2025 gave me three lessons. And one that is still giving. This is the premise of 3½ Things.
This is the first edition of 3½ Things, a semi-regular series built around a simple structure: three sharp ideas and one honest admission. The three are lessons earned. The half is the one I am still figuring out. Leadership is never a finished product, and this series is my commitment to sharing the work in progress across four areas: Building, Leading, Learning, and Reflecting.
Here are the three things 2025 taught me, and the half that is carrying into 2026.
The credential may open the door, but the people you meet change how you lead.
I spent 2025 collecting credentials: finishing my Executive MBA at Villanova, earning recognitions, building a track record. All of that mattered. But the relationships formed along the way mattered more. The classmates who became confidants. The mentors who became collaborators. The clients who became advocates.
Return on investment is a financial term. But the highest-yield investment I made in 2025 was time spent understanding other people's problems, not just solving my own.
The best leaders do not just add value. They multiply it by elevating everyone around them and helping them become better.
I watched leaders this year who operated as multipliers: they asked sharper questions, gave credit deliberately, and created space for others to step into visibility. None of them were born that way. They built the habit through repetition, reflection, and occasionally getting it wrong.
The firms commanding premium valuations in our industry are not doing the most things. They are doing the right things, and their leaders are multiplying the impact of everyone around them.
In a noisy market, the firms that win can explain exactly why they are different. Commit to being different.
Too many AEC firms describe themselves in language that could belong to any competitor. Same services, same geographies, same platitudes about quality and client focus. Differentiation is not about being louder. It is about being specific enough that the right clients choose you and the wrong ones self-select out.
Clarity is uncomfortable because it requires saying no to revenue that does not fit. But the firms I admire most have that clarity, and it shows in every proposal, every hire, and every strategic decision.
I have been a surface-level AI user. In 2026, I intend to become a super-user, not just for speed, but for compounding value in research and strategy. I am still figuring out the how.
This is the premise of the ½: admitting what is unfinished. Not as a weakness, but as a commitment to keep building in public. The leaders I respect most are not the ones who have all the answers. They are the ones willing to say what they do not know yet.
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