September/October 2023 - 7

GIANFRANCO DI CICCO
PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Change Isn't Scary:
Let's Advance and Evolve Together
Each of us may have a different idea
when we hear the word " change. "
Some may perceive change as a
complete reverse, a drastic move. Yet,
others may think in terms of subtle
change, or an adjustment. Change may
take the form of differing from the
norm or simple diversity.
You may disagree, but personally I
prefer improvement, advancement or
evolvement to change. Don't get me
wrong, changes are necessary in many
situations: A dictatorship (of any kind),
an abusive relationship, an unsafe
project environment, etc., all require
drastic changes. But otherwise, let's
work on improvement, advancement
or evolvement based on lessons
learned from the past.
From Google's English dictionary
provided by Oxford Languages, the
definition of " change " is:
* As a verb: make (someone or something)
different; alter or modify.
* As a noun: the act or instance of
making or becoming different.
Does change mean that everything we
have done needs to be drastically
corrected? All was wrong (futile?) and
nothing can be used and learned from?
Is the past (history) something that we
have to forget and drastically revise?
One of the major reasons for
resistance to change is uncertainty
about its impact. As humans, we are
hardwired to resist change, and this is
another good reason to use other terms
that will implicate the importance to
improve what we have, in advancing
our vision, in evolving our thoughts and
becoming open to doing things better.
So, let's think about change in terms of
growth and development. Innovation,
modification and advancement are all
forms of change.
An example is how DFI is improving,
not changing. I have just returned from
the S3:Slopes, Support and Stabilization
conference in Boston, a successful and
very well prepared and executed event
with a record 230 attendees (30 percent
more than the previous record in this
relatively new conference). Kudos to
the organizing team headed by the
Conference Chair Meeok Kim, Ph.D.,
I strongly believe that having
So, let's think about change in terms of
growth and development. Innovation,
modification and advancement are all
forms of change.
P.E., and Technical Program Co-Chairs
Christopher Ramsey, P.E., Edward
Laczynski, P.E., and Jeff Segar, P.E., S.E.,
and of course, our always formidable
DFI team! Along with many excellent
presentations, highlights of the event
included a very interesting presentation
by Scott Hamwey, director of
infrastructure planning within the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority, and a risk panel discussion
led by Alexander Filotti, P.E. See photos
from the event on page 47.
Hamwey, a senior representative of a
client, talking about future projects and
challenges directly resulted in having
such a huge increase in attendees'
participation. Our contractors and
engineering members are always
interested in learning about future
projects and possible business. And,
when we have strong contractor and
engineering member representation at
our events, the suppliers and manufacturers
will be interested in participating,
showing their products and
meeting with their clients. Also,
having a risk panel discussion was very
important because it shows DFI understands
our members'
challenges of analyzing
and trying to
share risk with other
project stakeholders.
Another example
of embrac ing the
advancement of DFI's
future: Execut ive
Committee members are planning a
two-day strategy meeting in November
(during a weekend) to discuss what
needs to be done to improve and
advance DFI services to the industry.
While the main focus will be to
understand what we have done and
learn from the past, the goal is to
develop the advancement of our
organization in order to serve you
better. We welcome your suggestions,
DFI is your organization, and we are
here to serve you!
Contact Gianfranco Di Cicco at gianfranco.dicicco@bauerfoundations.com
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * SEPT/OCT 2023 * 7
September/October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September/October 2023
