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By Mark Zweig | Non-performing partners create resentment, weaken accountability, and send dangerous signals throughout an AEC firm.

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

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

By Srividhya Viswanathan | By prioritizing leadership, trust, and accountability, organizations can build teams that not only achieve their goals but thrive together.

By Matt Cooper | These firms often rely on few clients, multitasking staff, and undocumented processes, creating volatility, inefficiency, and growth challenges.

By Mark Zweig | Many AEC firms claim high quality, but without consistent action those promises quickly become hollow words.

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 Ezequiel Tovar | These common leadership mistakes hinder the growth and success of your business.

By Mark Zweig | Success in AEC hinges on guiding clients toward actions that align with their best interests.

By Lauren Martin | AEC firms should carefully assess confidentiality clauses in contracts to avoid uninsured risks, especially amid growing cyber threats.

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

By Ezequiel Tovar | These are vital instruments for AEC companies to ensure smooth transitions and business continuity.

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

By Kevin Brown | Five resume red flags to help AEC firm recruiters identify and set apart the best applicants from the rest.

By Elizabeth Preston | How do AEC industry businesses use artificial intelligence effectively and responsibly for writing?

By John Butt | This strategy empowers leaders to align their teams with organizational goals, provide feedback and recognition, and foster a culture of growth.

By Mark Zweig | Exploring common questions – and their answers – from firm leaders about the buying and selling process.

By Mark Zweig | LLCs are often ill-suited for growing AEC firms, leading to legal entanglements and hindrances later on.

By Mark Zweig | Mergers may be rare in our industry, but they could be the perfect vehicle for two or more firms that want to combine forces and grow.

By Jane Lawler Smith | AEC marketers must uphold communication standards, ensuring precision in language for clear, consistent, and defensible messaging.

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 Matt Hoying | When mistakes happen, it can be difficult to look for the silver lining, but doing so and making the most of it will help your business now and in the future.

By Mark Zweig | None of these questions may seem profound, but they all merit asking and honestly answering.

By Leo MacLeod | Delegation is a sign of a mature leader. It allows you to focus on how you can contribute at the highest level given your experience and wisdom.

If you are within the leadership group of your company, there are times when you may need to purge your leadership team to move forward.

If you’re looking to grow your firm, be diligent and adaptable in finding the IT system that suits your needs.

In the absence of extraordinary situations, the courts will rely on the contract’s terms, not the Impossibility of Performance Doctrine. My wife and I visited St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome a few years ago. A...

CEO and founder of Sam Schwartz Consulting, LLC (Hot Firm #67 and Best Firm #49 Multidiscipline for 2018), a 130-person transportation planning firm based in New York City. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Ownership transitions, especially...

A failed leadership transition can destroy a brand. Take plenty of time, focus on the company, and beware of politics and interpersonal conflict. Several years ago I visited the church I grew up in and...

Things have gotten better in the last 10 years – probably due to the popularity of texting and emailing – but architects and engineers still have a big problem with bad writing. An old friend...

Whether it’s a monthly email campaign, promotional event, thought leadership piece, or blog post, firms need to give marketing the time it needs to evolve. “Do you want the job done right or done fast?”...

There’s something to be said for looking and acting the part if you want to be recognized as a professional. I think sometimes people in our business forget that. Here are some examples: Vehicles. If...

What are some of the duties and responsibilities of the typical board in an A/E firm? An excerpt from A/E Board of Directors Manual The board described below, for most A/E Firms, falls somewhere between...

If you’re looking to sell, it’s critical you attract the right buyers with a detailed yet concise overview of your firm. The M&A transaction “teaser” is the first document that a prospective buyer will review...

The workplace is at its best when teams are as close as tribes, but the only way to get there is to retain your talent. Retention is a growing concern, fueled by lower unemployment rates...

Bond issues, Trump spending could spell good year for AEC By Richard Massey Managing Editor While a three-person panel hosted by Engineering News-Record did not offer an outright prediction that construction would boom next year,...

By assessing how they plan to use drones, and by carefully evaluating related risks, A/E firms will benefit from this new capability. As more A/E firms begin integrating drones into their operations, they need to...

