Hey, it’s Collin and happy 2026! 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

4Q2025 Cost Report (ENR)

Highlights:

• Construction activity is beginning to steady in many parts of the world, with costs not rising as fast as in recent years.

• ENR’s Construction Industry Confidence Index rose four points between Q3 and Q4, to a slightly optimistic 52 rating.

The economic divide between big and small companies is growing (WSJ)

Highlights:

• According to payroll processor ADP, private firms with fewer than 50 workers have steadily shed jobs; midsize and, especially, large firms have continued to add jobs.

US core capital good orders, shipments increase in October (Reuters)

Highlights:

• Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft rose 0.5% following a 1.1% gain in September, suggesting business spending on equipment remained strong at the start of the fourth quarter.

Partner Message

You don't cut corners on structural integrity. You don't rush critical calculations. You plan for decades, not just deadlines.

The Shindig Shirt™ was designed with the same methodology you bring to every project. Rowdee's team spent years perfecting the fabric blend. Sweat-proof technology that won't fail during those hot August afternoons. Wrinkle-resistant fibers that maintain their structure through countless wear cycles. Reinforced stitching at stress points because details matter.

Your values mirror ours:

• Precision over speed - Every seam calculated, every cut intentional

• Built to last - Quality materials that perform year after year

• Function drives form - Looks professional because it works professionally

• Testing under pressure - From blueprints to job sites to boardrooms

Just like your best projects, this shirt gets better with time. No compromises, no shortcuts—just engineered excellence that works as hard as you do whether in or outside of the office.

Use code ECHELONS15 for 15% off your first order.

Start shopping now →

_{*Partners may compensate Engineering Echelons and/or its contributor(s) for sharing their message(s).}

Management Perspective

People tend to like others who are similar to themselves. This phenomenon is called the affinity bias.

Leaders can fall into this trap, too. When that happens, staff are rewarded for the similarities they share with management rather than for more objective competence and performance-based metrics.

This can be wide-ranging. Some examples include preferring people who:

• Have a similar educational background

• Are from a similar technical background (e.g., electrical engineer)

• Communicate the same way

• Project confidence similarly

• Socialize the same way/amount

If allowed to fester for too long, the firm with a mirror-tocracry tilts towards one-dimensionality. Backgrounds, experiences, and/or characteristics of staff are rewarded when they mirror those of leaders, thus incentivizing others to assimilate.

I’ve seen this in many different fashions. One that particularly comes to mind was captured in a previous newsletter about companies needing sellers and doers. In that edition, I shared that a firm’s leaders were telling their staff that the path to making more money required them to win work.

Not so coincidentally, the leaders preaching this message were themselves bringing in projects yet doing little to actually deliver on said work. Therefore, the implication is that winning work is more important than delivering the work, which is a very shortsighted mentality.

The bottom line is this: mirror-tocracry is an easy culture to form because of how leaders, like any other person, can fall into the affinity bias. Meritocracy, on the other hand, requires an objective system be developed and implemented that considers the gamut of important skills, knowledge, and capabilities a diverse business needs to succeed for the long term.

Management Insights

Daniel Kahneman (behavioral economics psychologist) on how to make people believe anything:

“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from the truth.”

—

Scott Adams (cartoonist) on how to be extraordinary:

“If you want an average, successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1) Become the best at one specific thing; 2) Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try. The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.”

—

L. David Marquet (former US Navy submarine captain) on leadership transitions:

“When the performance of a unit goes down after an officer leaves, it is [wrongly] taken as a sign that he was a good leader, not that he was ineffective in training his people properly.”

Management Resource

Ride the wave (Farnam Street)

This is a different visual to conceptualize the cycles of competition and progress. Like a surfer catching a wave, business leaders can ride the technological change if they are skilled and nimble enough, knowing that more waves will follow.

Share

Know someone who could benefit from this newsletter? Let them know!

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

Partners