Congratulations

In keeping with my own blog policy I never name individuals or company details. Although in this blog I would dearly love to, I will maintain my own policy. Today is a significant birthday to a significant man. Rather than give him a present of another set of cuff links, bottle of Krug, Myer vouchers, I will simply pay tribute to him and let more then 10,000 people who will read this, learn about why we are in fact construction survivors.

All too often we praise people when they are departed, this person is far from departed and even though he has achieved a great deal to date, there is much more to come. Words like “legend” and”leader”, are bandied about all too often. He is more than that. What he has achieved so far is what we all aspire to in the construction industry. Simply he has left a mark on planet earth by the projects he has delivered, and he has left a similar mark on those who have had the good fortune to work with him and for him. It does not matter if you are a form worker on the tools or the mufti-million dollar client. He has the ability to relate to both and treat everyone exactly the same. His warmth and openness is not the norm in much of the corporate world, but he is no fool and can assiduously weigh up opportunities and people.

He has one defining ability which only exists in a very small number of people in our industry. That is he has a 360 degree vision for projects. That means a project discussion can in a short time span include the dollars, the programme, the contract, resource issues, construction methodology, the client and any risk and opportunities that others more often than not would miss.

People want to join him. Not because they are unhappy with the current companies but because they know they will not grow their career but they will develop as people.

So happy birthday mate and not only am I proud to work with you I am proud to be a friend.