Thursday, 22 February 2007

A Balancing Act

Nearly two weeks ago, I left sunny Mississippi to experience some of the harsh winter weather that had been sweeping the Midwest.  I arrived in Milwaukee for the third of ASCE's leadership conferences only to be greeted by bitter winds and other bundled-up travelers.  But this trip did give me the opportunity to wear a hat I had picked up in Siberia in the mid 1980s.  I've had little opportunity to wear this hat in Vicksburg, Mississippi where our winter temperatures hover in the low 60s and few winter hats, much less ones covered in Iranian lamb fur, ever see the light of day.  So I was happy to bring it out of the closet and put it to good use over the weekend!

Now there are hats you wear for warmth and hats you "put on" for a role you might serve in. One could say that in the past few months, I've worn many hats as ASCE president.  The one hat that I put on regularly, particularly at these leadership conferences, is that of an experienced engineer, hoping to share some life-lessons I've collected over the years with others.  I'm often asked: "How do you balance your career and your home life?" Well, it's never been easy.  Sometimes you just have to prioritize your responsibilities and determine what is most important to you. Working your way up the food chain may be important to you.  Or perhaps it's spending time with your family.  Whatever it is, make sure that you make time for what is most important in your life. Once you've figured that out, the rest comes naturally...as naturally as wearing a fur-lined hat on a blistery winter day in Wisconsin.

How do you strike a balance?

Monday, 12 February 2007

Navigating Complex Issues

Bio-mimicry. Pedalogically correct. Fragility curve. Giggle-test. These words are what I call techno-babble...complex words that convey something extremely important in a fancy way.  If you've ever been in a meeting where a group of people are trying to develop a mission statement, it's hard to sort through all the technical jargon. Here's a new one for you: "We should use multi-attributable anticipatory management with Cartesian thinking taking into account interdependencies with cross-sector expertise tied into by-product synergy and bio-mimicry to provide an integrated design, or to be pedalogically correct, we should just manage our firms like a hickory forest." As evidenced by this example, it's tricky to categorize techno-babble and find meaning behind the words.  But as I learned recently at the Civil Engineering Forum for Innovation's (CEFI) conference, once you sort through all the techno-babble and try to read between the lines, the meanings behind it can be critical to understanding the complexities of our infrastructure crisis.

I recently attended , I attended this conference in Washington, D.C. The program was full of excellent insight into the issues surrounding sustainability and it drew some high-powered speakers. I felt this conference was a great opportunity for "captains of industry" to discuss sustainability with a room full of engineers from government, academia and the private sector. The concept of sustainability is a complex one, which needs to connect innovative industries with the technical know-how of civil engineers. When these groups of people get together, there is a lot to talk which extends beyond the need for more federal funding and support from Congress on infrastructure issues. I hope that the next conference will attract even more captains of industry to the table.

I'd like to hear what you think about our nation's infrastructure crisis. What can we learn from industry leaders about sustainability?  What can they learn from civil engineers? And lastly, how can we get the captains of industry to the table?

Posted by Bill at 12:00 AM in Infrastructure Crisis