Your firm’s list of contacts is critical to your marketing activity, and it can have a tremendous monetary value, too, so make it a priority. This industry is still doing a poor job of building...

Your firm’s list of contacts is critical to your marketing activity, and it can have a tremendous monetary value, too, so make it a priority. This industry is still doing a poor job of building...

Plant closures and small modular reactors are expected to define the nuclear landscape for the foreseeable future – and provide opportunities for enterprising engineers. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Though the future of U.S. nuclear...

Engineering duo publishes a report on cold-formed steel and how it can be used to make buildings more resistant to the external blast from a terrorist attack. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Cold-Formed Steel...

Firms like to talk about growth, but fear of risk, and even laziness, contribute to lackluster marketing and timid strategic plans. If asked to offer words that describe your firm, would you use ordinary, average,...

Here are nine tips on how to be successful in the A/E/P business. Hint, most of these tips are not specific to the A/E/P business. I have the honor of being a guest lecturer once...

It’s easy to spout acronyms, tell inside jokes, and use empty jargon, but oftentimes, people are just pretending to know what you mean. Have you ever been in one of those meetings where a topic...

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...

Your firm’s list of contacts is critical to every marketing activity, and it can have a tremendous monetary value, too, so make it a priority. This industry is still doing a poor job of building...

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...

ZweigWhite knows… and can help you learn them. Architecture, engineering, planning and environmental firms often lament the amount of money spent on training. According to the ZweigWhite 2011 Proceedures, Policies and Benefits Survey, employee training...

By Jeremy Clarke Director, Executive Search Consulting ZweigWhite Recruiting and selection can be a meticulous and costly campaign. Those who recruit regularly know that an average management-level search can last 90 days or more. These...

With clients not in any hurry to pay their bills and banks clamping down on firms that are non-compliant with their loan covenants, now more than ever is the time to do what it takes...

I cannot recall any recent editorial in The Zweig Letter that drew the amount of inquiries my piece on open book management did (Issue 774, August 11, 2008). Because there is so much interest in...

When it comes to architecture, engineering, and environmental firms, or just about any business for that matter, weird can be good. How so? Being weird means being memorable. Being memorable translates into more calls from...

We all seem to spend a lot of money on training. That’s a loosely applied term. Many things fall into the “training pot” in a typical A/E/P or environmental firm. My anecdotal understanding is that...

Whether or not an A/E/P or environmental firm should have a formal, written dress code, and if so, what should it be, are a couple of age-old questions that firms have been wrestling with as...

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...

Those who knew me way back when could tell you that, in my younger days, I was more rigid in my beliefs, more certain of my direction, and generally a lot less flexible than I...

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...

We are now in our 17th year of working with A/E/P and environmental firms of all types and sizes around the world. And, over that time, we have seen literally thousands of different companies’ business...

Human resources people are big on job descriptions. I was never that fond of them because it seems that they can always be used against you somehow. Here are some examples: “I meet the requirements...

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...

One of the best benefits of working at ZweigWhite is the free food and drink we get. We give everyone whatever they want as long as you can store it in a cabinet or a...

The longer I have been involved with management of A/E/P and environmental firms the more convinced I am that the whole key to success lies in thinking long term. The sooner one comes to this...

Just ask anyone in this business— it’s damn difficult to hire good people today. And the situation doesn’t appear to be easing up. As long as this building boom continues, the competition for talent is...

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...

You spend all kinds of money to get the phone to ring and to get on qualified bidders lists. Your best technical seller-doer-closers beat the bushes for new opportunities. Your glossy quarterly newsletters are mailed...

If you’re not worried about who is going to take over when you’re gone, you should be. The second-tier management in an A/E/P or environmental firm is every bit as important as the first. This...

Not much gets someone who works in an A/E/P or environmental firm more upset than unnecessary bureaucracy. I’m talking about stupid forms to fill out, channels to go through, or steps to take that don’t...

I had a revelation the other day: I don’t know of a single top manager in an A/E/P or environmental firm who is completely thrilled with every one of his or her partners, shareholders, or...

Now is the time of year that many A/E/P and environmental firms are taking a look at what’s to come and what needs to be done in the year ahead. Budgets are being set, goals...