Rockefeller and Dealing With People

“Hard Skills” including the technical ability to design and build a project are the foundation of the construction industry.

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The “Soft Skills” such as the ability to deal with people is the glue that holds complex projects and contracting businesses together.  

Quote: The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun. John D Rockefeller

These are the skills that connect teams from different companies together effectively for the more collaborative project delivery we are seeing across all sectors of the construction market.  

These are the skills that both hold teams together and attract new people to that team.  This is exceptionally critical considering the shortages of talent in the industry that will continue to get worse.  

Combining soft and hard skills together is what makes effective teachers, coaches and mentors that develop others.  

These “Soft Skills” are purchasable as Rockefeller describes but they can also be developed.  In the current and future construction environment the contractors that master the development of talent will dominate.  


Schedule a call with us to learn more about how we help contractors accelerate talent development




Tactical and Strategic Question Categories
When planning, separate the questions you ask yourself into tactical and strategic categories. Answer the strategic ones first, back-checking them against the tactical ones to evaluate the viability of your plans.
Organizational Structures and Leadership Development
As contractors look at their organizational structures with an eye toward both sustainable growth and succession, they must balance the efficiency a functional area structure provides with the leadership development of a business unit structure.
How Do You Prioritize?
This customer-first; projects-first focus is great in the earlier stages of development but starts to impact sustainable growth over time.