ZweigWhite Blog

From the Chairman: Do you work ‘with’ or ‘for’ your organization?

Christina Zweig — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:16:15 +0000

Don’t we all want to be part of an organization that we are thrilled to be a part of; that makes us proud? I often get chills when I think back on my early career with Gensler, particularly the frequent nightmares I would have about being fired. And why, you may ask, would such vivid [...]

Editorial: Your Marketing Department

Christina Zweig — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:11:17 +0000

Mark Zweig offers five steps to keep your expanded departments happy and productive. When I started working in the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry in 1980, most companies in the business did NOT have a marketing department or anything even close to it. If a firm had any dedicated marketing people, they fit into one [...]

PM Perspectives: A method to the madness

Christina Zweig — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:30:03 +0000

But let’s just be clear – no one really enjoys working in a maddening environment. I was working with an engineering firm two weeks ago and we were discussing ways to improve operations. They had a spurt of growth recently, were projecting continued success, but weren’t equipped internally to handle that pace. One of our [...]

Editorial: The great meeting drain

Christina Zweig — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:29:21 +0000

Stop holding so many of them and get back to work, Mark Zweig writes. We’ve got a HUGE problem in the A/E/P and environmental business. And it’s one we can solve easily. I’m talking about meetings. Meetings are one of the biggest time-wasting activities people working in A/E firms engage in. It seems to me [...]

Editorial: Dealing with frustrating technology changes

Christina Zweig — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:53:18 +0000

While the loss of a beloved BlackBerry device is a traumatic experience for Mark Zweig, change is inevitable. The last week brought a lot of change into my world. That included moving to a new Windows operating system (I don’t even know which one) on my ZweigWhite laptop AND having to get a new phone. [...]

From the Chairman: Overboard on on-boarding

Christina Zweig — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:36:18 +0000

Several things happen when a new person joins your firm. Don’t scare them away. This term seems to have come into popular usage among HR folks lately, referring to how a firm brings a person into the fold – bringing them “on board,” so to speak. Sounds too much like water-boarding to me – may [...]

Editorial: What’s going on NOW!

Christina Zweig — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:32:32 +0000

Mark Zweig provides six directions on where the market is heading. Here’s a quick summary of where I see things going right now in the A/E business and the world at large: The housing recovery is well underway. In just about every market in the country the numbers are heading up in terms of volume [...]

Editorial: Tune up your responsiveness

Christina Zweig — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:30 +0000

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 1002 Originally published 4/8/2013 There are many things you can’t control, but this one you can. Here are seven ways you can be more responsive. You know, in this crowded A/E field we all work in there are many variables we cannot control. [...]

PM Perspectives: ‘I was that guy once…’

Christina Zweig — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:58:27 +0000

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 1001 Originally published 4/1/2013 Not all PMs are stars. Rattling their cage a bit may just help them rise. I was at our recent Principals Academy in Denver and having breakfast with a table of attendees. They were swapping stories about that “one” [...]

Editorial: Cars, cars, cars

Christina Zweig — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:49:42 +0000

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 1001 Originally published 4/1/2013 The long love affair between design firm leaders and cars continues, Mark Zweig writes. We were doing an in-house seminar a couple weeks ago for a really great planning and architecture firm on the East Coast. One of the [...]