5 in Five: Most Firms Die Saying 'Yes' Too Often

GROWTH STRATEGY: Run the firm like a portfolio, not a project.

Great firm leaders don’t win by chasing every opportunity. They win by choosing the right mix of work. Treat markets, clients, and service lines as an investment portfolio with different risk and margin profiles. Regularly prune low-value clients, double down on sectors where you have true differentiation, and price for the value you create rather than the hours you burn. Strategy is saying “no” often enough to protect the work you should say “yes” to.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: Make Project Managers Business Managers.

Your Project Managers control 70–80% of financial outcomes, yet many were trained as technicians, not entrepreneurs. Equip them to read financial statements, negotiate scope, manage risk, and have tough client conversations. When PMs think like owners, utilization, cash flow, and client loyalty all improve. The shortest path to better profits is a better-trained Project Manager. Get your Project Managers upskilled on firm management in PSMJ’s AEC Principals Bootcamp.

GROWTH STRATEGY: Design the client experience as intentionally as the design.

Clients remember how it felt to work with you more than the work you delivered. Map the client journey from pursuit to closeout, eliminate friction, and standardize communication cadence. Consistency beats heroics; a predictable experience turns projects into repeat relationships. This is your most durable differentiator in a commoditizing market.

TALENT OPTIMIZATION: Turn talent development into a growth engine.

Recruiting alone won’t solve the people shortage. Build visible career pathways, rotate high-potentials through varied assignments, and reward those who teach others. Firms that grow their own leaders spend less on turnover and win more work because clients trust stable, seasoned teams. Culture isn’t a perk…it’s infrastructure for scalability. Learn the latest strategies for finding and keeping top talent at PSMJ’s AEC TalentMAX.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: Measure what actually drives value.

Stop drowning in metrics that don’t change behavior. Focus on a tight dashboard: backlog quality, operating profit per employee, revenue factor, project cash flow, win rate by target market, and client concentration for starters. Review these relentlessly and tie incentives to the few numbers that predict tomorrow’s performance. Clarity beats complexity; leaders improve what they consistently see.