prepare together find that the investment in time and resources equates to project wins and good relationships. Teaming with other AEC firms is a common strategy to win work that requires different types...

Getting people to do what you want them to do. This is what leadership is really all about. And it is never easy. Especially today in the A/E industry, where finding a job is not...

In the first episode of the new TZL Podcast Life Hacker series, Randy Wilburn and Sanjay Jenkins run through some of the tech tools and “hacks” that make their lives and their work easier. The...

Zweig Group’s research data shows us that fast growth/high profit firms have a higher number of hours in their average work week. It makes sense – more hours put in by salaried people equates to...

There's so much written about leadership training and developing better leaders in your AEC firm. But there's little information about how to become a better leader yourself. It's all about what you can do for...

There's so much written about leadership training and developing better leaders in your AEC firm. But there's little information about how to become a better leader yourself. It's all about what you can do for...

Editor’s note: Originally published June 22, 1996 I’ll come clean. It’s time to fess up and share how I feel about the state of the art in project management today for A/E/P and environmental firms....

In the A/E industry, it’s easy for PMs and firms to claim ownership of projects, but the only owners are the clients, and they always make the final call. Over the last four decades, I...

There are four ways AEC project managers can shine in team interviews. Try them all and win more work. Juggler. Cat herder. Diplomat. They go by many names, but project managers have one of the...

If you think there’s too much recruiting, then you probably don’t realize there is no ‘season,’ but an unending grind. There is no preseason or final game for recruiting. A/E firms that don’t understand the...

1. We are on the cusp of seeing a major shift take place in the talent acquisition space with the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning making the job of a recruiter easier in...

From ex-girlfriends to meerkats, internet overload can put a serious dent in your productivity, even while it makes you feel good. I am a champion multitasker. I pride myself on my ability to write an...

A visionary rather than a command-and-control type of leader, Mike Sanderson has a musical side to him that some might find surprising. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent He doesn’t like the word “client.” He prefers “customer.”...

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...

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...

Keep the inexpensive items on the table and hand them out freely, but give the good stuff only to those who seem truly interested in your firm. Costs for attending trade shows can range from...

Blame is a form of punishment that rarely works, and removing it from a firm’s environment will increase productivity and collaboration. Would you rather have an employee change her behavior, become more motivated, or make...

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...

Everyone wants better project management. That's why principals of AEC companies spend more time and money on PM training than any other type of business training. But I'm not here to talk about training. I...

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...

How do you get a handle on billable hours and overhead without losing yourself in spreadsheets? Rely on the gut instincts of your department managers. I’m honored The Zweig Letter asked me to be a...

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...

Understanding the nuances of a Happily Employed Job Candidate can boost your ability to hire the best people. I recently received an email from a client who was in the middle of arranging an interview...

On January 5, Zweig Group released the 2016 Marketing Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms, its 18th iteration of the publication. The annual resource aims to help architectural, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting leaders...

Though it has been around for a while, email isn’t going anywhere anytime soon; make sure you’re using it effectively. Email is not going away for those of us in the A/E business – even...

Take an honest look at your client relationship and ask yourself if it’s still mutually beneficial; if it’s not, it is time to do the hard thing. In addition to working at Zweig Group, I...

Quantitative and qualitative data provide industry leaders with valuable information for making decisions. One of the distinctions of companies that do well over the long-haul, versus those who enjoy only a limited period of growth...

Five things that differentiate entrepreneurs from the rest of the people in the world. I was watching a show on Netflix the other night with my eight-year-old daughter. It was all about humans with superhuman...

Mark Zweig provides 10 tips how to treat potential new employees right. One of the things we do at ZweigWhite is a limited amount of executive search consulting. Most people don’t really understand that. They...

It’s your employees; Mark Zweig offers five solutions to help deal with them better. I got a call from an old friend of mine from Boston the other day. He wanted to tell me how...

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...

