Hey, it’s Collin. Welcome to Engineering Echelons, a newsletter full of ideas and insights to help engineers excel at management.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week.

• New and noteworthy news

• Something to consider

• Some insights to delve into

• And more…

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Alright, let’s get into it.

Noteworthy Headlines

2025 Forecast: Rate Cuts Expected to Boost Construction (ENR)

Highlights:

• Economists look favorably upon 2025 as they expect rate cuts to help boost an already strong construction sector around the U.S.

• Geographically, the northeast, west, and northern midwest areas are expected to grow the most.

• Personal opinion: pundits have been predicting rate cuts for a while now, and while there have been some, there haven’t been anywhere near as many as most expected. Despite this, the construction industry has continued to push ahead. This will probably continue and will be helped if the cost of capital decreases.

2024 Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT) Sentiment Index: Fourth Quarter (FMI)

Highlights:

• ~50% of respondents reported 2025 growth strategies led by organic and internal restructuring initiatives. In other words, firms are focusing on the way they operate.

• The majority of respondents reported they are utilizing AI in some capacity on projects. Most say that so far the impact of AI on project workflows is uncertain.

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Consider This Thought

There are a lot of smart people in the engineering industry who we have to compete against day after day. This fact can lead you to think you need to make brilliant moves to try to outperform them. However, one of the best ways to succeed is by avoiding stupidity instead of seeking brilliance.

Charlie Munger is famous for saying he’s not brilliant, he just avoided being stupid. And avoiding stupidity helped him and Buffett build Berkshire Hathaway into the behemoth it is today.

Over time, it is very difficult to beat someone who is consistently not stupid.

So why not be that difficult competitor? Detach from what you and your organization do to objectively determine what areas fall into the stupid category. Seek out feedback from colleagues, business partners, and clients to help identify areas of stupidity. Then, once identified, strive to eradicate or replace the stupidity for long-term advantage over the competitors who are trying to be brilliant.

Stupidity has a way of creeping back in, so I encourage you to revisit this process over and over again.

Delve Into These Insights

Jim Collins on leadership:

“Leadership is a responsibility, not an entitlement; a decision, not an accident; a matter of willful action, not genetics. Whether or not you learn to lead greatly is, in the end, a choice.”

—

Sam Zell on proximity to decisions:

“I believe in the radius theory of business, where your ability to succeed is ultimately limited by the number of people between you and the decision. That’s because the farther from you the decision is made, the less you control the risk. History shows that businesses get buried when they don’t delegate enough—but also when they delegate too much.”

—

Liz Wiseman on useful collective intelligence:

“It isn’t how much you know that matters. What matters is how much access you have to what other people know. It isn’t just how intelligent your team members are; it is how much of that intelligence you can draw out and put to use.”

Level Up With This Resource

The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals (Farnam Street)

Professionals beat amateurs because they are more skilled and they have different mindsets. I frequently refer back to this list of differences between the two.

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Get in Touch

Did something strike a chord? Tell me about it.

Or…

• Let me know if you’ve found something worth sharing.

• Let me know what challenges you’re having as a manager.

• Let me know what challenges you see other managers having.

Send me an email at [email protected]

Looking forward to hearing from you. See you next time.

Collin

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