The Foundation of a Great Management Career in Engineering
Whether project management or organizational management, the foundation of a great management career starts with exceptional technical/professional performance. Many engineering professionals start their careers with strong technical skills, honed through years of schooling, challenging work assignments, and delivering on project management expectations. Moving into a project or organizational management role takes a new set of […]
How to Increase the Efficiency of Your Construction Project
Construction project efficiency has become a problem over the last 50 years. In spite of advances in construction technology, project efficiency has dropped by nearly half, which leaves jobs undone for years after their projected completion date. Construction holds the title of the industry that has the lowest productivity gains of any comparable sector, leaving […]
A Specific Recipe for Building Seller-Doer Skills – Ep 096
In episode 096 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I speak with Jim Rogers, author of Win More Work, and Co-Founder of the Seller-Doer Academy. Jim and I will be giving you a strategy for building your seller-doer skills which consists of three specific learning approaches. Engineering Quotes: Here are some key points discussed in this […]
Delivering Stellar Client Service to Engineering Clients
Every A/E firm talks about delivering stellar client service and many deliver to that mark. Why? Well, before I can provide my opinion let’s set the definition for what constitutes stellar client service. From my foxhole, stellar client service = responsiveness, collaboration, and establishment of crystal clear expectations. Without these three elements, you will certainly […]
BIM as an Effective Tool in Project Management
BIM (Building Information Modeling) has been revolutionizing the AEC industry in terms of economic and technical viability, over the past few years. The advantages of the long-term application of BIM can be leveraged most efficiently in the field of project management. The need for management of an asset is a continuous process; from inception to […]
How Engineers Can Develop Necessary Soft Skills to Excel in Their Careers
The five years of an engineer’s bachelor’s degree program are filled with complex math and science. Indeed, almost all of an engineer’s training pertains to the hard skills they will directly apply to problems in their field during the course of their career. Yet, what most new engineering grads discover as they enter the workforce […]
5 Laws for Engineer Career Success
“Engineering is the closest thing to magic that exists in the world.” This quote comes from Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk and beautifully describes what each engineer wants to do and should do to achieve career success: create, innovate, and improve everything around them. Becoming a successful “wizard,” or engineer, has never been easy because […]
Strategies for Delivering a Presentation to a Hostile Audience
As engineers we often get the opportunity to work on great projects. We often transform the landscape through construction and make life safer and more efficient for the people using our infrastructure. However, not everyone is going to see it that way. Many of us have had to deliver a presentation to a hostile audience […]
Why Engineers Make Great CEOs
Engineering is the most common undergraduate degree of the Fortune 500 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). It has been for some time. Approximately one third of CEOs majored in engineering and only 11% graduated from business school. The Harvard Business Review has a list of the 100 best-performing CEOs on the planet. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topped […]
4 Opportunities to Grow Your Leadership Skills
Leadership skills are crucial for engineers looking to take on more responsibility, and move into management. If you’ve ever read this blog, or anything I’ve written on leadership in the past, you’ll already know that. What you might not know is how to develop your leadership skills. This is a constant struggle for engineers looking […]