The Secret to Massive Success in Personal & Professional Life Using Project Controls (Interview with Dr. Saleh Mubarak)

What are the secrets to personal and professional attainment?

Dr. Saleh Mubarak, a well-known author and an international authority in project planning, scheduling, cost estimating, and project controls, revealed secrets to success in his personal and professional using Project Controls principles.

Check this interview with Dr. Saleh Mubarak to learn more about his journey and the key to his success.

Interview Summary

We had the honor to interview Dr. Saleh Mubarak, who’s had 30 years of diversified experience in the industry and academia. Dr. Mubarak is a university professor, consultant, author, public speaker, and trainer in the field of construction project management.

Two Key Values That Shaped Dr. Saleh Mubarak’s Life

The values that shaped Dr. Mubarak’s life came from the lessons he learned from his parents.

Dr. Saleh Mubarak’s ancestors were from Algeria. He was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. His father was a member of the parliament in Syria before he was born. Later, he dedicated his life to academia as a professor and a dean. His mother was a school principal. She raised her children on the value of two things: discipline and education.

The Value of Discipline

Dr. Saleh Mubarak believes that discipline is the key to success. To him, however, success without contentment has little value. For success to lead to happiness, he advises us to balance our ambitions with contentment. As he says, “Don’t take your ambition on a crazy journey… You don’t have to be in the Guinness Book of Records. You don’t have to be the richest man or the longest man on this list. You want to be happy about providing the best services to others and your own family.”

The Value of Education

The value of education was instilled in Dr. Mubarak very early on. Who can be a better role model than a father?

His father wrote about 30 books and dedicated his life to academia as a professor and a dean. Dr. Mubarak followed his father’s footsteps and invested in his education, wrote books, and became a university professor.

This is how it all got started…..

Dr. Saleh Mubarak got into the United States of America in early 1981. After getting his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, he worked for a couple of years as a structural designer. He then pursued a master’s degree in structures and mechanics.

In April 1986, Dr. Saleh Mubarak decided to do his Ph.D. in the construction management program at Clemson University, South Carolina. Since then hehas authored two books and many articles.

The Evolution of Writing Two Great Books

First Book- How to Estimate with RSMeans Data

Dr. Saleh Mubarak started teaching his very first assignment as a district professor at North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. One of the courses that he taught there was Cost Engineering using RSMeans Building Construction Cost Data (BCCD). RSMeans BCCD, which is published annually, is the most widely used reference book for estimating construction costs in the US and Canada. Later, when he moved from North Dakota to Georgia Southern University, he started writing notes for his students to help them understand how to use the RSMeans BCCD reference book.

Over time, thesize of the notes along with solved examples and exercises grew from 20 pages to over 250 pages. Later Dr. Mubarak worked with RSMeans and turned the notes into a book titled, How to Estimate with RSMeans Data: Basic Skills for Building Construction, which was published in 1999. The 5th edition of the book is coming soon.

Learn more about this book here.

Second Book- Construction Project Scheduling and Control

When Dr. Saleh Mubarak started teaching the subject of planning and scheduling, he had to use several books. He noticed that some books had technical errors and inconsistencies. As such he decided to write his own book on the subject. The book was titled Construction Project Scheduling and Control, which was published by Prentice Hall in 2004.

Construction Project Scheduling and Control provides a comprehensive examination of the analytical methods used to devise a reasonable, efficient, and successful schedule for construction projects of all sizes.

The third edition of the book, which was published by Wiley in 2015, contains new information on building image modeling (BIM) and its relationship to project scheduling and control, as well as thorough coverage of the latest developments in the field. In addition, the numerous solved and unsolved problems help students test their knowledge and apply critical thinking to issues in construction scheduling.

The book has a complete instructor’s manual, which provides solutions to all problems in the book, test questions for each chapter, and additional exam questions for more comprehensive testing.

Read more about this book here.

A 3-Step Process for Personal and Professional Attainment

Dr. Mubarak uses project controls concepts all the time, even with his wife and kids! Following is a 3-step process shared by Dr. Mubarak that is based on project controls concepts. You can use this process for your personal and professional attainments:

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