Insights from D. Brown Management
The Decision Concentration Trap
D. Brown Management
June 21, 2026
As companies grow, concentrating decision rights in a few key people becomes one of the most common and difficult scalability traps to overcome.
management scalabilty succession
Categorizing Project Opportunities (Not Ranking)
D. Brown Management
June 20, 2026
The health of your opportunity pipeline determines the health and scalability of your company 6-24 months from now. Standards for quantifying and segmenting your pipeline help you see trends and allocate resources more effectively.
business development preconstruction sakes strategy
Onboarding: From Consuming Value to Creating Value
D. Brown Management
June 20, 2026
Raising a child to 18 years old in the US costs about $300K. The average economic value produced over a lifetime is estimated at $7-9M. Onboarding a new team member has a similar curve. Effective onboarding processes can dramatically change that curve.
integration onboarding orientation recruiting Talent
Technology: The K-Shaped Accelerator
D. Brown Management
June 6, 2026
Choosing the right technology—including construction tools, equipment, materials, methods, and software systems—requires understanding the baseline capabilities of the people who will ultimately use it.
technology
Growth and Common Leadership Error Traps
D. Brown Management
May 3, 2026
Error traps are conditions that set people up to fail, not the failure themselves. This terminology is most frequently used around safety but applies to doing any activity effectively - including leadership. Learn three very common GAPs and mitigation.
business management leadership
Building an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) Grand Slam
D. Brown Management
April 12, 2026
Defining consistently achievable standards for outcomes is tough. Defining and managing standards for how to achieve those outcomes is a home run. Integrating safety, quality, productivity, and talent development is the grand slam.
field management management productivity project management standards
Functional Time Horizons
D. Brown Management
April 12, 2026
Starting out, the time horizons for strategy, winning work, and doing work are similar. As a contractor grows from 150 people to 500 people and beyond, those time horizons must stretch further apart while remaining integrated.
growth leadership management
Good Growth vs. Bad Growth
David Brown
April 5, 2026
Why grow? This is a question we get asked frequently. It's a great question because good growth is incredibly hard. Good growth sometimes feels like bad growth. Looking at good growth versus bad growth can help answer that question.
development growth leadership management Succession
The Apprentice Who Knows Everything – A Look Inside AI
Steve Jost
March 30, 2026
AI tools are powerful, but what's happening inside them? This article opens the hood on how large language models work, using construction analogies to explain why clear direction and good specs matter just as much with AI as they do on a jobsite.
artificial-intelligence problem solving technology
AI as a Tool and as an Enabler
Steve Jost
March 22, 2026
Construction was built on innovations that were met with skepticism first. From the batch plant to the pneumatic nailer, tools that became industry standards started out as unproven ideas that only a few early adopters were willing to bet on.
artificial-intelligence history team building technology