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
Data center construction spending accelerates at 149% annualized pace (ENR)
Highlights:
ABC calculates that data center construction spending has increased at a 149% annualized pace over the past five months.
Overall nonresidential construction spending increased 0.7% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.309T.
September 2026 Economic Roundup (Construction Executive)
Highlights:
Nonresidential spending increased in July, entirely due to ongoing growth in the data center market. Excluding data centers, nonresidential spending fell for the second straight month, down to the lowest level in nearly three years.
Construction input prices jumped another 1.2% in August and are now up 8.9% over the past 12 months
Growth, inflation figures show signs of an economic pickup (WSJ)
Highlights:
Annualized gross domestic product growth in the second quarter rose to 2.2%, well above the 1.5% that had previously been reported
The personal consumption expenditures price index rose by 3.4% over the past 12 months, level from a month earlier
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Management Perspective
As a technical engineer, your core competency revolves around your engineering knowledge and deep understanding of design and building codes.
When you step into a managerial role, your core competency shifts away from the technical and toward people and operations leadership.
As you move further up into higher-level managerial roles, the shift accelerates.
The further you move away from technical roles, the more your technical knowledge will atrophy.
This can feel uncomfortable for many leaders with technical backgrounds. They are leaving the world they know and for which they were educated, for a new one in which they have little to no training.
But it’s important to remember that different roles require different areas of focus. A manager cannot keep doing all the technical work they did as an individual contributor. If they are, they risk underperforming in one or both areas. Or becoming a bottleneck that limits team output and staff development.
It comes down to this: you’re making a trade-off when choosing between different roles. Are you willing to make the change?
Management Insights
Craig Bouchard (business history author) on company communications:
“Great companies communicate constantly with their employees, find out what is on their minds, and act proactively when necessary to deal with emerging issues.”
—
Doug Leone (partner at Sequoia Capital) on management:
“I ran Sequoia for 26 years. I never viewed it as running Sequoia. I viewed it as working for all the other people. I used to tell them, ‘You all have it backwards. I work for you guys and gals. You don’t work for me.’”
—
Kurt Vonnegut (author) on moving backwards:
“A step backwards after making a wrong turn is a step in the right direction.”
Management Resource
Bob Iger on power, succession, and leading Disney through upheaval (HBR)
One of the most seasoned and well-known CEOs reflects on what it takes to lead large, complex, and iconic companies.
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
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