Dear clients and friends I’ve been consulting with architecture and engineering firms for nearly 30 years, through up times and down times and everything in between. For much of our industry these are great times: Firms involved in infrastructure have benefitted from the injection of federal funds from the IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs [...]
Dear Clients and Friends I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, complete with everything that makes it wonderful for you! We certainly have a lot to be grateful for. Of course, our families, our good friends, and our health. Also, that we live in a world, and at a time, when we can [...]
Dear Clients and Friends In my strategic planning work, leaders in every firm I see are (justifiably) grumbling about our industry’s talent shortage and shaking their heads ruefully when they lose good people. I’d like to claim you can “poach-proof” your firm, but that’s not possible. There are, however, some preemptive actions you can take [...]
Firms tend to develop their own natural cadence of strategic planning, varying from renewing the plan annually to updating it every three or four years. Irrespective of a firm’s planning rhythm, some operate under the misconception that once their plan is developed and committed to paper, the job is largely finished. In fact, nothing could [...]
Victor Insurance Design Industry Risk Management Summit,May 19, 2021
February 2021 2020 was challenging in ways none of us could have foreseen a year ago. Today, most architecture, engineering, and environmental firms can look back with some pride at how they survived—or even thrived (in some cases with the support of PPP funds and reduced expenses)—through a remarkably tough year. The German philosopher Friedrich [...]
AIA National Annual Grassroots Leadership and Advocacy Event February 19, 2021
July 2020 Planning for the Next Normal Let’s start with some good news: 2020 is a little more than half over and you (and presumably your business) are here to read this letter! We all understand that the ramifications of COVID-19 have been profound, having significantly affected: Our markets. While a few client-type markets are [...]
ACEC Virginia Emerging Leaders Institute, May 22, 2020
March 2020 Clients and friends, These are unsettling and rapidly changing times. No doubt your firm is grappling with disruptions that would have been difficult to foresee just weeks ago. It’s extra challenging right now to plan for the long-term future, so this month instead of my usual letter, I’m offering an article entitled “Prospering [...]