My Blog
This blog is for me, it’s my sketch pad where I think things through and work things out. Having worked ‘stuff’ out I think it’s good to declare it, so I am sending it to you. Hopefully you will also find it useful.
Latest Posts
No, this needs to be done properly
(1993) Having just finished a project with a team of seventeen staff, my boss Jim said to me “Dave we haven’t got that much on so I want you to run this small job”. He went on to say there wasn’t much in the budget for staff so you need to do it ‘one man…
Read MoreDropped right in it
Sometimes I ask people to look back over their careers to a time when they were most fired up, exhilarated, excited about their work. The most common answer I get back is “when I was dropped right in it”. Looking back over my 40 years in the construction industry that certainly is the case for…
Read MoreThe Agent’s Report
When I was a young site engineer I worked for a project manager called Richard. He was very accomplished, one of the companies top project managers and went on to become a director. He was a superb manager, really good with people. He knew construction inside out and was never phased by any problem, so…
Read MoreHappy anniversary
Forty years ago today, fresh out of school and armed with one “O” level (art) I started work in the construction industry. Bill, the bloke who took me on called me trainee civil engineer. He was the Resident Engineer on The Whitley Bay Coastal Interceptor Sewer, part of a bigger scheme to clean up the…
Read MoreThis is me stepping up in response to a big shock.
The Brexit vote is a massive shock to me and from what I see and hear it’s a big shock to the ‘system’. No-one knows what is going to happen and there is huge uncertainty. Already I have spoken with executives who have had orders cancelled, downgraded their forecasts and are contemplating shedding staff. For…
Read MoreWhat would be exciting?
In his book The 4-Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris states asking people ‘What would make you happy?’ is the wrong question. And that people don’t really know what would make them happy. He says the opposite of happy is bored and the antidote to boredom is excitement. I can relate to this. For example when I…
Read MoreMaking meaning and then expressing it in a way that connects.
One of my passions in life is writing – mine and that of others. I am an introvert – I ‘think my talking’, whereas extroverts tend to ‘talk their thinking’. Most often I think my talking by writing things down: in my journal, my note pad, blog posts and books that I have written and…
Read MoreHow do you bring about change when you have no hierarchical power?
Constructing Excellence in the North East asked me to give a talk on ‘Leadership’ to young professionals in their Generation for Change (G4C) group. Rather than turn up and talk I identified fifteen questions they could explore and then on the day asked them to vote for the five they were most interested in. We…
Read More100 years ago today
Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew reached the shores of South Georgia after a 14 day, 800 mile crossing of the most dangerous seas on the planet in a 23ft rowing boat. It’s a great story of endurance and leadership though that’s only a small part of it. I will pick up the tale…
Read MoreWhat 2025 looks like
Get your kids into genetics, robotics and cyber security – that’s where the future lies according to an expert on the radio the other day. Given the huge pressure on infrastructure I would add civil engineering to that list. A customer recently asked me what 2025 will look like, as if I have any idea.…
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