The Risks of Vision and Strong Leadership

The strongest leaders at all levels in construction have a clear vision of where they are headed and are relentlessly focused on achieving their goals. They align their teams tightly around the vision, goals, and strategy. This may introduce risks.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

 

Leadership Tools: Tunnel Vision and Strong Leadership equals Failure. Example: The 1978 United Flight 173.

This is absolutely the leadership required to bring a project out of the ground, set up a new department such as prefab, enter a new market, launch a new branch office or found a contracting business.  

As a contractor grows the leadership styles must also adapt along with the entire team dynamics. The airline industry has learned this through many failures including United Flight 173.  

It would be too easy to blame the captain, but similar incidents had occurred in the past. Root Cause Analysis pointed to deeper cultural and training issues. There hasn’t be an incident like this since.  

Our mission is to help contractors build stronger businesses for the next generation. We spend a significant amount of our time helping prepare leadership teams for succession and have learned many lessons along the way.  

Every failed succession we have seen has been a failure of talent not being properly aligned and not a failure of available capital or deal structure.  

Learn more




Building a Systems Development Team - Clarification
There a few different teams and team functions in construction technology that are distinct but also have to work together.
Impacted Productivity - Five Elements of Making a Good Case
Contractors are continually faced with costly impacts to their labor productivity and schedule with many beyond their direct control. The best Project Managers know how to identify, communicate, and mitigate these impacts.
2024 Contractor 5-Year Growth Rates (ENR Top 400/600 Lists)
"More companies die of indigestion than starvation." - David Packard (Founder of HP). Growth is challenging for all contractors. The decision to grow must be intentional and aligned with strategy and capability. 5-Year growth stats from 2024.