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By Kraig Kern | An observation on modern communication, efficiency, and the messages that quietly disappear.

By Shirley Che | Improving employee experience may be the AEC industry’s most important group project.

By Sarah Kinard | Economic shifts, regulatory change, technology, and evolving client expectations rarely arrive as disruption – they appear first as signals.

By Mark Zweig | Strong leaders address underperformance directly, clearly, and quickly before it damages culture, client relationships, and team morale.

By Daryl Simons Jr. | If your retention strategy relies on appreciation events instead of competitive pay, you are already losing talent.

By Matt Cooper | Repeat clients keep AEC firms stable, but winning new work is what determines long-term growth and resilience.

By Tom Godin | When the mind and body of a business move together, worry fades and real performance begins.

By Shirley Che | From fees to client care, lessons learned from a season of conferences highlight growth, adaptability, and connection.

By Tom Robinson | When your people understand not just what is being built, but how and why, they’re better equipped to adapt and solve problems ahead of time.

By Mark Zweig | Show everyone it’s not business as usual and your firm is in a new era – you may find it a helpful tool to reinforce your change program.

By Hugh Smith | Community outreach and engagement are foundational to the success of any project.

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

By Tom Mesk | Prioritizing personal well-being and balance enhances workplace culture, productivity, and presence while preventing burnout and endless to-do list cycles.

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

By Carlo Lebron | Take the time to define your culture, engage your team, and make this a central part of your operational strategy – the rewards are well worth the effort.

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

By Sarah R. Adams-Slominski | Team leaders can more effectively manage employees of all ages through strategic communication practices.

By Mark Zweig | Sparkplugs are the people in your business who make things happen – and they are essential if you want to grow beyond what you alone can ignite.

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 Katelyn Dover | This cybersecurity strategy ensures you’ll never miss important emails.

By Mercedez Thompson | A client extension should be utilized to review, refine, and enhance the existing proposal, rather than expanding or revamping it.

By Mark Zweig | Those of us in the AEC business need to do a better job educating the general populace about the benefits of smart development.

By Dan Houf | Nothing prepares you for the challenges of managing a firm like putting your feet to the fire and learning from everyday experiences.

By Lindsay Young | It’s never too late for firm leaders to set strategic goals and start investing in their companies.

By Tyler Suomala | Losing out on a bid could present you with an opportunity to turn a “not this time” into fuel for your pipeline and processes.

By Leisbel Lam | To integrate effective change management, identify needs, understand deeply, honor the past, mandate change, and provide a precise, optimistic roadmap forward.

By Laura Nick | Four steps for building a strategic plan that supports a people-centric, talent-attracting culture.

By Brad Thurman | Define and nurture a strong company culture by articulating a concise core purpose, aligning actions with values, and embracing consistency.

By Kristin Kautz | AI is becoming a crucial component in reshaping the AEC industry, especially in the realm of marketing.

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

By Ashley Heinnickel | Dedicate time and energy to your rollout to ensure the best possible outcome when launching a new strategic initiative.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Verdantas (Dublin, OH), an environmental, engineering, and technical consulting company with global perspective.

By Lauren Rhodes Martin | Small, medium, or large, firms of every size should have a regular process in place for collection of their fees.

By Liisa Andreassen | Co-founder of Juniper Design+Build, where award-winning design and advanced construction ensures beautiful and environmentally responsible projects.

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

By Jason Cunningham | There are several proactive actions that can be implemented to mitigate IT security risks and keep your firm prepared.

By Peter Atherton | A “lack of time” can no longer be an excuse for not doing what needs to be done or not investing in what needs to be invested in.

By Ann M. Rolland | Even a slight shift toward more responsible materials is impactful and can effect change to the manufacturing industries and the products that designers specify.

BySeth Carlton | Explaining things in overly technical terms could result in your message getting lost, so find ways to simplify so the most important ideas are grasped by everyone.

Develop a muscle memory around follow through and follow up to get ahead in the business development game.

By Mark Zweig | Remote workers are not going to go away as soon as this pandemic is over. Make sure they still feel connected to your firm.

By Jane Lawler Smith | Make sure your marketing uses fresh ingredients, is thoughtfully assembled, and temptingly delivered.

By Phil Keil | Decentralization of structure within our firms allows for a more agile, adaptable, and unified organization.

By John Bray | Bringing work to your firm right now could be the difference between coming out of the pandemic stronger on the other side or getting left behind.

Current world events are changing the way we value everything. This pandemic highlights the need for collaborative and equitable decision-making between leadership and staff.

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

By Christina Zweig Niehues | Good communication shows compassion to your client – something that’s likely to be returned back to you.

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 Will Swearingen | In recent months, long-time issues like communication have been trumped by new challenges: loneliness, problems with technology, work-life balance, and distractions.

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.

President and CEO of Westwood (Minneapolis, MN), a firm that’s been focused on enhancing communities with smart engineering for almost 50 years.

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

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

Use these five strategies to maximize client relationships without leaving your desk.

A recent Zweig Group promotion asked, ‘Is your marketing fresh and clean?’ The email went on to list 15 different marketing focus areas – the first being the marketing plan.

In 20 years as an in-house graphic designer, the lessons learned are simple: Serve the customer, protect the brand, meet the deadlines, and communicate with the client.

By John Bray | It’s easy to send texts and emails, but to make a great and lasting impression, frequent phone calls throughout your network are essential.

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...

