Hello DCS Engineering and welcome to our weekly reminder where I do my best to remind us of the purpose of the work we do together. This week I am thinking about our Be Reliable Core Value. I really like that this is one of the values we have at DCS. And being reliable is something I think we all come up short in from time to time, and yet on the whole it is so important. The reputation we have is in large part based on how I show up consistently over time. Not perfectly but for the vast majority of the time. Can you count on me? Can you trust me? Personally, one of my core values is that I want to be trusted. To inspire trust in others, I am committed to being dependable, effective and competent. To me, this means being organized, process-oriented, and data-driven. The evidence of the trust others place in me is increasing leadership responsibility, influence, and autonomy. The result of being trusted means I am able to lead in a way consistent with my belief that all people matter and inspire followership because those in my care know I care about them. I want people to trust in me and in the teams I lead to be well-designed and proven reliable. Reliability has a design aspect to it and it also has a commitment aspect. Which fits nicely with the work we do every day at DCS. Let’s recommit ourselves to being reliably reliable. If we commit, we are going to do it. Have a great week!

Hello DCS Engineering and welcome to our weekly reminder where I do my best to remind us of the purpose in the work we do together. This week I was reflecting on our 2022 offsite in San Antonio and was reminded of one of the presentations where I shared about the word diakonia. Diakonia is a Greek word. And it’s a big idea with a few different elements. It is defined as support, service, or relief. This week I really want to focus on service and the ways in which our work is Diakonia, or service. In our work, we serve our site managers, our project managers, our project buyers, our customers, and our customers’ customers. It’s easy sometimes to maybe say the name of a company, and gloss over the people we are serving at those companies through the work we do. A well-designed system means less stress, less frustration, less downtime, even fewer injuries for the people who work for those companies. And a system that delivers more efficiency and better performance means those companies can provide a better life for those same people. And those same people now get to go home at the end of their workdays healthier and with more energy to enjoy their time with friends and family. Thinking even more broadly, there are people all over the country and all over the world who we serve. They are the people who rely on the services our end users provide to get the food, the medicine, the books, the furniture…to the shelves in their stores or to their front doors. And it’s not just stuff. It’s really making their lives better. So I hope you will remember as part of Diakonia we get to be a part of Diakonia – of serving others…one drawing, one design, one conversation, one project at a time. Thanks for all you do and for the way you do it! Have a great week!!

Hello DCS Engineering and welcome to our weekly reminder where I do my best to connect our mission and values with the work our team does together. I hope you had a nice long Labor Day weekend. This week I’m reflecting on a book I recently read: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who survived several concentration camps during WW2. His experience and research and practice before and after being imprisoned led him to conclude that life is quest for meaning which leads to fulfillment and happiness. According to Frankl, we find real meaning in three possible places: work, love, and courage. As Hubert Joly, the former CEO of Best Buy says in his book, The Heart of Business, these three (love, work, and courage) often converge. Doing something significant through work often involves caring for others and courageously overcoming adversity. I am so thankful for the many examples I see of this on our team every day. Team members working together to overcome challenges and taking care of each other. And so, I hope you find happiness and fulfillment in the work you do at DCS – that it gives you purpose and focus -- and in overcoming adversity you demonstrate the care for others that makes DCS a special place. Have a great week and thanks for all you do!