LEADFORWARD
A 6-month virtual peer program for AEC professionals stepping into new or evolving leadership roles. Build a trusted network of growth-minded peers, work monthly with Sarah Kinard, and leave with the tools and confidence to lead with purpose.
LEADING WELL CAN BE LONELY. DOING SOMETHING NEW CAN BE EXCITING.
You're not alone. That's why we built LeadForward.
ONE PROGRAM. ONE RISING LEADER. A COHORT OF PEERS.
LeadForward is a virtual peer cohort, not a solo course. You meet monthly with Sarah Kinard and a small group of AEC marketing, BD, operations, finance, and leadership professionals working through the same stage of the same climb — together.
GROWTH-MINDED AEC LEADERS
Directors, VPs, Principals, and other professionals carrying meaningful growth responsibility and stepping into new or evolving leadership roles.
VIRTUAL PEER COHORT
Monthly guided sessions with Sarah, peer discussion, practical tools you can use immediately, plus two Office Hours sessions for deeper work.
WHO JOINS LEADFORWARD?
LeadForward was built for growth-minded leaders across the AEC industry who own part of their firm's growth strategy but don't always have the structure, support, or peer perspective to match it.
PRINCIPALS, VPS & STRATEGY LEADERS
You're ready to connect your firm's vision to execution and lead the people responsible for making it happen.
MARKETING & BD LEADERS
You're tired of reactive planning and want stronger systems, better strategic clarity, and more influence across the firm.
OPERATIONS & FINANCE LEADERS
You're carrying growth responsibility and want greater clarity, focus, and connection between strategy, resources, and results.
WHAT THE SIX MONTHS LOOK LIKE
Each month focuses on a different aspect of strategic growth: leadership clarity, market intelligence, alignment, measurement, technology, and the tools to turn strategy into action.
GROWTH STRATEGY FOUNDATIONS
Define growth and your role in shaping it. Explore what growth strategy is and isn't, how it differs from a strategic plan or BD plan, and where your own influence sits in the process.
Growth Role Clarity Worksheet
READING THE MARKET
Use market intelligence to drive strategy. Learn the difference between data and intelligence and how to build a market intelligence process your firm can sustain.
Market Intelligence Checklist
GETTING PEOPLE BEHIND THE STRATEGY
Work through stakeholder engagement, change communication, and the challenge of building alignment when you have influence without formal authority.
Influence & Engagement Map
Strategy-to-Story Framework
DEFINING SUCCESS: KPIS & MEASUREMENT
Define what success looks like and how to track it honestly. Choose measures that drive the right behaviors rather than merely report activity.
KPI Filter & Alignment Tool
AI & STRATEGIC THINKING
Make sense of AI without the hype and use it to think more strategically: what to adopt, what to wait on, and what to stop doing.
AI Use-Case Prioritization Grid
FROM STRATEGY TO EXECUTION
Turn six months of thinking into action with realistic timelines, goals that drive accountability, and the momentum to keep moving.
Execution Roadmap
Momentum Tracker
STRATEGIC CHECK-IN & COURSE CORRECTION
Reconnect after the cohort ends to name what worked, what stalled, and where people, priorities, or resources need to be realigned against real-world conditions.
Strategic Reflection & Reset Worksheet
READY TO MAKE 2027 YOUR MOST FOCUSED YEAR YET?
Applications open for the 2027 cohort.
Six monthly virtual cohort sessions with Sarah and your peer group.
Strategic check-in and course correction after you've put the work into practice.
A deliberately small cohort designed for meaningful dialogue, support, and accountability.
WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH
Per participant for the full 2027 LeadForward experience. Limited to 12 participants so there is space for meaningful dialogue, working sessions, and real peer connection.
SARAH KINARD, HEAD BIRD
With over 20 years of experience leading growth strategies and new market development, Sarah Kinard is the driving force behind The Flamingo Project, a research, strategy, and growth-focused firm. She specializes in research-driven growth strategies and market positioning to help AEC firms thrive.
Sarah brings clarity, structure, and a future-focused lens to every conversation. She helps leaders cut through noise, define what matters, and build strategic rhythms that work in the real world.
Sarah is heavily involved in SMPS. She served as Dallas president from 2021 to 2022, and during her presidency she worked with Fort Worth to re-envision how SMPS serves the market, which led to the SMPS North Texas chapter. She is SMPS Foundation President 2026.
