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By Julia Moroney | The real AI conversation in AEC isn’t about tools or speed, it’s about preserving trust, judgment, and accountability.

By Gary Bowman | Building a firm that attracts people, not just transactions, requires balancing scale, preserving culture, and investing in long-term success.

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 Ezequiel Tovar | Ownership transition is all about trust, so develop leaders early and communicate clearly to ensure lasting success.

By Mailena Urso | The Zweig Group team is hitting the road to share fresh insights on how AEC firms can stay ahead.

By Tracey Eaves & Will Swearingen | The first quarter of 2025 saw big moves, bold strategies, and a clear shift toward specialization.

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

By Brandon Pinkerton | When the time comes, the best thing you can do for yourself, your legacy, and your organization is to end the journey well.

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

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 Luci Hogue | Whether you love your job and want to get to the next level or if you’re feeling unsatisfied in your current position, these tips may help gain perspective.

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

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Sunrise Engineering (Fillmore, UT), a full-service professional engineering and consulting firm that has been providing its services since 1978.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Waggoner (Jackson, MS), a civil engineering firm of planners, designers, and engineers with a passion for helping communities realize their potential.

By Mark Zweig | Private equity firms that used to have no interest in AEC are now putting their money into companies in our industry.

By Mercedez Thompson | It’s worthwhile to continue conversations around what marketing is and is not and why it’s critical to your bottom line.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Raba Kistner, Inc., a firm that is committed to empowering employees to continually improve and deliver services right the first time, on time, every time.

By Liisa Andreassen | Partner at //3877, a boutique design firm that’s committed to providing innovative and creative designs that enhance and enrich the lives of its clients, partners, and communities.

CEO and president of SEH (St. Paul, MN), a firm that’s simplifying the world’s complex challenges by designing better places, engineering clean water, and renewing infrastructure.

Co-founder and principal at CWE (Fullerton, CA), a  civil engineering, water resources, and environmental engineering firm whose experts pledge to create a better tomorrow, today.

Communication, decentralized decision-making, and rapid assessment and implementation are key, in both disaster response and your business.

Mark Zweig, Zweig Group’s founder and chairman, and Randy Wilburn talk about what design firms should be doing in response to COVID-19.

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

Embrace change, take chances, and continually innovate to make sure your firm stays ahead on the innovation continuum.

CEO of SSOE Group (Hot Firm #44 for 2018), a global project delivery firm for architecture, engineering, and construction management based in Toledo, Ohio. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “All key positions within the company are...

President of LandDesign (Best Firm Multi-discipline #30 for 2017), a 165-person landscape architecture, civil engineering, and planning firm based in Charlotte, NC. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “From the day LandDesign was founded, it was intended...

If you don’t identify and address your firm’s problems, you could increase the measure of risk while decreasing value. There is a four-letter word floating around out there that’s probably the first that comes to...

Each week, The Zweig Letter features commentary from top-flight leaders of AEC firms. Here is a compilation of how they handle, and move beyond, failure. By The Zweig Letter Staff John Hiltz, president of OHM...

CEO of Apex Companies, LLC (Hot Firm #41 for 2017), a 700-person environmental engineering firm based in Rockville, Maryland. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There is nothing that drives value creation for an organization more than...

Are all your processes in place in the event your firm is waylaid by a wildfire, earthquake, hurricane or flood? Things were pretty much business as usual in early December with sunny skies and strong...

President of Burns Engineering (Hot Firm #88 for 2015), a 220-person firm based in Philadelphia. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The downside of the seller/doer model is that staff often likes the doing more than the...

Comprehensive Environmental, Inc. (Best Firm #1 Geotechnical, #3 Environmental, and #13 Civil for 2017), a Miami Lakes, FL, based 80-person engineering and contracting firm. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “I’ve never termed any event in my...

CEO of The Thrasher Group (Hot Firm #77 for 2016), a 350-person architecture, engineering, and survey consulting firm based in Bridgeport, West Virginia. “By definition, a good project manager is someone who delivers. Period,” says...

Talent and skill are essential, but keep a close eye on cultural fit if you want to avoid the mistake of bringing the wrong person on board. I was recently talking with a client who...

Did you ever hire someone who didn’t work out? Someone who effectively “fired themselves” by either refusing to accept your coaching and input or recognize the signs that they were in trouble and change their...

Too many owners/managers/leaders in AEC firms are obsessed with looking in their rearview mirrors when instead, they should be looking far down the road. Doing that – as I was taught at Freddie Spencer’s Superbike...

As we move deeper into the final quarter of the year, now’s the time to look ahead to 2017’s backlog, pipeline, and cash flow. As we move deeper into the last quarter of fiscal 2016,...

Billion-dollar redevelopment of the Nashville International Airport a boon not just for the city, but for the A/E/P firms handling the project. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Faced with unprecedented traffic that is only expected...

RTM’s CEO Tony Mirchandani has built his career pragmatically and encourages sustainable growth within his firm. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Tony Mirchandani, CEO, RTM (South Barrington, IL), a 100-person engineering consulting firm, has expertise in...

The manager-producer dilemma and how it can affect your course. I am reflecting on the month of January as I write this. I was in the office for one business day and on the road...

By Tracey D. Jeffers There is a four letter word floating around out there in the atmosphere that is likely the first formed in the mind of an investor when determining whether or not an...

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...

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...

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...

Here’s something I have observed in many different A/E and environmental firms around the country— certain employees who act as if they don’t understand how critical it is for them to be responsive. This one...

In tough times like those we are in right now (and they could get a lot worse), it’s easy for people to lose perspective. Little problems get blown up beyond their importance. Fear takes over....

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...

Although I don’t consider myself a member (honorary or otherwise) of the morality police, the latest presidential scandal got me thinking about morality and ethics. I’ll limit my political commentary to one statement: I think...

There is a lot of merger and acquisition activity today. It seems like just about everybody is looking to buy or merge with someone else. We’ve never seen a higher level of interest in acquisitions....

Most of us in A/E/P or environmental consulting firms who are at project manager level or higher must travel occasionally. The probability that you will have to travel increases the larger your firm is, the...