Contractors Are Like Sharks

"Contractors are like sharks - they can never stop swimming." - Linda Clifford

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Quote: Contractors are like sharks - they can never stop swimming. Linda Clifford.

 

Contractors never get to slow down. They must always be moving forward on the hunt for the next high-quality project, the talent to build that project, and always improving their operational capabilities to deliver that project successfully.


 

ABOUT LINDA CLIFFORD

Linda Clifford was the CFO at a heavy civil contractor for 30 years. C.C Myers gained national attention after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles where they rebuilt four bridges finishing 74 days ahead of a 140-day schedule and earning a $14.8M early completion bonus which was the largest ever paid by Caltrans. Linda taught construction accounting and financial management at U.C. Davis for 22 years. In 1988, she was a founding member and first President of the Construction Financial Management Association's (CFMA) Sacramento Chapter.

She helped develop and still teaches their Basics of Construction Accounting workshop which we highly recommend for anyone at the PM/Estimator/Superintendent level or above in a construction company. 

Today, Linda advises contractors on topics from strategy through to enterprise risk management. 


 

CONSTANTLY MOVING

Linda put it succinctly when she describes contractors as sharks to illustrate their need to constantly be moving. We describe it as Sustainable Growth Through Balanced Execution.

  1. Get Work
  2. Do Work
  3. Build Talent
  4. Keep Score + Admin (Management Systems / Structure)
  5. Buy Stuff (Purchasing / Equipment / Real Estate)
  6. Technology

Go deeper into each of these at the links above.

 



Related Training

Focused Resources = Maximum Results
Contracting is a relatively low-margin and high-risk business. Contractors can’t afford to spread out their resources on projects or in their businesses. Leaders must put maximum resources behind their biggest bottlenecks or opportunities.
Integrating Constraints and Strategic Targets
Available talent, capital, and work in the market are the basic constraints every contractor must work within. Understanding and managing all three better each year is the foundation of sustainable growth.
Contractor Scoreboard: Key Results and Leading Activities (Disciplined Execution)
Defining what you want in quantifiable outcomes is extremely difficult. It's 10X harder to define those outcomes throughout the whole company from field to CEO. Defining the leading activities that create those outcomes is another 10X more difficult.