Executive Corner: Is Your Business Focus Hurting Profitability?
Companies often say they’re client-, design- or employee-focused. The purpose of identifying your focus helps to communicate how you execute business strategies with your employees, clients, competitors and shareholders. Firms employ these focused strategies to create a path for delivering value and enhancing profitability. These are excellent examples of the types of possible focus areas to consider for your company. However, do they truly capture the essence of your company? An increasing num...
Thoughts From Engineers: Look to the Watershed to Protect Water Quality
The results of an in-depth study of groundwater released in early 2019 showed that 42 percent of private wells in southwest Wisconsin are contaminated with bacteria associated with farm operations and failing septic systems. In northeast Wisconsin, the region’s geology consists of a thin layer of topsoil over fractured limestone. Groundwater is vulnerable here, as cows outnumber people 5 to 1 in Brown County, Wis., and agriculture is the main economic driver (think Green Bay Packers), generating...
From the Editor: The Vocabulary and Eras Change, But Smart Engineering Is Timeless
Thousands of words are added to the dictionary every year. Some are “made-up” words added because they’re often used, like “buzzy” or “guac.” Some are old words with new definitions, such as “cloud” and “footprint.” Other words have even changed from nouns to verbs, as in “friend” and “text.” Some are new because we needed them, including “airplane mode” or “page view.” The language used in the engineering design world today is almost completely different from the language I learned in college...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Sustainability: How Can We Help?
At about the time I was leaving my old firm in 2004, one of the large national architectural firms we worked with made a corporate announcement. Their firm would be focusing on the green movement (predominantly LEED at the time) and were committed to designing their buildings to be more sustainable. They planned to have everyone in their firms, presumably the architects, achieve LEED certification within the next year, and they were asking all their consultants to do the same. They wanted everyo...
Executive Corner: Want to Increase Value for Your Firm? Pull These Levers!
As advisors to design professionals, we’re often asked by owners and key executives, “How can I make my firm more valuable?” Although value is in the eye of the beholder, there are some things you can do to make your firm more valuable to whomever you eventually transition your firm, whether internal or external. At Rusk O’Brien Gido + Partners, we call these things “value levers” because the more focus and action you place on them (pressure), the more you drive up the value of your firm. Archi...
Thoughts From Engineers: A First for the Great Lakes: Water Piped Out and Back In
The city of Waukesha, Wis., received permission in 2016 to divert 8.2 million gallons of Lake Michigan water per day as a new source of drinking water. Waukesha will use Milwaukee’s existing infrastructure to pump water out of Lake Michigan and 12.5 miles of additional pipeline to move the water out of the watershed. An additional 23 miles of pipeline will be built to bring treated wastewater back to Lake Michigan. Waukesha is a thriving Midwestern city located in the middle of one of the world...
Final Thoughts: When Did You Choose Your Career?
Some people have known all their life what their chosen profession would be, perhaps because of a particular skill or because a relative was a successful example. Others may postpone that decision until later in life, perhaps during college, because they’re just not sure. Some choose second careers much later in life when the first choice proves to be no longer relevant. A few weeks ago, I listened to someone address people of various ages ranging from retired to young children, but his focus w...
ReEngineering the Engineer: To Change or Not to Change? The Answer Usually Is to Change
Codes have changed significantly through the years. When I started engineering, the structural section of the North Carolina Building Code was just more than 100 pages and was basically the “one-stop shop” for all our structural engineering analysis and design criteria. There were material codes as well, but they were also similarly simple, and calculations were easy to follow. Today, the structural portion of the International Building Code itself is about 200 pages, but it also references oth...
Infrastructure Outlook: Power Play: Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber-attacks
Governments generally define the essential assets of a functioning society as its critical infrastructure, including electricity, communications, heating, healthcare and transport networks. For the United States, attempted cyber-attacks on these systems continue to be an attractive target. The ability of a foreign actor to gain control and operate them remotely would most assuredly wreak havoc. The lives of millions of people would be immediately impacted if one or more of these major systems be...
From the Editor: Use Different Viewpoints to Uncover the Unknown Unknowns
I read a meme-like quote a few days ago: “It amazes me that I can wirelessly transfer data from my brain to another brain by vibrating the air with my voice box.” Simultaneously whimsical and thought provoking, it reminds me to think of everyday things—like talking—from a different perspective. A similar approach may have been on the minds of scientists who recently discovered something startling and new about sound itself. Four hundred years ago, Isaac Newton laid down the laws of classical ph...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
