Success is Not Final and Failure is Not Fatal

The construction business is TOUGH!

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There will be years that go by where it seems you are on top of the world.  There will be “perfect storms” where you have a bad project, a dip in the economy, lose a critical member of your team and your banker wants to meet with you on Friday to “talk”.  

Quote: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill.

There are many variables that you can control but there are many more that you can’t.  You will make many great decisions and you will also make bad ones.  

Accept all these as facts.  Realize that ALL businesses are tough in their own ways.  Life is TOUGH!

Don’t fall in love with the summit of the mountain; you have to love the challenge of being on the mountain and improving every day.

Realize that as you climb the mountain you can’t do it alone and that each stage will require different skills and gear.

Realize that it is discipline and not motivation that will carry the day. 




Resource - Stratified Systems Theory (SST) and Timespan 101
All contractors navigate through very predictable stages of growth delivering larger and more complex projects. Business complexity evolves requiring different capabilities at all levels. Tom Foster lays out some of these key differences very clearly.
Theory of Constraints (ToC) Basic Overview
You will never have enough resources to make every possible improvement to your company. The most important leadership question: If every other area of the operation remained the same, what is the one area where change could have the greatest impact?
Headcount, Management Structure, and Systems
Your management structure and systems must be able to support your forecasted 2-month peak headcount, including the ramp-up to that peak.