WELCOME FELLOW "CONSTRUCTIONEERS"

I hope to share some common sense lessons that I have painfully accumulated over my 50+ years in heavy-civil construction. My plan is to cover topics related to the construction craft as well as the business side of every construction company. Many talented people do not perform both sides well and we all need help at some time or another. It's hard to admit you need help, but with the proper mindset, you and I can work together to tackle any problem, large or small.

And! I have a network of experts to help when needed!

Admiral Rickover, the Father of the U.S. Nuclear Navy, was quoted as saying: “We can play the game everyone else will be playing - we can steal trained people from the laboratories and then have them stolen from us, or we can arrange to create more nuclear engineers, to train our own, and to create a national asset that will benefit everybody. I choose the latter course.” circa 1949-1950

Said Differently: When you hire an inexperienced person, you have to teach them the required skills and the company culture comes along for the ride. When you hire experienced persons, their experience also comes with different cultural values that were learned from previous employers or experience. One wise person I know framed existing experience as an arrow in flight. You didn't launch it, you didn't pick the target, and your challenge is to redirect that arrow to the target you want to achieve. When I trained horses as a young man, I learned that breaking bad habits is far harder than preventing them from forming. Experienced trade persons are no different.

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Be Well and I hope to engage with you soon! Bill Kelton