Engineering Inc. - September/October 2014 - (Page 45)

Business Insights Strengthen Your Competitive Edge: Increase Your Decision-Making Skills Does your company have data but lack insight? Is the rapid pace of change a challenge to timely decision-making? Is valuable time wasted searching for just one more piece of data? As a leader of a small firm, you face increasingly complex decisions-decisions that are filled with ambiguity, uncertainty and risk. To remain competitive, you can't wait for complete data and certainty. To save time and money you must decide now. Successful leaders know the secret. They gather as much information as feasible and they pay attention to intuition-their gut feeling. Powerful decisions come from balancing cognition and intuition in a skilled internal calculus. New neuroscience research reveals the processes your brain uses to perform that calculus. Now you can harness that power to better manage your firm and develop future leaders. Discover practical skills that put neuroscience to work for you and your business so that you can avoid the pitfalls of overthinking, sidestep analysis paralysis, learn techniques to simplify complex decisions and develop future leaders who are both smart and insightful at ACEC's Small Firm Council's (SFC) annual Winter Meeting February 20-21 in Nashville. Speaker, coach and author Shelley Row, of Shelley Row Associates LLC, will explore complex decision-making based on personal interviews with more than 70 leaders. The data confirm that the most effective leaders make decisions by gathering information while trusting their intuition. That combination is what Shelley calls infotuition™. SFC was established to protect and promote the interests of smaller firms within ACEC. Its winter meeting provides an exclusive forum for smallfirm principals to attend seminars, network with peers, address key issues affecting their firms, and learn and share new ideas. Attendees provide valuable input that helps SFC direct the business and legislative agenda for the coming year. To learn more about SFC, visit www.acec.org/sfc. Critical Continuing Education Online: On-Demand Webinar 10-Packs Most states require licensed engineers to achieve a certain number of PDHs each year and file the credits with the appropriate state licensing boards. But for many engineering and surveying professionals, the time and expense of a multiday training program is hard to manage. Often, as their renewal deadline approaches, employees realize that they are short the necessary credits to maintain their licenses. That's when the search begins for convenient educational offerings that can be completed online at their convenience to earn the required credits. Educational convenience, topicality, flexibility and cost savings come together with ACEC On-Demand Webinars. Find popular engineering business management topics and earn PDHs when and where you need them. The On-Demand Webinar 10-Pack makes continuing education immediate, accessible and cost-effective. Instead of paying $199 per individual webinar, your 10-pack rate delivers 10 webinars at just $140 per session-that's a $59 savings with every selection. Access outstanding on-demand webinar modules from ACEC and its top-notch educational partners at any time. There's no expiration date. You can choose webinars on the fly, and your subscription is completely transferable among staff and offices. Each 90-minute recording carries 1.5 PDHs (unless otherwise specified). Content areas include: * Business Management and Quality * Finance and Economics * Human Resources * Marketing and New Business Development * Contracts and Risk Management * Leadership and Ethics * Project Management and Project Delivery * Public Policy and Industry Issues * and more! For a complete list of available topics, visit www.acec.org/education/on_demand_search.cfm. New Amazon Portal Knowledge is power-and your firm's greatest asset. Whether the goal is keeping ahead of the competition or improving your bottom line, increasing your employee knowledge base can only help. Fortunately, your ability to access trusted A/E and business resources recently became a lot easier. In early September, ACEC launched its new webstore, the ACEC Business Resource Center, on the Amazon e-commerce platform. ACEC members, as well as A/E professionals worldwide, can enjoy fast access to hundreds of engineering and general business resources published by ACEC and others through one convenient hub. As an added benefit, current Amazon Prime members enjoy the privileges of Prime membership-including free two-day shipping-when purchasing resources through the ACEC Business Resource Center. Visit the ACEC Business Resource Center at www.ACECEngineeringBookCenter.org. ACEC's Business Resources and Education Department provides comprehensive and accessible business management education for engineering company principals and their staffs. Visit ACEC's online educational events calendar at www.acec.org/calendar/index.cfm or bookstore at www.acec.org/bookstore, or call 202-347-7474, ext. 324, for further information. SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2014 ENGINEERING INC. 45 http://community.acec.org/acecmainsite/education/on-demand-webinars http://www.acec.org/sfc http://www.acec.org/sfc http://www.acecengineeringbookcenter.org/ http://www.acec.org/calendar/index.cfm http://www.acec.org/bookstore

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - September/October 2014

Engineering Inc. - September/October 2014
Contents
From ACEC to You
Legislative Action
Market Watch
Evolution of Excellence
Big on Data, Long on Promise
Deep-Rooted Designs
Energy Boom
Reality Check
Business Insights
2014 Fall Conference
Members in the News
Mergers and Acquisitions

Engineering Inc. - September/October 2014