I am a member of a group that provides startup capital and mentoring to young entrepreneurs in our city. This week, I attended a presentation on the life of Winston Churchill that was sponsored by our group. As the past can give us some insight to the present, it was nice to see young entrepreneurs …
There was a time when pigs did fly. Each year in December, I would look forward to my mother taking me to ride “The Pink Pig” at the downtown Atlanta department store of Mr. and Mrs. Rich (Rich’s). It’s an iconic holiday memory, and one that always endeared me to the now out-of-business retailer. As an …
A couple of our customers have asked about the impacts the new steel tariffs might have on construction cost. There will now be a 25% tax on imported steel and a 10% tax on imported aluminum coming in from most countries. While I believe the steel production is currently healthy in the US, we still import a …
For most of us, each day holds a number of “to-dos.” Some are thinking tasks that involve strategy, and others are more routine, as in “just do it.” Everything I’ve read says that our minds work in different cycles depending on how we are wired. I’ve written about being a member of the before breakfast club, and …
This week, I participated in an FMI construction conference in Denver, with the goal of discussing the construction outlook for 2018. A major item, not surprisingly, was the increasing shortage of labor and new talent in construction. The problem is likely a combination of after-burn from all those leaving the industry during the financial crisis, baby boomers retiring and no …
I sometimes think I used up all of my share of blind luck about 15 years ago, when I played in a charity golf tournament that Coach Bowden of FSU sponsored down in Destin. It was one of those tournaments where they drew five names that evening and each of the five pulled a key …
First impressions matter. In these initial minutes, maybe even seconds, we sometimes may make unconscious judgments, including whether or not we can trust a person. I’ve read that we tend to trust people who are a bit older than ourselves or those who appear a bit more reserved. For most of us, there’s not a lot …
A break in, or a ransom letter. An invitation to the dark web. It sounds like a movie plot, but it played out here last month. A computer hacker waited until about 7:20 pm, when our office would likely be cleared out, and found an opening in our firewall, creating a username. He or she then virtually made their way through all our computers and locked …
In our business, there are times when the tendency is to quantify by the unit. “Price per square foot” is used to measure all kinds of things, from the average property value, all the way to building cost. While it can be a quick and easy reference at times, a summary is just that. A …
This morning, I was on the phone with one of our service providers. There was a question about our account that required me to speak with a representative…And after hearing at least three other conversations in the background as we talked, I’m confident he was sitting in the open office environment that’s become a standard in certain places. For …
One of our senior managers recently told me about walking a project with our civil site superintendent and a customer. As they toured the job site, the customer asked several questions and shared other thoughts while they walked. Without a word, the superintendent pulled out a pad and started a running list of discussion items. That simple act sent the customer a message that was …
Yesterday, one of our customers stopped by to talk about a new mixed use development that we will start end of the 1st quarter–retail, apartments and condominiums. “You may have the curse of being an engineer,” I told him. When he gave me a puzzled look, I explained that a lot of our customers are …