By: Derek Amidon – CEO, GISI Consulting Group
Research from Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg suggests that over 90% of megaprojects go over budget, over schedule, or both. In an era defined by trillion-dollar infrastructure investments and urgent climate adaptation, that’s not just a budgeting issue – it’s a clear signal that mastering execution is critical.
That’s why I believe the greatest challenge facing the built environment today isn’t innovation; it’s execution. