Time to Take Charge

Happy Friday,

You’re on a hike and the trail splits. Not sure which way to go, you choose the easier-looking path. People behind you see which way you went, so they follow, as do those behind them. Everyone’s going this way, so why question whether it’s the best path or where it leads?

When consultants are incentivized to minimize their expertise and effort (cost) rather than maximize project value, project proponents lose. More often than not, the project proponent is the public. That doesn’t square with an engineer’s duty to the public or the Engineer’s Creed.

To place service before profit, the honor and standing of my profession before personal advantage, and the public welfare above all other considerations.

Where does the low-bid path ultimately lead? Less respect, less compensation, less incentive to become a consultant, commoditization, an AI plug-in on someone’s desktop? All bad for everyone.

The traditional consulting firm model faces two threats and one opportunity on the near horizon.

Threat #1: Getting upstreamed by global management consulting firms like Deloitte, Accenture, and McKinsey.

Threat #2 The unforeseeable 10-year impact of AI - not to be underestimated.

The opportunity requires a much-needed paradigm shift. Consultants are far too essential to the world, and their guidance is too urgently needed to have them looking at their shoes, waiting to be asked a question. A question that’s often not even the right one to ask. Then, requiring them to bid to see which firm is desperate (or unethical) enough to provide the cheapest, weakest answer. 

It’s time for consultants to assert themselves onto the bridge of the ship, like a harbor pilot, to help the stewards of our public infrastructure navigate the best possible course. Particularly those thousands of small and medium-sized agencies that need help the most. That means pushing back strongly on the low-bid model and clearly communicating the merits of engineering value vs engineering cost. Communication with next-level confidence needs to become the consulting industry's forte. It needs to happen.

Communication and self-promotion have never been our strengths (does an engineering degree even require a single communication class yet?). That’s why attorneys can charge $1,000/hr and engineers $200. They sell their value; we sell our time. But confidence and effective communication need to become the new normal.

Doing so is consistent with the engineer’s duty to the public and faithful to the Engineer's Creed. And it's an imperative for consulting firms. Future opportunities always favor those who earn the most trust. Remaining downstream of management consulting firms and fighting to see who can be the cheapest is not a winning long-term strategy.  

Have a great weekend!

Dave

Feedback and blowback, hit dave@goodnewsfriday.com

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Written by me, not ChatGPT, with speed assist and blunder avoidance by Grammarly.