“The fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feelings in those they lead.”
Daniel Goleman
THE ART OF LEADERSHIP
Create resonance, spark performance with emotional leadership!
Leadership starts with the climate you create. When people feel respected, informed, and challenged, they bring energy, creativity, and resilience. Set the emotional tone with presence and purpose. Your calm clarity under pressure tells the Team they can focus on solutions rather than fear.
Translate empathy into action. Begin meetings by listening, name the purpose, and define a clear definition of done. Share the why behind decisions, invite dissent, and convert insights into small experiments. Use short reviews that spotlight learning, customer signals, and next steps. Consistency turns care into confidence.
Model emotional discipline. Prepare before conversations, breathe when tensions rise, and speak with specificity. Recognize effort publicly and coach privately. Remove obstacles quickly, keep promises to the minute, and show gratitude often. When people feel safe and inspired, they move faster, take smarter risks, and deliver durable results.
Over sixty days, practice attunement daily, clarify outcomes, model calm presence, celebrate progress weekly, and build trust that powers execution.
COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION
Create resonance, spark performance with emotional leadership!
Leadership starts with the climate you create. When people feel respected, informed, and challenged, they bring energy, creativity, and resilience. Set the emotional tone with presence and purpose. Your calm clarity under pressure tells the Team they can focus on solutions rather than fear.
Translate empathy into action. Begin meetings by listening, name the purpose, and define a clear definition of done. Share the why behind decisions, invite dissent, and convert insights into small experiments. Use short reviews that spotlight learning, customer signals, and next steps. Consistency turns care into confidence.
Model emotional discipline. Prepare before conversations, breathe when tensions rise, and speak with specificity. Recognize effort publicly and coach privately. Remove obstacles quickly, keep promises to the minute, and show gratitude often. When people feel safe and inspired, they move faster, take smarter risks, and deliver durable results.
Over sixty days, practice attunement daily, clarify outcomes, model calm presence, celebrate progress weekly, and build trust that powers execution.
INFRASTRUCTURE INDUSTRY
Will the early White River Bridge reopening restore reliability for Enumclaw and Buckley?
This week in Washington, crews prepared to reopen SR 410’s White River Bridge between Enumclaw and Buckley several weeks ahead of schedule. The span has been closed since an overheight truck strike in August; emergency contracting and around-the-clock shifts accelerated repairs and inspections.
After an impact, engineers conduct fracture critical checks, survey deflections, and design steel repairs. Standard methods include heat straightening bent members, adding splice plates, replacing gussets, and retensioning bearings. Before traffic returns, crews mill and pave approaches, recalibrate expansion joints, and run load tests to confirm capacity.
Reopening restores a vital link used by more than 22,000 daily trips and shortens detours that added an hour at times. Expect crews to finish punch list items, paint, and minor traffic control while the agency pursues federal reimbursement under the emergency declaration.
Plan alternate routes during punch list work, follow posted speeds, watch crews, and stay updated for any temporary lane shifts.
RESIDENTIAL RESEARCH
How does September start reshape fall schedules and material buy strategies?
This week’s Census report on September housing starts gives builders a fresh read on where groundbreakings are accelerating or slowing. The release also shows permits and homes under construction, three gauges that move at different speeds. Reading them together helps estimate crew demand, inspection workload, and when finished inventory might hit the market.
Drill into single-family versus multifamily and the regional splits. Rising single-family permits alongside steady authorized but not started counts suggest capacity constraints; falling permits with flat starts can mean catch-up from earlier approvals. The under-construction series maps ongoing site activity and helps predict framing, mechanical, and finish labor needs. Watch revisions: monthly changes are noisy, so a three-month average offers a cleaner trend.
Turn the report into tactics. Rebalance spec releases across metros with firmer permits, confirm trade availability where under-construction inventory is high, and requote long lead materials. Coordinate with lenders on buydown menus for quick move-in homes, time land take-downs to markets with momentum, and document assumptions so budgets and schedules flex.
Use September as a planning signal; align spec pacing, incentives, purchasing to regional permits, completions, and buyer traffic data.
TOOLBOX TALK
Respiratory Protection and Fit
Good morning, Team!
Today, we are covering how to select, fit, and use respirators for dusts, fumes, mists, and vapors onsite.
Why It Matters
Airborne hazards such as silica, welding fumes, isocyanates, and solvent vapors can cause acute irritation and long-term lung and nervous system disease. The wrong respirator or a poor seal provides little protection.
Strategies for Safe Breathing
Hazard assessment and selection: Identify the task and contaminant. Use engineering controls first. Choose the correct respirator type and filter or cartridge, such as N95 or P100 for particulates, and organic vapor or multi-gas cartridges for vapors.
Fit testing and seal checks: Wear only models you are fit tested on. Be clean-shaven where the respirator seals. Perform a positive and negative pressure seal check every time you don the mask.
Use limits and work practices: Respect assigned protection factors and do not enter oxygen-deficient or unknown atmospheres without the required program and equipment. Keep straps snug and avoid dislodging the seal when bending or talking.
Change out and maintenance: Replace filters when breathing resistance increases, damage is seen, or odors are detected. Follow a change-out schedule for cartridges. Clean, disinfect, dry, and store in a sealed bag away from dust, sunlight, and chemicals.
Compatibility and PPE: Ensure eyewear, hard hats, and face shields do not break the seal. Coordinate with hearing protection and welding helmets to maintain a stable fit.
Discussion Questions
Which tasks today generate airborne hazards, and what respirators and cartridges are assigned?
Who is fit tested on which models, and where are spares, wipes, and storage bags?
Conclusion
Identify the hazard, select the correct respirator, and verify a tight seal every time.
Select it, seal it, breathe smart!
