Covey’s habit is a leadership move: start with a clear picture of the desired result before assigning tasks. Without an agreed end, teams optimize for activity—more meetings, more output, more urgency—while drifting away from what success actually means. The “end” becomes a north star: outcome, customer, and purpose.

Make the end concrete and shared. Write a one-sentence definition of success, one metric that proves it, and the constraints you will not violate (quality, safety, ethics, workload). Then work backward: what must be true in 30 days, two weeks, and this week? Surface assumptions and ask, “What would make this fail?” so risks appear early, not at the deadline.

Turn the end into daily choices. Start meetings by restating the outcome and the trade-off you’re choosing. Stop work that doesn’t move the metric, and delegate decisions to the people closest to the facts with clear guardrails. When priorities change, update the end state immediately to keep the Team signed.

Define success, one metric, and next week’s milestones for your top priority, then share them today.

The University of Missouri is planning a new nuclear medicine research reactor called NextGen MURR. Burns and McDonnell will provide comprehensive project controls, engineering oversight, and owner’s representation through the design and licensing phase. The goal is to expand capacity for producing radioisotopes that help diagnose and treat cancer.

The Team’s scope includes owner’s engineering support, facility design oversight, project management office development, and program management services. They will review design and licensing deliverables from the NextGen MURR Consortium, which includes Hyundai Engineering America, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Hyundai Engineering Co., and MPR Associates. They will also monitor schedule and budget performance, evaluate risk, and help prepare for regulatory milestones, with BWX Technologies supporting the owner’s engineer oversight for the reactor design.

The project builds on the current 10-megawatt MURR, which has, for decades, been the only U.S. producer of multiple medical isotopes used in treatments and theranostics across more than a dozen cancer types. Once complete, the 20 megawatt NextGen MURR is intended to secure a reliable domestic supply of these critical resources. It is also positioned to become a long-term hub for innovation and manufacturing in nuclear science, medicine, and engineering.

NextGen MURR targets a stronger U.S. medical isotope supply through disciplined design, licensing, and project oversight.

The U.S. Navy’s push to modernize aging shipyards is turning waterfront upgrades into some of the most complex infrastructure work in the country. New dry dock rehabilitations, crane replacements, utility renewals, and dredging packages are being lined up to reduce maintenance bottlenecks for submarines and carriers. For contractors, it is a rare market where demand is durable, funding is large, and performance expectations are unforgiving.

Shipyard construction is constrained by security, access, and operations. Work often happens inside active industrial zones with limited laydown space, strict badging, and tight safety rules. Many tasks are invasive tie-ins to live power, steam, water, and communications systems that cannot simply be shut down. Dry dock jobs add marine and geotechnical risk, dewatering, heavy lifts, precision tolerances, and relentless quality documentation. Long-lead gear like cranes, switchgear, gates, and specialty steel can quietly become the critical path.

Contractors that win treat compliance and planning as production. Build teams with nuclear-grade QA habits, strong scheduling, and proven industrial safety performance. Prefabricate where possible, stage materials to minimize waterfront congestion, and align every outage window with the owner’s operations plan. If you cannot prove control of interfaces, testing, and turnover paperwork, you will not keep margin.

Plan around access limits and live-utility tie-ins from day one.

More builders are packaging rooftop solar and batteries as part of the base spec, driven by rising electricity bills, resilience concerns, and buyers who want predictable monthly costs. Instead of selling solar as an upgrade, some communities are marketing energy packages the same way they market countertops and flooring, as a standard feature that supports the payment story.

For residential construction teams, the shift is less about panels and more about process. Electrical designs need cleaner load calculations, panel capacity planning, and consistent equipment locations. Interconnection paperwork, utility approvals, and inspections become schedule-critical, and delays can push closings even when the home is otherwise complete. Warranty and service also get more complex when the builder owns the customer relationship for energy equipment.

The smartest operators treat solar and storage like any other production scope. Standardize a short list of systems, lock rough-in details early, and coordinate utility applications at the start of vertical work, not at the end. Price the full lifecycle, including monitoring and service calls, and train sales to explain performance realistically so expectations match what the system can deliver.

Standardize solar specs and start utility interconnection paperwork early.

Compressed air can turn debris into high-speed shrapnel and inject particles into eyes or skin. It also stirs up dust you end up breathing. The most common injuries come from blowing off clothing, aiming air at someone as a joke, or using damaged hoses and fittings that whip loose.

Use compressed air only when it is the right method and the area is controlled. Wear eye protection at a minimum, and add face protection when chips can fly. Use an approved nozzle with chip guarding, keep the pressure set to site limits, and point the stream away from your body and others. Keep your stance stable, use two hands when needed, and never bypass safety features to get “more power.”

Before you start, inspect the hose, couplers, and whip checks if required. Route the hose to avoid trips and sharp edges, and shut off the supply before disconnecting. Use a vacuum or broom when possible, especially around fine dust. If debris needs to be removed from clothing, use a safe alternative like brushing or a vacuum, not air.

Never blow clothing, use guarded nozzles, and wear eye protection.

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