Firms preserve more than technical knowledge when experienced leaders pass along judgment, context, and care.
Much of a practice’s judgment may live outside of any standards manual or detail library.
We have all watched a mentor retire, change roles, or move on. The drawings remain. The standards remain. The procedures remain. But the loss is felt, even when all the information appears intact.
The value of a respected technical leader is not just measured by what they produce or how complete their set is. Project managers often become trusted because of how they listen rather than what they know. Senior staff develop an ability to recognize patterns, anticipate risks, and identify concerns long before they become visible to others. Their contribution often extends beyond any single note, detail, document, or project. This judgment accumulates slowly, through years of practice, observation, and experience.
So how does a firm carry this forward?
Some of what we carry isn’t ours.
I notice myself repeating phrases I heard early in my career. “The more times you show something, the more times it’s wrong,” stays with me. I remember who said it, though I doubt the line was intended as anything more than an observation or maybe frustration. Still, I've repeated the line enough that someone may eventually remember it as my insight. It isn't.
Some of it was never spoken.
For years I presented alongside a senior principal who could easily have led our meetings. Instead, they watched, they listened, and they took notes. Not just the meeting minutes but notes for me: things I did well, things I could have explained differently, questions I might have asked, times when I was too eager to speak rather than listen, and other moments worth discussing. They never corrected me or interjected unless I needed their help. They just listened and let me earn the client’s trust.
Much of what we carry has nothing to do with practice.
A cupcake appears on my desk near a deadline. Someone decorates my office on a birthday that I preferred not to celebrate. Glitter finds its way into my keyboard and decides to stay. Occasionally, if we're lucky, a piece still turns up to remind us.
What is carried may not always be what was intended.
Some things are deliberately taught. Others are absorbed accidentally. We learn from what people explain, but also from how they act. We learn the care our craft demands.
We spend considerable effort deciding what should be passed on. We write standards, build libraries, document decisions, and teach. Yet memory seems to favor informal moments. Carefully delivered lessons may fade while ordinary daily interactions can remain crystal clear. Things that once seemed inconsequential carry different meanings as time passes.
Relationships shape our understanding. What we learn influences the way we think, work, and teach. Over time, that influence extends to practice itself.
Care is carried. Culture is carried. Context is carried. Some of this becomes ours long before we even realize we have taken it.
How does a firm carry forward what it has learned? It’s not information alone.
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Joseph Crabtree, RA is a principal at Crabtree Rohrbaugh. |
