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By Morgan Stinson | Lessons from The Bear show AEC leaders the value of purpose, process, development, and treating every client like a VIP.

By Tom Godin | Innovation in AEC must create measurable value for owners through smarter, more sustainable solutions.

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

By Ezequiel Tovar | You won’t live forever – but with intentional ownership transition, your firm could be immortal.

By Brad Wilson | This event is a catalyst for honest conversation, shared wisdom, and renewed focus on ownership, governance, and the future of the industry.

By Daryl Simons Jr. | How to create a stronger, more dynamic, and future-ready workplace – where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

By Mark Zweig | These qualities will be essential for entrepreneurial leaders in the AEC business to have in the coming months and years ahead.

By Lauren Martin | Including certificates of merit in contracts protects AEC firms and strengthens legal defenses against unsubstantiated claims.

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

By Mark Zweig | There are many factors that can create highly motivated people – some within your control as an employer and some not.

By Julia DeFrances | Trade shows and conferences are a great opportunity for your firm, but exhibiting can be a waste of time if you don’t approach it strategically.

By Evan Ponto, Joshua Cloud & Alana Schutt | Sustainability doesn’t have to run counter to building projects on time and on budget.

By Mark Zweig | There’s still time to get your head on straight and do a few things to make the most of the new year.

These are 10 of the most read columns that appeared in The Zweig Letter last year, but they represent only a small fraction of the content we released. Thank you to all of our contributors and readers...

By Mark Zweig | These three things are important to your firm’s success, but they may require a reallocation of your time and money.

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 Lucas Hayden | Unanet’s inaugural AEC benchmarking study reveals the data-management practices that separate the best firms from the rest.

By Mark Zweig | This isn’t easy, but it will ultimately make you more successful – not just as a business leader, but in life itself!

By Matt Hoying | Young (or less experienced) engineers and designers may lack construction experience. Fast track their learning with these approaches.

By Phil Keil | Systems, value creation, simplicity, and granting authority to the most local level.

By Mark Zweig | Don’t underestimate the importance of getting everyone involved in the business planning process and then sharing that plan with all.

By Mark Zweig | How can we each achieve the lofty and satisfying position of knowing we have made a difference through our work in this business?

By Mark Zweig | Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are still doing what you want to do every day. Maybe now is the time to get really serious about your transition.

Through collaboration, mentoring, and continued professional development, we can continue to grow and support each other, no matter what the pandemic throws at us.

By Mark Zweig | With new cases of COVID-19 on the rise, now is not the time for complacency. Instead, it is a time for self-reflection and new action.

By Mark Zweig | For many A/E firms, it is going to take a lot of tough decisions, hard work, mental intensity, and help from everyone in the firm to get through this situation intact.

Finding and hiring good engineers is critically important, but difficult to accomplish. Don’t be afraid to seek outside help or use assessment tools to help you along the way.

Create a three-year vision thinking about what you need to achieve personally and professionally to be happy with your progress, and then work to reach your mountain.

“Are you trying to play the role of the high-flying entrepreneurial CEO in a large firm with lots of resources instead of thinking of yourself as a business owner?”

Ownership transition is a complex and ever-changing problem for the majority of AEC firms. No two firms are alike – so no universal formula or methodology will work in every situation. Creators of internal ownership...

If you want your closing to go smoothly – before, during, and after the deal – make sure you take these six critical steps. There is a lot of acquisition activity in the AEC industry...

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...

A lot of firms say they have a great culture, but for that to be true, a firm must be intentional about implementing its core set of values. At Mead & Hunt, we say we...

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...

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...

Does the specter or a 9 1/2-year lawsuit deter you from the HOA market? Try adding a 20-year maintenance clause to protect your firm. Have you or any of your friends owned a condominium? If...

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...

CEO of BIG RED DOG Engineering & Consulting (Best Firm Multi-discipline #47 and Hot Firm #65 for 2017), a 105-person multi-discipline engineering firm based in Austin, Texas. By Richard Massey Managing Editor “As individuals and...

Learning from external sources can be highly beneficial, but you must also master the art of blocking out the noise and staying the course. I have to admit it: I often feel like a fraud...

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...

HELIX CEO Michael Schwerin headed into the New Year with double-digit profits and a strong book-to-bill ratio. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent In 2001, Michael Schwerin started as an assistant environmental planning group manager with HELIX...

Recruiting top talent to small markets is an adventure, but with persistence, you can ride the horse all the way to the summit. As I was discussing the need for a lead architect with a...

Friendships are not only good for the soul, their good for business, so make as many of them as you can if you want your firm to prosper. Personal engagement with clients determines so much...

While success and security are good things, they can also zap your energy, so find something new. Chances are, if you’re reading this, things have gone pretty well for you. The company is doing well...

When seeking to define his or her position, a top leader should consider these 7 vital responsibilities. Because top firm leaders (CEOs, presidents, managing partners, etc.) probably have a better opportunity to define their own...

Inspiration is necessary for technical/design professionals and those who manage projects to be successful. ​I’ve been saying for years that having two tracks – one for managerial and sales people, and one for design and...

