Bruce Lee - "Be Like Water"

Be like water - an amazingly simple and powerful piece of wisdom from Bruce Lee.

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Quote: You must be shapeless, formless, like water ... become like water my friend. Bruce Lee.

As the construction industry continues to get more complicated sometimes it is important to back up and look at simplicity.  Here is what “Being Like Water” means at the professional level:

  • Utilize every ounce of talent you have to add the maximum amount of value to the customer that you can every single day.
  • Be proactive in aggressively learning new skills that will allow you to add even more value.  
  • Always be looking for opportunities to help those around around you including teaching them new skills and helping them see what winning looks like.  
  • You can’t ignore your immediate job responsibilities and job description but NEVER let those constrain you.  It’s a life-long journey; not a day.  
  • Before you get into an argument or heated discussion over something ask yourself whether it really matters.  Will it really matter tomorrow? In a few weeks? In a few months?    

Are you being a rock or water?  There are times for both but most of the time being water and focusing on what you can control is the best path.




Lean Principle - Kaizen (Every Detail Matters)
As contractors build their businesses, it is important to look at every detail from the first meeting with a potential customer through winning and building the project. This same attention to detail also applies to supporting operations and talent.
Situational Awareness - Learning to See
It is critical for project teams to develop a model of the project in their minds so that they can quickly make the thousands of decisions required to keep the project on-track. This is called Situational Awareness and includes three basic layers.
End of Easy
Don’t give up just when the going gets tough, that should be your starting point. Know that most others have given up at this same point, so success and competitive advantage is probably just around the corner from when things begin to get tough.