3 Essential Skills for Engineers to Become Proficient at Selling

  Many engineers are incredibly smart, skilled people who can figure out how things work and fix them when they break down. A well-spoken engineer can sell their products or services like nobody’s business. It doesn’t matter if they are pitching an idea or defending the work they’ve done on behalf of their company in […]

3 Tips for Selling Yourself So You Can Sell Anything Well

Some people are great at speaking about themselves. They’re the ones that have a story to tell about every situation. They’re comfortable going from one topic to another effortlessly, and they seem to know somebody wherever they go. They’re smooth talkers, and somehow, they seem to have an endless amount of charisma and an extensive network of […]

5 Pieces of Advice Every Engineering Professional Should Know

  Advice from people who’ve walked in your shoes is invaluable. This year, we set out with a goal to help build a community for industry leaders on how to successfully scale their business. We were fortunate to partner with EMI, and specifically its The Civil Engineering Podcast, to bring listeners a new series — […]

The Truth About Selling

“I hate sales!” “I could never sell anything!” I wish I had a dime—maybe a dollar—for every time I uttered phrases like that.   My first business coach helped me break that thought pattern. Here is how the thinking goes:   You are an engineer who excels at (fill in the blank).  You happen to meet Chris, […]

5 Steps to Building and Maintaining Client Relationships

Customers want to work with engineers who provide excellent service by respecting their time and needs. However, manufacturing challenges, constant innovations, and changes to the industry can be a barrier to excellent customer service. Without great customer service and relationship building, new innovations and investments may never happen. Keeping a steady pipeline of existing clients […]

3 Ways Engineering Leaders Can Manage Emotions in the Workplace

Many factors can contribute to how we can handle stress in the workplace. These include our personality and position in the organization, heavy workload, exclusion, and bullying among co-workers. Therefore, one of the most impactful elements of an engineering leader’s success is their ability to manage the engineering team’s moods and emotions.  Successful management of […]

Creating a Culture of Respect

  “You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.” ~ Malcolm Forbes If Integrity is the “foundation,” then Respect is the “walls” of a well-led organization. So, what does “Respect” mean for a leader and how does a leader create a […]

Numbers May Drive the Business, but People Drive the Numbers®

For several years, I had the good fortune to be in CEO mastermind groups. These confidential mastermind groups were comprised of CEOs who shared their frustrations and challenges in running their businesses.  A favorite mantra of these CEOs was, “This would be a great business if I didn’t have to deal with people.” That mantra […]

As a Leader, You Must Extend Trust to Earn Trust

Can you ever write and talk enough about trust? Probably not. Its power is huge at work, at home, in communities, and more.   Without trust, things just break down. Yet trust doesn’t just happen or magically appear. It is built and shaped over time in relationships by making and keeping commitments to each other.   But […]

Three Situations Where Customers Are Not Always Right

You must have heard this phrase before: “The customer is always right.” And chances are you have assumed that it applies to everyone and every business. However, based on my experience, there are three situations where this is not the case. In this article, I would like to share those situations with you so you […]