You Asked. Here Are Dave's Answers. (Well, Mine.)

Happy Friday.

Last week I introduced myself, explained the AMA, and asked you to send questions. Two came in that I couldn't put down. Here are my answers.

Q: Tomorrow you will have access to every engineer, scientist, and business owner in the engineering and consulting industry. What ONE lesson would you choose to share with them?

-- Paul Stockburger, PE, MBA, Vice President, Stantec

Paul, this is the best question I've been asked. And I think Dave's answer, which he and I recently discussed while hiking, is exactly right:

"At the end of the day, your career is a vehicle to experience life. Ours may be the world's best career for that. Use your career to experience friendships, accomplishments, fulfillment, and to enjoy becoming all you're capable of."

That's it. That's the one.

Engineers are trained to optimize systems. The trap is treating your career as the system to optimize, and your life as a byproduct. Dave flipped that. The career is the vehicle. The life is the point. When you see it that way, you make different decisions: about the work you take on, the people you bring along, the moments you show up for. The projects get done either way. The question is who you become while you're doing them.

Q: Would Dave start a consulting engineering firm again today?

-- Michael Hansmeyer, P.E., Alaska Department of Transportation

I put this one to Dave directly. His answer, in his words:

"I wouldn't start a consulting engineering business today if it required going all in again, with all we had riding on its success. However, it would be fun to be in the driver's seat putting a firm into a position to maximize its value and potential."

That's not a no to the work. It's a no to the bet. He's already paid the tuition -- the sleepless nights, the payroll close calls, the years of building something from nothing when everything was on the line. He wouldn't take that bet again. But put him inside a firm for a year with clear authority and a willing team, and the calculus changes completely. He can see the levers in year one that most owner-operators take a decade to find. That's a different kind of value.

For what it's worth, he's also been thinking about a different version: an AI-native firm, built from the start around top engineering talent and AI, not because he loves AI, but because he sees it as a way to multiply what a small team can do.

Have a great weekend. Dave is back next Friday.

John Galt
(on behalf of Dave Bennett, who will have opinions about my answers)

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