Improvise, Adapt and Overcome How Irish construction companies survived the Celtic Tiger bust By William Og McCawley Special to Canadian Design and Construction Report “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome” is an unofficial slogan believed to have originated among U.S. Marines and made into a world recognized phrase by Clint Eastwood’s movie, Heart- break Ridge. In business the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome prob- lems will be forever necessary regard- less of how well equipped or prepared you are. The need to be agile and flex- ible in order to respond to changes within your company’s immediate en- vironment and industry is a must. Honing this ability will serve you well. These skills can be cultivated and applied easily in any setting. Get creative. No one can take a skill away from you. It boils down to changing your company’s current perspective, engaging the creative minds of your workforce, ensuring a learning envi- ronment exists, and overall, enhanc- ing the physical, mental, and spiritual capacity of your workforce, thus in- creasing overall productivity. Goodbye Celtic Tiger Following the subsequent financial collapse and the bursting of the so called Irish Celtic Tiger, companies op- 14 – November 2015 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report erating within the construction indus- try in Ireland had to either improvise, adapt and overcome or face extinc- tion. Now some eight years after the Irish construction bubble burst we look at company success stories fol- lowing how they improvised and adapted to this new economic envi- ronment and how they overcame it. Irish construction success stories Hill Engineering is one such com- pany that has had to adapt in order to stay competitive. This approach has resulted in an innovative workforce demonstrated, not least, by their latest product, the Tefra Quick Coupler. This product is a perfect example of inno- vation to solve a problem, designed to ensure safety and eliminate one of the most dangerous aspects of handling attachments - the subsequent risk of it coming away completely.