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You’ll be
impressed to know the amount of research I’ve done to
bring you the definitive word on what lies in store for us
in the coming year. Along with the nearly endless list of
experts and prognosticators who rise up daily to cast their
lot into this arena of infinite possibility, I must give thanks
to my local legion of New Age seers—Madame Natasha who
owns four separate palmistry parlors in different neighborhoods
to better serve her transportation-challenged clients; two
(from a bank of at least a dozen) tarot card readers whom
my next door neighbor swears by; my barber who knows everything;
and even an animal medium with views of the future that would
make your hair stand on end—whose reach may be less global
than those who grace the tube or checkout stand tabloid, but
who are loaded with commitment nonetheless. So what’s
the consensus?
What Do We Know?
Quite a bit as it turns out.
- We know that
we live in a time of incredible change where conventional
notions of stability and security are as dead as the dodo.
- We know that
despite the claims of spin-doctors in high places we are not—repeat,
not—entering a period of inflation, the things we buy
and that go into them are getting more expensive.
- We know that
there is a relationship between the rising cost of such critical
materials as steel and fuel, and the aggressive entry of people-rich
Asian nations into a global marketplace that we, along with
a handful of Western European countries, have arrogantly considered
our own private preserve.
- We know that
the margin for error in the way we conduct our business is
shrinking inexorably at a rate matched by the number of critical
decisions we have to make with each project in which we become
involved.
- We know that
the number of demands placed on us by our employers, employees,
regulators at every level of government, and anyone with access
to a lawyer with some free time on his hands are accelerating
at a dizzying rate.
- We know that
in each of these we’re in that heady position of having
caught the tiger by his tail and having no idea where he intends
to take us.
What Don’t
We Know?
Pretty much everything else.
- Whether to bid
on a job that may stretch us beyond the point of no return
- Whether to
rent, lease, or purchase the equipment we need to tackle
a job
- Whether to
bite the bullet and invest in the high-tech peripherals
that have taken the field by storm these past few years
- Whether to
expand our training programs to overcome deficiencies in
the skill and educational inventories of many of our entry-level
employees
- Whether we
dare take the vacations our families so desperately need
for fear that things will turn to worms in our absence
- Whether this
is the time to pull out the stops and expand, or whether
it’s time to pull the plug and put the business up
for sale
- Where that
tiger intends to take us
What Do We Do?
Having despaired of finding anything approaching consensus,
I’ve decided to fall back on the premise on which Grading
& Excavation Contractor was founded—that the
first and in many ways the most important step in maintaining
a successful business lies in running a tight ship. In my
very first Editor’s Comments I set as our thesis that
Grading & Excavation Contractor [and in a similar
sense the success of your business] is not about dirt, or
how to dig it, or what kind of iron you should have to do
it with. You know that stuff already, or if you don’t
a magazine isn’t going to help much. The fare we bring
to the table has to do with productivity, good decisions,
staying out of the clutches of the regulators, building more
soundness into your business with every yard of dirt you touch.
“These right
here are the good old days,” I declared in that inaugural
editorial, and I have no reason to change my tune…especially
since I took myself to Wong’s China Palace yesterday
for egg drop soup and that all-important fortune cookie that
reminded me, “These are the days of your life. Enjoy!”
Send
John an Email
GEC
- January/February 2005
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