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
A management perspective to consider
Leadership insights to delve into
And more…
First time reading? You can subscribe here.
Alright, let’s get into it.
Noteworthy Headlines
3Q2026 Construction Cost Insights Report (Gordian)
Highlights:
Cost pressures remain concentrated in some categories (steel, copper, conduit, etc.)
Mega projects are impacting material and labor costs on a regional scale
The election day revolt that threatens America’s AI boom (WSJ)
Highlights:
Americans’ vote for candidates and ballot measures to ban or slow data center development could rein in AI’s rapid growth and threaten to hobble an AI boom powering the U.S. economy
Data centers have been the primary driver of construction spending and growth. It’s easy to imagine that the data center construction boom will soften over the next few years
AI investment is projected to account for 1.9% of GDP this year, the biggest share of economic growth since the railroad boom in the 19th century
Partner Message
For leaders, the calendar belongs to the team. The early workout belongs to you.
The time dedicated to movement is a break from Slack and email, and it’s often when the hard problems get solved.
Rowdee makes performance apparel for men who ride before the standup and don’t want to look like it afterward.
The MLT Jersey is the world’s first cycling jersey-shirt hybrid. Its patent-pending magnetic pockets open with one hand, and built-in compression keeps your gear from shifting. The fabric breathes, doesn’t wrinkle, and goes in the washing machine. It looks like a shirt you’d wear into the office, because you can.
Engineering Echelons readers get 15% off with code ECHELONS15.
*Partners may compensate Engineering Echelons and/or its contributor(s) for sharing their message(s).
Management Perspective
In general, people follow you because of commitment or compliance.
Commitment is dedication driven by purpose. It’s wanting to do something.
Compliance is action based on a manager’s positional power. It’s having to do something.
Compliance isn’t inherently negative. It’s an efficient mechanism when speed and uniform execution are critical. The problem is when it becomes managers' default operating system.
Commitment is the more effective option for lasting organizational performance and staff development. When team members understand and internalize why projects, processes, and procedures are important—and see how these factors align with the overall mission—they will adopt and propel the purpose.
Here are three steps to fostering commitment:
Connect work to outcomes: explain how a task impacts the business, team, or client
Drive the “what”: Define the desired outcome so success is understood
Delegate the “how”: Stand back and let your team work on the pathway to get from the now to the desired outcome
Management Insights
Rafael Vivas (cofounder of AppLovin) on staying in the game:
“The best advice I ever received is staying in the game. When it hurts, when you want to quit, that’s when you know you’re having growth in your career.”
—
Ed Catmull (founder of Pixar) on hiring:
“When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight than their current skill level. What they will be capable of tomorrow is more important than what they can do today.”
—
Marcus Buckingham (author, business consultant) on manager behavior:
“A manager has got to remember that he is on stage every day. His people are watching him. Everything he does, everything he says, and the way he says it, sends off clues to his employees. These clues affect performance. So never forget you are on that stage.”
Management Resource
Why every high-performing leader needs a pacer (Sloan Management Review)
Interesting analogy between high-performance runners and managers.
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
Engineering Echelons is a brand of Echelons, LLC
Partners
