Leaders

Getting Ahead of the Next Curve as a Leader and Team

June 23, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Peter C. Atherton, P.E.

What We Need to Know About Human Disaster Response and Trauma

There is no doubt that we as leaders and team have been going through a season of much higher fear, anxiety, and trauma with the COVID-19 crisis and the very visual revealing of racial injustice and inequities previously ignored. 

Our stressors are also multifaceted and connected with different concerns.

On one hand, our concerns are related to health, economics, isolation, and an uncertain and non-uniform re-opening. On the other hand, our concerns are related to seeing large gaps in long-standing social constructs associated with equality, justice, and inclusion.

Concurrently we begin to work through the “peaks,” medically and in terms of concerns over our organization’s near-term financial health, and as we begin to better listen, understand, and take new actions as citizens and society, the fact is that we will not — and must not — just return to “normal.” 

Between then and now, however, there are things we need to know and steps we need to take to help ease concerns and come out of these periods of crisis stronger, better, and more resilient. 

What We Need to Know 

How AEC Industry Professionals Can Approach Their Roles as Integrators

June 16, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Mike Burns, PE, PgMP, DBIA

Last month we discussed the collective value of our voices: Speak Up, Take a Chance, Your Voice Matters! Today, as we see unrest in our streets, it is more apparent than ever that we actively seek platforms where holistic, inclusive discussions can be leveraged to solve our challenges. Discussions that start with a sense of belonging for everyone in our communities. Discussions that accept that there is not one single path for the next phase of our solutions. Discussions that lead to policies and programs whose governance and investments sustain a shared vision. This month’s blog is far from an answer to this existential crisis. It is simply a personal reflection on how we, as members of our communities and AEC industry professionals, can approach our roles as integrators.

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset: Risk Is Opportunity

March 23, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Michael Burns, PE, PgMP, DBIA

In previous EMI blogs, we discussed Thinking Big and Being Mindful as We Set Goals and Building Confidence Through Empathetic Stakeholder Engagement. I fully respect that managing these objectives with a myriad of associated voices can be distracting as we attempt to sustain growth. Sustaining growth, for our businesses and talent, is particularly difficult in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry, as we constantly regroup to provide service on projects that marry significant technical challenges with dynamic client expectations. So, the intent of this month’s discussion is to explore a Risk Intelligent approach, creating a consistent basis for our teams to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and explore entrepreneurial solutions.

Why Engineers Make Great CEOs

August 8, 2018 By EMI

Why Engineers Make Great CEOs is a guest blog by Thomas Anderson, P.E.

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 the list. Bezos earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella is an engineer. General Motors’ Mary Barra as well. Carlos Ghosn of Nissan and Dennis Muilenburg of Boeing also have engineering backgrounds. Ursula Burns, the CEO and chairman of Xerox Corporation started her career as an engineering intern. In fact, 24 of the top 100 CEO’s have a Bachelors or Master’s degree in engineering.

Engineers are a little bit different. Sometimes introverted and always good at the math, they build and fix things; complex things. They have a unique ways of looking at the world. The qualities below make engineers exceptionally good at leading companies.