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By Chad Coldiron | The AEC industry is facing uncertainty, but leaders remain optimistic, practical, and focused on adapting to what comes next.

By Ying Liu | Ownership mindset starts before equity, with the clarity, trust, and responsibility people need to lead like owners.

By Becky Carlson | Understanding your firm’s value early can reveal growth opportunities, reduce risk, and support long-term transition planning.

The leading source of business management insights, research, and strategies tailored specifically for leaders of AEC firms.

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 GinaRenee Autrey | AEC marketing doesn’t fail from lack of expertise – it fails when firms keep telling safe stories in increasingly noisy markets.

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

By Daryl Simons Jr. | Technology can enhance recruiting efficiency, but human connection, trust, and judgment will always define successful hiring.

By Ying Liu | Real success depends on alignment, courage, and people ready to own the future.

By Scott Butcher | AEC firms use seller-doers, business developers, or both, and the best model depends on buyer preferences and firm capabilities.

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

By Will Swearingen | Environmental M&A is where sustainability and strategy meet, driving growth across the AEC industry.

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

By Dan Schwartz | Successful M&A communication is achieved through strategy, storytelling, and staying human in the face of complexity.

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

By Anna Kendall | Effective internal communication plays a crucial role in shaping employee morale during times of significant change.

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

By Sara Grayum | By collaborating closely, marketing and business development can craft stories that will steer your firm toward success.

By Ying Liu | The essential structural and tactical elements that underpin successful strategy execution in AEC.

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

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

By Chad Coldiron | Takeaways from Zweig Group’s 2024 ElevateAEC Conference & Awards Gala.

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 Sara Parkman | Zweig Group’s 2024 Marketing Excellence Award winners share the strategies behind their winning campaigns and the impact on their firms’ success.

By Mark Zweig | Employees who decide to disengage and shift out completely do so at their own peril.

By Greg Sepeda | Mastering the art of managing upward is crucial for career growth, involving understanding, aligning with, and proactively supporting superiors.

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

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

By Leisbel Lam | We need to strive for a leadership style that is centered on emotional intelligence and finding common ground, connection, and growth within our teams.

By Mercedez Thompson | A firm’s approach to proposal development greatly impacts how marketing and proposal professionals do their job and how they understand their role.

In this enlightening episode of the TZL podcast, Melvalean MacLemore and Zhetique Gunn, dedicated committee members of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and key players in the HBCU Professional Development Program (PDP), sit...

Zweig Group’s 2023 Marketing Excellence Award winners share the strategies behind their winning campaigns and the impact on their firms’ success.

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

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 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 Mike Woeber | What really changed with the federal research and development credit for 2022 tax purposes.

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 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 Jane Lawler Smith | By applying various levels of rewriting, redesign, and repackaging, you can successfully bring adaptive reuse concepts into your AEC marketing realm.

By Julia DeFrances | Creating an engaging culture across multiple offices is a challenge that requires constant diligence.

By Jane Lawler Smith | If it doesn’t support the mission of your firm, enhance your brand story, and provide relatable value to the recipient, it might be time to rethink spending money on it at all.

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 Justin Smith | Explore uncharted territory for the opportunity to access a more resilient future.

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

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

By Amanda Hartman, Hannah Rico & Jules Ackerson | Huge organizational milestones can be reached when you step away from your day-to-day operations to evaluate your firm’s past and plan for the future.

By Liisa Andreassen | Chief people officer at HEAPY (Dayton, OH), a nationally recognized leader in sustainable and resilient engineering design.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of LaBella Associates (Rochester, NY), a firm with diverse service offerings that can address any aspect of the built or natural environment.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing partner of Svigals + Partners (New Haven, CT), an architecture and art firm that helps communities thrive by creating environments that build upon who they are.

By Chad Clinehens | Optimism among AEC firms is high as we look ahead to 2022 and beyond.

By Jenny Phan & Kyle Copelin | Developing a communication program with the right messaging principles is the proactive approach to ensure a successful transfer of brand equity.

By Mark Zweig | We create much of our own good luck – and a lot of that comes down to understanding probabilities and doing things that increase our odds for success.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of BranchPattern (Overland Park, KS), a building consultancy dedicated to creating better built environments through its many interwoven specialties.

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

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

CEO of Olsson (Lincoln, NE), an employee owned 1,300-person firm that is working to leave the world better than they found it.

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.

Owner and managing partner at Batture, LLC (New Orleans, LA), a firm dedicated to delivering outstanding results while creating powerful social and environmental change.

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

Co-founder and executive vice president of Patel, Greene and Assoc. (Temple Terrace, FL), a firm with a mission to elevate their families, communities, and profession.

President and CEO of the North American operations of Mott MacDonald (Iselin, NJ), a $2 billion global management, engineering, and development firm.

By Mark Zweig | None of these is a panacea. All of these things do, however, have the potential to bring you new clients, opportunities, and projects.

It’s our responsibility as AEC professionals, as well as citizens, to champion solutions to problems that affect our global and local communities.

By Phil Keil | Recommendations for how your firm can adjust budgets and make smart investments of your money, your time, and your energy.

Learning to learn, praising the process, and reflecting on your progress all point your mind toward the common goal of persistent development.

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.

