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BUSINESS NEWS FLUOR JOINT VENTURE OPENS MEDFORD BRANCH OF BOSTON GREEN LINE RAIL EXTENSION PROJECT Fluor Corporation announced that its joint venture team Green Line Extension Constructors – comprised of Fluor, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc., Herzog Contracting Group and The Middlesex Corp. – has opened the Medford Branch of the Green Line Extension light rail project for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. “Boston is one of the most vibrant cities in the United States, and the opening of the Green Line Extension immediately improves transportation access for the greater Boston area,” said Thomas Nilsson, president of Fluor’s Infrastructure business. “Safe and reliable infrastructure is also vitally important to local, state and regional commerce.” The Green Line Extension will improve local and regional mobility to downtown
Boston as well as support municipal plans for sustainable growth and urban redevelopment by offering non-stop rides to downtown Boston. It will also help reduce the number of automobiles on local roads leading to lower greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of air pollution. The four-mile line is the second of two distinct branch lines to open as part of the Green Line Extension Project. The first branch, a 0.7-mile rail segment running from the new and relocated Lechmere Station in Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville, opened in March 2022. The second branch runs from Lechmere Station through Somerville and ends in Medford at the Medford/Tufts Station. The new branch includes five stations in addition to the operating Lechmere and Union Square Stations. Three large Traction Power Substations were also
designed and built to provide power to the line as well as the replacement of two bridges and modification of four others. The projected daily ridership at the seven stations is estimated to be 45,000 by 2030. Construction began in 2018. Fluor Corporation is building a better future by applying world-class expertise to solve its clients’ greatest challenges. Fluor’s 41,000 employees provide professional and technical solutions that deliver safe, well-executed, capital- efficient projects to clients around the world. Fluor had revenue of $12.4 billion in 2021 and is ranked 196 among the Fortune 500 companies. With headquarters in Irving, Texas, Fluor has provided engineering, procurement and construction services for more than 100 years.
not me. Why didn’t she come talk with me and ask for help? Perhaps she’s the kind of person who never feels settled, and there’s nothing I could have done to keep her engaged and happy. But I’ll bet if I had recognized my blind spots earlier, the results would have been different. We all work with people who have obvious blind spots. Some manifest themselves in their tone when they talk to subordinates, others in how unresponsive they are to emails and text messages, and then some get so busy and myopic they forget to stand up and walk around to engage their team. I have learned that it’s much easier to see the unconscious and self-defeating behaviors in others than our own and miss much of what’s happening around us as a result. I think this occurs because of overconfidence in our own abilities. I’m no self-help guru, so I don’t have a quick fix that works for everyone. All I know is that my blind spots cost me a potential superstar. If there’s one thing I do recognize, great leaders are not only vulnerable and self-aware, but they also have a constant desire to improve. Identifying and fixing crucial problems is the leader’s job, and sometimes the most debilitating problems are with the leaders themselves. Like the Gallup book details, GDP growth, stock prices, and inflation still dominate the headlines and captivate leaders’ attention. Yet absent from leadership metrics are how their people feel. This is why today’s leaders constantly miss the rise in worry, stress, sadness, and anger. When the leaders of tomorrow are asked, “What indicators do you follow most closely?” – hopefully, many of them will say “employee happiness.” Kraig Kern, CPSM is vice president and director of marketing at WK Dickson. Contact him at kckern@wkdickson.com.
KRAIG KERN, from page 3
I once went through a dark period early in my career and had a boss who recognized my change in mood, but instead of patience and empathy, he told me to “get over it.” I left three months later. “It’s much easier to see the unconscious and self-defeating behaviors in others than our own and miss much of what’s happening around us as a result. I think this occurs because of overconfidence in our own abilities.” I’m not much of a reader and don’t usually recommend books, but Jon Clifton of Gallup published a book titled Blind Spot: The Global Rise of Unhappiness and How Leaders Missed It , and I recognize many similarities in my management style. In the book, he suggests that most leaders don’t know how much unhappiness there is in their business today. And that is concerning because unhappiness is now at a record high. According to Gallup, people feel more anger, sadness, pain, worry, and stress than ever. In my case, each day, I would see a pleasant marketing specialist who outwardly appeared to be enjoying her job and her team. Yet, according to her exit interview with HR, she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere, had no career path, and that her manager (me) needed training on how to manage people. Ouch! I’m a sensitive person, and that stung. I had no idea she felt that way. You might be saying it’s a two-way street. Maybe it’s her,
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THE ZWEIG LETTER FEBRUARY 27, 2023, ISSUE 1478
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