Some common policies display no common-sense. Mark Zweig exposes four problems and offers solutions. It’s interesting to me how so many A/E firms seem to just follow the same unwritten rules about how to pay...

Mark Zweig lists five questions you need to ask before tackling your next opportunity. Attention all readers in the A/E/P business – you have got to make some BIG changes to the way you’re marketing...

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...

By Jeff Clark, Managing Director & Principal, Investment Banking Get out there and make it happen. Tell people, from your accountant to your attorney to your friends and business associates on all your social networks,...

By Jeff Clark | Principal, Managing Director of Investment Banking, ZweigWhite Do you like CEOs who promote their business relentlessly? Do you think Steve Jobs did a good job with his public speaking over the...

By Hobson Hogan Just as the proverbial third wheel, the statement of cash flows gets summarily skipped over by management. In earnings calls, CFOs spend time talking about sustainable earnings and strong balance sheets. Where...

By Hobson Hogan EBITDA can be measured in different ways, and confusion over it sometimes leads us to wonder if we are speaking the same language. I often hear people make statements like “I heard...

By: Mark C. Zweig On Feb. 16, ZweigWhite closed on the acquisition of the engineering media assets formerly owned by Stagnito Media. Some of these assets include the print and eMedia versions of Structural Engineering...

I have worked on a lot of presentations over the last 30 years— and helped sell everything from seismic retrofitting for the Golden Gate Bridge to a three-day design charette. Along the way, I have...

Marketing in our industry is a-changing, Folks! It is not business as usual for A/E/P and environmental firms. The tough economy and the increasing power of the Internet and electronic communications are changing everything marketing-wise....

I was recently interviewed for a magazine article about the residential redevelopment projects we do here in Fayetteville. In addition to figuring out why my houses sell either before we start working on them or...

The bad economy of the last couple years, with the A/E/P professions being particularly hard-hit, has created a serious problem for many firms today— that being disillusioned workers. It is not easy to pin down...

It’s that time of year again. Time to dig out my crystal ball (I keep it in my sock drawer, in a pile of rarely worn argyles for safe keeping) so I can try to...

The 10th annual The Zweig Letter Hot Firm Conference is about to take place in Las Vegas. There will be untold celebrating (what happens in Vegas stays there, remember) from this year’s winners. But, what...

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...

I just sold a house this past weekend that I have had on the market for quite some time— much longer than it usually takes me to sell one. This was a beautiful little 1925...

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...

I have often felt that architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental firms pay lip service to the notion that they should keep their best clients happy— and KEEP their best clients clients. It always seems like...

Turnover is costly. All of the human resources experts can tell you that— some could even give you the real cost of turnover for any specific position to the penny if you wanted it! Staff...

Like it or not, most firms in this business of any size have to borrow money. Whether the firm needs the money to provide operating capital while waiting to collect accounts receivable, to finance business...

Erwin Winter finally relented. For years, people had been telling him it was time for an image makeover for his firm, Winter Engineers. He couldn’t see it— the icy blue “Winter” script next to the...

I have already written in The Zweig Letter that I think times are going to get a little—perhaps even a lot— tougher for many A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. It doesn’t mean I’m not bullish...

It seems like yesterday that I was “the young guy.” And that’s the last thing I wanted to be. I always tried hard to look and seem older than I really was so people would...

A recent article in The Zweig Letter where various A/E and environmental firm principals were asked about the best interview questions to ask prospective employees got me thinking. It got me thinking about what I...

I just got back from ZweigWhite’s 2007 A/E Marketing Now Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was our biggest and best-attended marketing conference ever! My task was to open the show with a short talk...

If you watch reality TV at all, you’ve probably heard the new word. It’s “pop.” Everything is supposed to do it— and you, as the orchestrator of change— are supposed to make it happen. The...

Before sitting down last week for a meeting with one of our PhD students— a German fellow named Sven— we both agreed that we’d like some coffee first. I asked Sven if he wanted to...

