Construction Thought Leaders on LinkedIn

What if all construction industry  thought leaders were on LinkedIn?  LinkedIn recently added the ability to follow people you may not be connected to, that are classified as thought leaders (http://blog.linkedin.com/2012/10/02/follow-people/).  While many are business leaders, news writers and public figures,  few are focused on the construction industry.  Let’s aggregate our suggestions and start following these icons – so construction and the AEC industry can benefit from their thought leadership.  Here’s how:

Follow construction leaders you find on LinkedIn

I suggest you start following  Associated General Contractors Chief Economist, Ken Simonson – you can tell he is part of the elite group of thought leaders on LinkedIn by visiting his profile and noticing the “Follow button” – I’m already following and have met him numerous times at AGC events.  See how his profile has a large Follow/Following button rather than a connect button:

Add to the  Recommended Construction Thought Leaders List

Now there are many other talented people that serve and are dedicated to the construction industry that  are authors, bloggers,  business leaders, educators and innovators that often share their wisdom.  Apparently LinkedIn doesn’t know the construction industry that well so I though we could  get a list going of who should be considered and help Architecture, Engineering and Construction learn at a more rapid pace.  Please add to this list with your thought leader recommendations in the comments.

Brent Darnell – Construction Communications Wizard

Anirban Basu – Economist

Andrew Abernathy – Virtual Construction and Collaborative team building

David F. Carr – Construction Tech News

I’ll update this post weekly with all your additions.  Once we have a list of 25+ compiled I’ll see if we can get them submitted to LinkedIn.  This is obviously a join effort and with the help of the industry we can leverage the construction industry expertise and share best practices, critical thinking, technology and leadership that can propel the future.

Suggest Topics for Thought Leaders in the Construction Industry

Here are areas I’d like your suggestions for:

• BIM
• LEED
• LEAN Construction
• Civil Engineering
• Construction Finance
• Construction Business Strategy
• CAD
• Business Intelligence
• Equipment/Fleet Management
• Project Management/Operations
• Estimating

Again make suggestions in the comment section.

We’re all missing out on tribal knowledge.  Let’s pool it together.  Thanks for your submissions and please share this with others.