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…
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Alright, let’s get into it.
Noteworthy Headlines
Construction groundbreakings tumbled 25% in August (Construction Dive)
Highlights:
Total construction starts fell 24.8% month over month in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.34 trillion.
Despite the dip in all categories, construction starts still outpaced levels at this time last year.
Arcadis shares fall after Canada’s WSP Global pulls takeover offer (WSJ)
Highlights:
WSP has pulled its latest offer to acquire Arcadis after failure engage with the Arcadis Board.
WSP proposed an offer to acquire Arcadis at 48.50 euros/share, then upped it to 51.50 euros/share.
Arcadis said both offers undervalued the company’s fundamentals.
ABI August 2026: Architecture firm billings continue to decline (AIA)
Highlights:
Architecture firms continue to report bleak outlook:
Majority see weak business conditions
Inquiries into new projects showed only modest growth
The value of newly signed design contracts continued to decline
Sentiment about future billings weakened
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Management Perspective
One of the main things managers must do is delegation. Yet many struggle with effective delegation.
The important thing to remember is that even after you delegate it, you are still responsible for its accomplishment. Delegation purely means that someone else is actually performing the work.
You, the delegator, are providing structure, milestones, schedules, expectations, and/or general follow-through and monitoring to the delegatee.
Without these check-ins and engagement, you aren’t delegating. You’re abdicating.
Take care, however, not to overdo it on the engagement after you’ve delegated a task. Too much leads to micromanaging, then meddling, then duplicating efforts, which negates the entire point of delegating in the first place.
The takeaway is this: delegation does not clear you of responsibility. It merely provides you with additional resources to get the task completed.
Management Insights
Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) on defining his company culture:
“Our culture is four things:
Customer obsession instead of competitor obsession;
Willingness to think long term, with a longer investment horizon than most of our peers;
Eagerness to invent, which of course goes hand in hand with failure;
Taking professional pride in operational excellence.”
—
Craig Bouchard (business history author) on adjusting to change:
“Creative destruction continues today, and firms that are unable to adjust to rapidly changing circumstances or technology simply fail in our instantly adapting markets.”
—
Elad Gil (entrepreneur and venture capitalist) on changing your focus as your company grows:
“Since focusing on product is what caused initial success, founders of breakout companies often think product development is their primary competency and asset. In reality, the distribution channel and customer base derived from their first product is now one of the biggest go-forward advantages and differentiators the company has.”
Management Resource
How the right business model can fuel creativity (Yale School of Management)
Many times creativity and business butt heads. Real business constraints can hamper creativity. However, if you align both, new doors of opportunity open.
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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