IPI Winners: Should Partnering be More Mainstream in the Industry?
Dear Construction Nation,As many of you know, in the early 2000’s, I founded the International Partnering Institute as a charitable organization dedicated to spreading Collaborative Partnering to construction project leaders. Last week, I attended the International Partnering Institute’s 13th annual conference and awards ceremony. It was so great to watch the award-winning project team members […]
Evaluating the Ability to Perform
Dear Construction Nation, Over the years, I’ve encountered dozens of leaders who were perplexed by the poor performance of an employee, and/or their impact on the team. I recall one such person who was the project leader on a $70M roadway project. She kept citing the provisions of the specifications in every conversation. She kept […]
Immy & Lisa: The Pyramid of Trust
Dear Construction Nation, This week I had the opportunity to interview Immy Tariq and Lisa Fei, the Wall Street Journal bestselling co-authors of The Pyramid of Trust: How to Create Certainty in an Uncertainty World. Both are serial entrepreneurs, and focus mostly on teaching people to build trust in yourself, your employees, and your customers. Most contractors […]
SOS! We Need Trust Now!
Dear Construction Nation, You likely know that I have been studying TRUST for the past 35+ years. One of my dearest friends, Marilynn Mobley, was the SVP for a company called Edelman, until she passed away. But Marilynn introduced me to the Edelman Trust Barometer. Each year Edelman does extensive research on the level of trust […]
Three Steps to Drive Out Fear and Create Trusted Leadership
Dear Construction Nation, I just kicked-off partnering on a project where the team gave me their list of “risks.” Then, I got an email from the construction executive asking me NOT to use this list. They were afraid to share with the owner’s team their frustration and fear. This is not an unusual situation. Of […]
How To Deal With Increasing Materials Prices: Alex Barthet, The Barthet Firm and the Lien Zone Podcast
Dear Construction Nation, I met Alex Barthet a few years back, when he was on my first podcast, Construction Dream Team, and I was on his, The Lien Zone. Alex is a construction attorney in South Florida and I was very excited when I saw that Alex was gathering a group of industry folks to offer advice on how […]
Does Excellence Cost More?
Dear Construction Nation, Have you ever been baffled by what makes one project team unmistakably high performing, and another team, with a similar caliber of members, fall short of success? This has been a question I’ve studied for over 35 years. I wanted to know; how can we ensure our projects succeed? The good news […]
The Anatomy of a Dispute
Dear Construction Nation, I once did partnering for a water district project. This was a $50 million project, and it was six months behind schedule and 30% complete when I was called. The contractor and owner had their trailers side by side on the site, but the team did not talk to each other. They […]
The Seven Keys to Building a Strong Coalition
Dear Construction Nation, I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with Emily Cohen, EVP of the United Contractors Association (UCON). Emily has a reputation for being able to make “magic happen” when it comes to pulling together groups of people and organizations into a strong coalition. You need a coalition in your business so that […]
Your Culture Transfers to Your Projects
Dear Construction Nation, In 1980 when I joined what is today UCON, I fell in love with construction! I love the people. I love the entrepreneurial spirit. I love thinking up things, and then building them. I love the industry – it is large complex and ever changing. I love that the things we build […]