While there have been some “experts” who’ve made names for themselves by bashing IT and saying it is, at best, a necessary evil, I completely disagree with them. There are so many ways IT can...

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 was talking with a woman recently who started her own design firm a couple years ago. Her passion for her work and her business was fantastic. She thought about it/planned/worked every waking hour. She...

There’s a lot of interest in training in A/E/P and environmental firms. But, there’s also nearly as much money and time wasted on training in these same firms. I’ve been both a provider and participant...

A recent article in Fast Company magazine focused on Despair, Inc., the makers of calendars and posters that poke fun at those motivational posters from companies like Successories and others. The fact that Despair, Inc....

I’m no fan of most of the performance appraisal systems I see used in A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. The simple fact of the matter is they don’t work. They don’t motivate anyone to do...

A lot of design and environmental firm principals have been around a long time— they’re an average of 48 years old. That means that they have probably been doing this work for 20-25 years or...

Every single A/E or environmental firm in this country needs more people who can sell work. These people feed the rest of the firm, allow the owners to sleep at night, and are generally the...

Hiring enough people— and the right ones— is where it’s at today. How well an A/E/P or environmental firm does this really is either an impediment (or stimulus) to growth. It impacts every area of...

Regardless of your opinion of Bill Clinton (and I am sure, for the majority of A/E firm principals, it’s negative— as a group, you are 48% Republicans and only 17% Democrats!), you cannot deny one...

Everyone in the A/E or environmental consulting business wants to turn their technical people into sellers. Not a week goes by that the desire to do this isn’t mentioned to me by someone in this...

As anyone who’s read any business books in the last decade can tell you, Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” is a classic that will be talked about for years to come. In the book, Collins...

It’s always distasteful to compare your employees to your children. I hear firm owners do it all of the time, and I see the non-owners cringing when they do! That said, I have noticed a...

This is really getting to be the busy time of the year for the ZweigWhite consultants who help firms with business planning. And it’s good to see that many firms are refining their processes so...

Conventional wisdom and a course in marketing will tell you that any business— especially a professional service business— must have close relationships with clients IF the firm wants to keep those clients and get as...

I had a nice woman come up to me before a talk I gave in Rochester, New York, last week. She asked me if we had ever considered doing an article on how to recognize...

In spite of the post 9/11 travel slowdown, it seems like there are more trade shows and conferences for A/Es and construction companies than ever before. As dutiful ZweigWhiters, we seem to get to all...

The older I get the more convinced I am that being a successful leader in a design firm is every bit as much an art as it is a science. You just can’t teach someone...

Cultural alignment, i.e., getting everyone in the firm— especially those at the top—on the same page, is something everyone in our business can tell you is critical. Without it, decisions don’t get made, opportunities come...

No, I’m not talking about the Mel Gibson/Helen Hunt flick, although it was pretty funny. I am referring to what women working in design and environmental firms want out of their work environments. I think...

Best I can tell, the events of September 11 pushed a fragile economy over the cliff. It’s hard to make a bull like me into a bear, but I am there now. Companies everywhere are...

What is it with some people? We have all had the opportunity (or misfortune) to work with a man or woman who finds fault with everything and pours cold water on every hot idea. These...

Now lie in it. I’ve been a believer in the adage that you make your own luck. But that’s not just good luck, it’s bad luck, too. Make bad decisions, do the wrong thing, and...

I just got back from the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) (Washington, DC) national convention in San Diego (held October 4-6). What a turnout! Their estimates were that they had somewhere between 1,400 and...

I just heard a story the other day about one of our clients from another clients (both large A/E firms). Evidently, the first firm had been called by a big client for help on a...

Whenever I see people get all upset about some trivial detail in their lives or their work, I find it distressing. Life is so much easier if you spend appropriate amounts of mental and emotional...