Innovation demands that we think, struggle, act, and sometimes fail. A tough slog, but it has to be done. It’s a balancing act to fit innovation into the daily practice of the AEC industry. Whether...

Chairman and CEO of NV5 (Hot Firm #1 for 2018), a 2,000-person global engineering firm headquartered in Hollywood, Florida. By Richard Massey Editor “I must convey to every employee that we are in this together,”...

If you request even a minute of precious time to meet with your firm’s leader, make sure you don’t waste the moment. If there is one thing I have learned growing up in an increasingly...

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...

Client management is something anyone who owns an AEC firm should be concerned about. After all, if you don’t do it effectively, not only will your projects probably turn out poorly, but your firm won’t...

Evaluate where you are, how you can improve, rank yourself and your team, and then work through every way you want to perform better. Between wrapping up business and preparing for family time most of...

Whether you realize it or not, they are your biggest competitive advantage, so train them, mold them, and set them up to succeed. Clients are great. They are your main source of revenue. Technology is...

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...

They wreck the recruiting process, and a lot of them want a great offer to use as leverage for a raise where they already work. Remember how recruiters used to sneak up and wow candidates...

As designers, it’s time to redefine the world and make it better, and that starts with preserving our resources. As I read the various architecture, interior design, and engineering journals, I see many people, firms,...

A good communication plan is vital when things don’t go your way, so put a little thought into who’s going to do the talking when people start asking questions. Not a day goes by that...

Familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment, staff satisfaction, and corporate reputation – to achieve these things you must be consistent. Disney is the world’s most powerful brand. The Brand Finance Global 500 report also ranked Lego...

A professional firm should have professional collateral, but all too often, bad photos, poor design, and sloppy writing dilute the brand. Of course you’re not an amateur. You are a professional. You work for a...

SlideShare is an easy and inexpensive way to present information to your target audience in a visually appealing manner. SlideShare is a web-based service that gives AEC firms the ability to infuse a powerful visual...

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the second place winner in the Special Event category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its Brand Refresh Launch event. Westwood...

In an industry with constant news and needs, following a few simple tips can keep your messages efficient and effective. In today’s world, there’s an endless array of marketing that could or should be developed...

Five types of unnecessary practices that are making you lose big bucks, Mark Zweig writes. I’ve always thought there was a lot of time wasted in the typical AEC firm’s office, especially for the managers....

Distinguishing between marketing and sales offers a true perspective of investment. We have a problem in this industry. Many of us have a simple-minded perspective of “marketing.” For many firms, the marketing department is a...

Expert message Barton Associates (York, PA), a 57-person MEP engineering firm, created a marketing campaign to target their two niche markets: education and healthcare. The campaign took home fourth place in Zweig Group’s Marketing Excellence...

A test of your staff’s commitment to you so you know what to fix. Architects and engineers are seeing increased activity in the marketplace and firms are hiring. This is not news to most of...

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

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...

Make your company stronger by involving marketing folks in the sales process. I recently attended a SMPS “Spring Training” one day seminar in Oklahoma. The first speaker, Carolyn Ferguson, asked several probing questions about developing...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 991 Originally published 1/21/2013 Get going on the five items Mark Zweig shares below. Marketing in the A/E/P and environmental consulting world –...

One of the keys to success in business— all types of business, not just the A/E/P and environmental business— is practicing common courtesies (or perhaps they should be called not-so-common courtesies?). Architects, engineers, and scientists...

As a board member for an international engineering firm I have recently been participating in a series of interviews and meetings related to their brand. What their brand is, how to make it real, and...

If you have a firm of any size and have been in business for any length of time, you will at some point discover one of your key people is interviewing with a competitor. You...

Not many architects I’ve known, and even fewer engineers and scientists, appreciate the importance of company culture. How can I say this? Because they are still trying to manage their companies by creating rules and...

There are many experts on time management that I see used periodically by A/E and environmental firms. These people are brought in from the outside to help train our principals, PMs, and technical and design...

When it comes to project management for A/E/P and environmental firms, there’s one thing we all agree on— it could be done better. I won’t even begin to attempt to postulate why that’s the case....

As management consultants to the A/E/P and environmental industry for many years, we get up close and personal with literally hundreds of firms each and every year. Many of these are very successful companies that...

It’s the kind of question that plagues principals: Why, if their firm has spent more than $300,000 on an all-new web-based software program that is designed to integrate every single front office function, are they...

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...

At 11:01 a.m. a few weeks back, I got an e-mail message from our switchboard operator that said Ms. So-and-so, “a principal with local architectural firm X” called. She did not want to speak to...

“Process marketing” is a term you’ll see a lot of in The Zweig Letter. Heck, we even have a supplemental, stand-alone Process Marketing Advisor devoted entirely to the subject! The reason is that process marketing...

I am not proud of my five airline frequent flyer program gold cards. All that means is that I spend too darn much time in the air, when I’d much rather be someplace else. But...

I have yet to see an A/E/P or environmental consulting firm with a utopian project management system— one where every single job goes exactly the way it’s supposed to in every way. One of my...

There is simply no excuse for rudeness— in the A/E/P business, or in any business for that matter. Rude people turn off, or even worse, visibly upset clients, contractors, vendors, consultants, and employees. I like...

Road Warriors Square Off— One Monday a couple of weeks ago, I got up at 3:45 a.m. to catch a 6:00 flight from Boston’s Logan Airport, the start of a long week to come. After...