CEO of EDiS (Wilmington, DE), a fifth generation family-owned firm that has been thriving in the same region for more than a century.

A constant focus on your firm’s brand is essential. If you let it slide, you’ll send mixed, confusing messages.

CEO of ISG (Mankato, MN), a multi-disciplinary design and engineering firm that has growth in its DNA.

President and CEO of DBR (Houston, TX), a 150-person Texas firm that values communication and superior service above all.

Successful leaders have to be able to deliver tough messages. Use these six strategies to navigate difficult conversations.

President of DY Consultants, a nationally-recognized aviation consulting firm based in New York City.

In this era of recycle/reuse/renew, instead of discarding boilerplate information, we should embrace it.

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.

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

Being relevant can be powerful, but it will require you to put down your devices and actively engage with those around you. No doubt you have been in meetings and looked around the room and...

The process must be deliberate and multifaceted, but don’t forget the human touch. Be yourself and enjoy finding clients that reflect your values. Recently, I had a conversation with a very busy, newly promoted division...

President and CEO of Morrison-Maierle (Best Firm #27 Multi-discipline for 2017), a 280-person firm based in Helena, Montana. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “It’s vital to our success,” Murphy says, referring to entrepreneurship in the firm....

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...

CEO of SidePlate (Best Firm Structural #4 for 2018), a civil engineering firm based in Mission Viejo, California. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There is no question that organic growth is the way to go,” Gallart...

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,”...

They are everywhere, but they don’t have to win. Identify their behavior and rectify it, or risk losing your staff. Regrettably, we have all been there, regardless of the profession. Whether it’s real estate, marketing,...

An acquired firm can double your size, elevate your design reputation, and give you a foothold in a new market – if the cultures fit. Editor’s note: Design Organization was acquired by Shive-Hattery in 2012....

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...

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...

If you want entrepreneurship in the DNA of your firm’s culture, a top-down commitment to innovation and risk is essential. How important is culture? Since it’s the amorphous, intangible, and mysterious thing that drives your...

There’s three big reasons why employees choose where they work, and a firm’s rationale for its very existence can tie them all together. The “why” of a company matters. I ask the question during strategic...

Some people think of it as a four-letter word, but when accountability is backstopped by reasonable policies, it can make your business better. If there is one issue that I have heard repeatedly in working...

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

When your marketing people are not empowered to make big decisions, their great concepts often get parked in committees, where they die. Marketing is where the creativity is, right? Not always. Too many marketing departments...

When the company you acquire has better ideas than your firm’s, you have to remain open to change and be willing to learn. Acquisitions help companies in many ways. They enable access to the professional...

You don’t want to lose sight of your current business, but fostering ideas and innovation with your staff is increasingly essential. Achieving the seemingly impossible could be one way to sum up several epic sporting...

CEO of HGA (a multiple Hot Firm award winner), a national, 750-person integrated architecture, engineering, and planning firm based in Minneapolis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Our most successful proposals help the client visualize the journey...

President and CEO of Jones|Carter (Best Firm Multidiscipline #17 and Hot Firm #18 for 2016), a 465-person engineering firm based in Houston, Texas. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The board must conduct itself as a board...

President and CEO of Ghafari, a big Michigan firm, has broadened its services, allowing it to weather tough times and maintain an era of growth. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent As president and CEO of Ghafari...

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...

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...

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...

The marketing of ‘quality’ is ubiquitous in the A/E industry, but oftentimes, the difference between perception and reality can undermine a firm’s brand equity. Many firms are dealing with record high workloads. That translates into...

In the AEC marketing world, proposals are usually treated as business as usual, but I believe we need to make them personal. I will be celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary on June 1, 2016, (I...

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...

M&A really isn’t all about the valuation and the payout terms. For sellers, there is usually a strong emotional attachment to the company that they’ve devoted years, resources, and their career to growing. A concern...

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the first place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its refreshed brand. Clients complained that...

Don’t let the current market surge allow you to become too busy or lazy to effect needed changes, and don’t underestimate the time and resources this will require. ​Have you ever been at the controls...

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...

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...

Build a better, more sustainable company with these suggestions from Mark Zweig. 2015 is shaping up to be a FANTASTIC year for firms in this business. It’s really fun to see how many firms are...

Press Release: October 28, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (October 28, 2011) – To recognize philanthropic efforts and acknowledge those in the A/E industry who are making a difference for the greater good, ZweigWhite and Deltek, Inc....

By Ed Friedrichs I’ve long wondered why architects, designers, engineers, and environmental planners haven’t figured out where the action is for their clients. Almost every client I have ever worked with was an active participant...

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....

How many times have you heard it? Someone turns in their notice to leave and the response of his or her immediate supervisor is: “We didn’t need Bob (or Sue), anyway,” or, “We were going...

Last week I was on the phone ordering a part for an old British motorcycle. It vibrates so much that every time I ride it something either breaks off or falls off. In any event,...

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...

“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...

Summer’s here. Our local swimming hole— “Farm Pond”— in the town I live in (Sherborn, Mass., pop. 4,300) is also a social gathering spot. Late in the afternoon and on weekends you’ll see all of...

This week, you get three topics for the price of one. What makes for value? An article in the February 21 edition of The Boston Globe under the headline “Internet ad company stock gains 57%...

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...

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...

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...

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”...