#037: Strategic Thinking With Will Hodges, President of Cadence McShane Construction

Will Hodges is President of Cadence McShane Construction Company, a general contractor in Dallas, Houston and Austin Texas with around 135 employees and an annual revenue of about $260 million. During this interview we talk about how he made the transition from project management and operations into executive leadership, the importance of company culture, workforce development and how to be strategic with your business and your career. A lot of people run their construction business like a project. What are the problems with this approach? [Will Hodges] A construction project is linear, one dimensional, has a set of plans and specs, etc. You're going to build the project over 18, 24 or 30 months, get a certificate of occupancy and move on to the next project. People have come up through the ranks with that perspective as field engineer, project manager, senior PM, VP, etc. Businesses are multi-faceted with a lot things to consider; techonology, banks, HR, surety, etc. It is must more strategic and not as linear as running a project. If you run your business like a project, you get out of a strategic mindset and get into a tactical mindset, and you can get lost in the weeds. How can someone make the transition from a linear project based mindset to a strategic mindset? [Will Hodges] Some people's strengths are in very tactical things, and some people's strength is in more strategic things. It's just how they are hard wired. There are things you can do and processes you can use to stretch you into a more strategic mindset and think a little more globally. One of the things we talk about is where we want to be in three, four or five years, understand where we are today and all the pieces that will help us get where we want to be. Listen to the rest of the interview to hear Will's answers to a few other questions like: How important is the culture of an organization, and how does it impact the bottom line? How is the construction industry guilty of having a "herd" mentality? You shared an equation, "Performance + Behavior = Results." What does that mean? If you had an audience with a group of construction business owners and could give them one piece of advice, what would it be? How to connect with Will Hodges www.cadencemcshane.com Will's email address - whodges(at)cadencemcshane.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willhodgescmc Twitter: https://twitter.com/WillHodgesCMC