This National Association Has Your Back…
I just returned from a week in Chicago where just about every concrete and masonry industry group was represented at combined meetings for the Alliance for Concrete Codes and Standards (ACCS), the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards (MACS) and the Concrete And Masonry Related Associations (CAMRA) executive council. These are bodies that I interact […]
Getting the Last Word…
Eight years ago I accepted the encouragement from Ed Sauter, Jim Baty and the incoming President at that time, Dan Bromley, to enter the officer track for the Board of Directors. After joining the Board in 2004, I have looked back on the past twelve years to see unbelievable transformation for both this Association and […]
Management By Objectives ‘MBO’
Management by Objectives is a well-established, effective set of principles for bringing an organized approach to business management. As the name implies, MBO establishes objectives as a means for guiding and directing the business toward achievement of desired results. Vital Signs and Short Interval Management are also introduced in this article as companion approaches for […]
Emergence of Risk
In the dynamic world we live in today, the only constant is change – whether it’s yourself, your industry, or the environment around you… Take a moment to think about your business. How has it changed in the past five years? Is your environment the same? How will that environment change in the next five […]
Lead From Need: Four Ways to Motivate Employees
His CEO performance review is in and Scott is clearly alarmed. Unless next quarter’s KPI goals are met the Governance committee will ask for his resignation. He grabs his phone and calls Jarin, his gregarious college roommate and the person who transformed Silicon Beach’s most dysfunctional company into one of its most electric. “Jarin, I […]
Previewing CFA Convention 2016
Spring has sprung and no doubt your company is headed out the door in a frenetic pace. Most of the U.S. residential market is ramping up for a solid 2016 forecast as we have heard from so many of you. While PCA has tempered their projections from the Spring of 2015, all indicators are for […]
A Tale of Two Events
Each year, one of the things my crew members look forward to is a chance at an annual trip to World of Concrete. This year was no different and we ended up taking a total of fourteen guys that did their very best in this past year. World of Concrete has continued to be an […]
Letter from the President: Why We Persevere
This issue’s letter from the CFA Board President: Why We Persevere David Martinson Martinson Construction davem@martinsonconstruction.com I read a history document not long after joining the Board that talked about the original ideas for forming this Association. I found it of great interest to see how we compared today with the ideas such strong industry leaders had […]
Where We Are Headed
All indications at the moment support the concrete industry maintaining a steady climb through the winter, into the heart of 2016 and extending in that same way into the 2020 to 2021 neighborhood. That is five to six years of constant growth, pressure, advancement and yes, change. Is it possible? Is it realistic? Let’s assume for a moment […]
Engage Your Employees With Elevated Communication
In many ways, Adrian Aragon was a great CEO; hard-working and completely devoted to his staff and organization, but it was not until he analyzed his CEO performance review that he noticed the blind-spot in his leadership: the gap between how he saw his communication, and how his employees were interpreting it. Committed to becoming […]
