Zero to One - Advice From Peter Thiel

Construction as craft and as a business has been around for thousands of years.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
Share

Contractors build and maintain the infrastructure that enables society to grow.  That history comes a lot of pride. It also brings a lot of difficult to change habits.

Leadership Tools: Advice from Peter Thiel. 10 Years vs 6 Months. Book: Zero to One by Peter Thiel.

With the rate that technology is changing the industry leaders in construction companies should learn a little more about how technologists think.  It will make you think differently about your strategy; especially around talent development and technology adoption.  

Peter Thiel challenges some assumptions about how long things should take to innovate in the book Zero to One.  

"If you go back 20 or 25 years, I wish I would have known that there was no need to wait."

“You should take your 10-year life plan and ask:  Why can't I do this in six months?”

"Sometimes, you have to actually go through the complex, 10-year trajectory; but it's at least worth asking whether that's the  story you're telling yourself, or whether that's the reality? "




Succession Readiness at All Levels
Succession goes far beyond ownership transitions every generation or two. Succession readiness at all levels is what allows contractors to grow profitably and safely. How would you evaluate succession readiness across your team?
Jack Welch - Any Jerk Short-Term Earnings
The ultimate measure of a leader is how well their business unit performs AFTER they are gone. With the construction industry talent shortages leaders must focus on building other leaders at an accelerated rate just to maintain market position.
Talent Alignment & Integration: Four Basic Layers
Talent must be aligned around four basic layers for contractors to achieve results. Integration of talent from the customer through to compensation creates optimum results for all parties over the long-term.