QUESTIONS WE GET
WHO IS LEADFORWARD FOR?
AEC professionals stepping into new or evolving leadership roles who carry meaningful responsibility for growth. That includes Principals, VPs, Directors, and marketing, BD, operations, finance, and strategy leaders who want stronger structure and peer support around the work.
IS THIS A COURSE OR A COHORT?
A cohort. You meet virtually with Sarah and a small group of peers working through the same material at the same time. It is not a self-paced video course.
HOW LONG DOES THE PROGRAM RUN?
Six monthly sessions run January through June 2027, followed by a strategic check-in and course-correction session in September.
WHEN DO APPLICATIONS OPEN?
Applications for the 2027 cohort open October 20, 2026. Spots fill on a rolling basis.
WHAT DOES LEADFORWARD COST?
The investment is $2,500 per participant for the full 2027 cohort experience.
IS LEADFORWARD VIRTUAL?
Yes. LeadForward runs virtually, with monthly cohort sessions and two additional Office Hours sessions with Sarah.
APPLY TO LEADFORWARD
Tell us where you are in your leadership journey, and we'll let you know if the 2027 cohort is the right fit.
Resources
YOUR PLANNING SEASON QUESTIONS, ANSWERED
The questions AEC firm leaders ask most before their annual planning cycle — answered directly.Every planning season, I have the same conversations with AEC firm leaders. Not because the same problems keep coming up, though some do, but because planning season...
THE COST OF PLANNING ON LAST YEAR’S NUMBERS
Here is the planning pattern most AEC firms repeat every year. The off-site happens in October or November. The leadership team talks through what the year felt like, which sectors were strong, which clients were active, and which pursuits went the right way. The team...
THE AEC BUYER HAS CHANGED: WHAT IT MEANS FOR HOW FIRMS WIN WORK
If you're still marketing and selling to the buyer you knew 10 years ago, you're aiming at someone who's already gone. Today's decision-maker researches independently and makes most of the call before your firm ever hears from them, so by the time you're invited to...
WHICH PLANNING FRAMEWORK IS RIGHT FOR YOUR AEC FIRM?
A practical guide to seven strategic planning models — and how to know which one fits where your firm is right now.Every few years, a planning framework catches fire in the AEC industry. Firms adopt it because a peer firm swears by it, or because someone came back...
FALL PLANNING: INTELLIGENCE YOU NEED
Before the off-site, the goals, and the spreadsheets...Here is what to gather firstSeptember feels like the planning month. October is when the off-sites happen, and the goals get set. November is when the documents get finalized. But the firms that show up to those...
THE K-12 CONSTRUCTION MARKET HAS THREE LAYERS. MOST AEC FIRMS ONLY SEE ONE.
The national K-12 construction market looks healthy from a distance. Enrollment is large, facility stock is aging, and communities across the country are investing in schools. Pull back the lens a little further, and the picture gets more nuanced — and more...
THE EVOLUTION OF AEC MARKETING STRATEGY: AND THE QUIET SHIFTS THAT CHANGED GROWTH
Over the past 25 years, the AEC industry hasn’t changed overnight. It has shifted gradually—through signals many of us didn’t recognize until they became impossible to ignore. As a strategic growth consultant working with architecture, engineering, and construction...
Q1 IS OVER. IS YOUR AEC GROWTH PLAN STILL WORKING?
A lot has changed since October. Here’s how to tell if your AEC Growth Plan is still pointing at the right target —and what to do when it isn’t.April is the moment of truth for most AEC growth plans. Q1 is behind you, Q2 is just getting started, and somewhere between...
GROUNDHOG DAY AND YOUR BUSINESS PLAN: WHAT TO ADJUST NOW
January has a funny way of sobering us up. In the fall, you planned. You workshopped. You debated priorities. You built the business plan, nodded confidently, and kicked things off on January 1 with fresh notebooks and big energy. And now it is late January. The...
TECH CAN’T REPLACE CULTURE: EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY LESSONS FROM LEADFORWARD
Ida Cheinman of Substance151 kicked off a LeadForward session with a powerful conversation about employee advocacy, technology, and culture in AEC firms. She opened with a simple but important question: How do we truly know when employees are proud of their workplace?...