It’s lonely at the top and hard to find someone who will listen and provide useful advice, Mark Zweig writes. It’s been said before that it’s lonely at the top. There’s a lot of truth...

Mark Zweig offers six pointers that will help resolve conflict inside the company. Professional services firms such as architecture and engineering companies are owned and run by smart people. I’ve said it before – as...

Mark Zweig tackles the misconceptions with four examples. I started out in business at a young age, buying and selling bicycles, then motorcycles and then cars, on my Mom and Dad’s street corner. Then I...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Jun. 2, 2014) –Zweig Group is proud to announce Bentley Systems, global leader in software solutions for architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators, as the Gold Sponsor of the 2014 Hot Firm...

There may be something missing in your firm after the recession, Mark Zweig writes. The recession of the last six- to 8 years has been hard on the A/E/P and environmental consulting business. Many companies...

Editorial: By Mark C. Zweig It seems to me that many – if not most – companies in our business today have given up on the idea that they can grow in this economy. Instead,...

Press Release: August 8, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (August 8, 2011) – A ZweigWhite survey reveals that while many architecture, engineering, planning and environmental firms still see value in participating and attending trade shows, other faster...

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...

By Mark C. Zweig Many folks in our business want to act like they have a “purpose-driven organization.” What is that, you may ask? To me it is very simply a company that exists for...

As someone who teaches entrepreneurship in The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, one of my responsibilities is to mentor students who enter business plan competitions. In these competitions, students...

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...

Making money is rarely the reason one either buys into or starts their own A/E/P or environmental firm. It certainly can work out that way— i.e., that one makes a lot of money in this...

After 20 years of writing The Zweig Letter and its no-named, type-written predecessor, I feel like I know our readers. Most of you are architects, engineers, planners, and scientists. You (rightfully) consider yourselves professionals. Theoretically,...

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...

This week’s special issue focuses on sustainability and green building. The guts of these ideas are not mere buzzwords, as the earth’s growing population and declining state of natural resources ensures we’ll all be dragged...

For my kickoff presentation at our eighth annual The Zweig Letter Hot Firm Conference and Awards Celebration in Boston last month, I decided to talk about the differences in entrepreneurial A/E/P firms from those that...

On the whole, A/E/P and environmental firms seem to take themselves and their marketing too seriously. Sure— many of you DO have life-and-death responsibilities attached to much of what you do. You are serious people...

As the fall air turns crisp and cool here in Northwest Arkansas, many folks’ thoughts turn to football, leaf raking, and the upcoming holiday season. Owners and managers of A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, however,...

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...

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...

Turning around an A/E or environmental company that is not doing as well as it should be doing takes an artful leader (or bunch of leaders). If you take a closer look at these transformations,...

Let’s face it, the motivation of any A/E or environmental firm’s leaders is, in many ways, more important than the motivation of the staff. Because if the leaders aren’t fired up, how can anyone else...

I was at a management seminar recently where I am convinced that fully 15 or 20% of the attendees were there only because their firms told them to go. And my guess is that a...

I know structural engineers who make over $1 million a year. I know landscape architects in larger firms who achieve a 4.22 raw labor multiplier on all the work they do. I know architects who...

Let’s face it. The economy of the last couple of years has led to diminished expectations and in some cases, declining values, not just in our 401(k) plans and stock portfolios, but also in terms...

What a difference one year makes, huh? Things have gone from an employee-driven job market to an employer-driven one. Nevertheless, if you get out there and talk with the folks in the trenches, you may...

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...

Curt Robinson closed his middle desk drawer with a resounding thud. “This is the last time I’ll be sitting here,” he thought to himself as he threw last year’s calendar into the cardboard box of...

With 2001 now underway, I want to share some lessons I have learned in the last few years with our readers. These are each important issues related to your success as individuals and as firms....

Set to music from The Beverly Hillbillies: Let me tell a little story about a man named Jed, a poor engineer, barely kept his family fed. And then one day when designing to buy food,...

I said something to my 78 year-old father the other day about going someplace or another to conduct a “management retreat.” His response was, “Why not a management charge?” He went on to say that...

Most intelligent, ambitious people working in A/E/P and environmental consulting firms aspire to be a leader some day. Whether it’s the CEO, managing partner, director of operations, or office manager job they covet varies from...

It’s always interesting to me when I encounter people who don’t think you can get rich (that’s right, I said “rich”) in this business. But before we get started, please let me clarify. “Rich” to...

The longer I am involved with this industry the more aware I am of how critical the collective and individual morale of a firm’s employees is to its continued ability to function successfully. Let’s face...

We just got back from the 15th Annual Inc. 500 Conference and Award Ceremony held in Philadelphia. Zweig White & Associates made it onto Inc. magazine’s list of 500 fastest-growing privately held firms for the...

There really is something to the notion that you do your best work when you feel good about what you are doing. This is especially true when you are under stress. Any professional working in...

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...

I don’t think anyone who knows me or reads my stuff is confused about where I stand on at least one subject— how many hours a professional in this business should work each week. There’s...

Earlier this month, I was in Scottsdale for the Professional Services Management Association (PSMA) national convention— a worthwhile event that I encourage everyone to attend next year in New Orleans. I saw many old friends,...