Leadership
Look for the Positive, Then Verbalize It
A long time ago, I made the decision to vocalize the good I see by giving genuine compliments as often as possible. I don’t mean, “You look nice today,” compliments….
Leadership
Manning the Battleship
For the last few years, I’ve served as one of the directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Birmingham Branch. This country is fortunate to have a strong central…
Read MoreLeadership
Practicing Resilience
I recently read an article from the Rotary magazine about resilience. This sentence from the opening paragraph stuck with me: “Each of us is genetically hardwired to recover after a…
Leadership
Time to Serve
These days, we have a solid group of both office and field management who are leading Stewart/Perry well, probably the best we have had. Because of this, I felt like…
Management
Signs of Spring
After experiencing two years of record price increases, material shortages and a scarce workforce, it seems that things are getting a bit better, at least with the availability of talent….
Construction Trends
Crack in the Ice
The last couple of years have been an estimator’s nightmare. We often price jobs several months in advance, and we all know that the trajectory of pricing has been angling up. By the…
Leadership
Focus on Potential
I recently read an article saying there are two kinds of job candidates: Experienced and Trajectory. Upon being hired, experienced candidates can jump right in. They have the wisdom of…
Customer Relationships
These Two Years
For the last couple of years, building and maintaining relationships has been harder than I have ever seen in my career. Zoom, along with its video conference first cousins, has…
Leadership
The Likability Factor
Quality, value and price are often big deciding factors as to what lands a job. If those things are equal, or close to it, what drives the transaction? The answer…
Construction Trends
In Retail, Physical Locations Matter
Several years ago, when eBooks came on the scene, I remember most everyone predicting the demise of both the corner bookstore and national bookstores. It did not happen. There is…