I have had a chance to work with a great number of firm leaders over the years. Some were incredibly effective people. Some were incredibly ineffective, too. When you look at the characteristics of those...

Here are some quick thoughts on a few issues: Pay or don’t buy. There have been a number of articles in the business press recently dealing with ethics issues. One that I read involved a...

Raymond Stodge, managing principal of “Stodge Engineers and Architects,” was depressed. How would he get the firm’s executive committee to start taking action on the issues that had plagued the firm for years? And now...

t seems to me the only way to really be successful is to be different from everyone else. Whether it’s your career or your firm we are talking about, it’s all the same. Yet many...

Most A/E/P and environmental firms send their people to conferences. Whether it’s the annual event of a “peer” organization such as the AIA, ACEC, or NSPE, or a “client” organization such as the Building Owners...

Although I sometimes wish I were more clever or entertaining than I am, writing about what makes A/E/P or environmental firms more successful is what you pay me to do. Occasionally I think I sound...

A lot of firms are successful right now. But the question they should ask themselves as the new year approaches is, “Are we successful because of what we are doing as management, or in spite...

A few of us just got back from “Racing to the Future ‘97,” a CEO get-together we sponsored in West Palm Beach, Florida. Let me tell you, it was a great experience. Having a dozen...

Every owner in an A/E/P or environmental firm knows you can make all the paper profits you want, but unless you turn those profits into bank deposits, you have nothing. I’ve written so much about...

Most of us heard it from our parents at some point in our childhood: “You can grow up to be anything you want, but be the best at it you can be.” It’s a good...

Goodness, how times change. Can you imagine what your reaction would have been five, or even three years ago, if a management consultant advised you to get out of the environmental consulting business and move...

A funny thing happened to me the other day on the way to the office...... I pulled up to a stoplight. A few seconds later, another fellow pulled up in the lane next to me...

I’ve received several calls asking me if I had seen a recent article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal (November 21, 1996) on performance appraisals. Evidently, it is causing quite an uproar in the...

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,...

Mention “human resources management,” and too many principals and managers working in A/E/P and environmental firms will turn their noses up. They immediately associate it with benefits administration or eight-page performance appraisal forms, instead of...

Every so often, it becomes necessary for principals and managers of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms to remind certain staff members that theirs is much more than a technical service business. It is a consulting...

Most A/E/P and environmental firms spend a lot of money just for the opportunity to make a presentation to a client. You send your technical/professional staff chasing all over the countryside, hither and yon, looking...

It has been said that the only thing an A/E/P or environmental firm can do in a presentation is “not lose the job”— meaning that the selection decisions are made before presentation time, and can...

Several times in the last few months, I’ve been asked to speak on the topic of what keeps people in A/E/P and environmental firms happy and productive. The first thing I always tell folks is...

Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t ask us for help with project management training. There is a huge demand for it. Nobody seems happy with the effectiveness of their project managers. But is...

It is widely accepted that any well-managed A/E/P or environmental consulting firm should monitor and report on the profitability of the projects it undertakes. Pick up practically any management newsletter, or look in the practice...

Most A/E/P and environmental consulting firm insiders would agree that we, as a group of companies, do not manage very well. I say that because if we did, we would not be an industry made...

As someone with a business orientation and education who started competing at a young age, competition is something I’ve always been interested in. I take pride in being a pretty competitive guy— one who likes...

Management people are usually critical of technical people for their lack of business knowledge. But having a business degree is no assurance you know any more than the average design or environmental consultant about how...

While waiting to catch a plane from Philadelphia to Boston the other day, I stood in line for what seemed like the longest time with a group of college students heading home for the Easter...

In the past six months, I’ve had the pleasure of working for three firms with very low average collection periods (ACPs). Average collection period is the average number of days it takes a firm to...

It’s the time of year when you can’t reach anyone on the telephone, when important decisions seem to be postponed, and when, as one CFO who participates in our ZWEIG 100 index remarked recently, firm-wide...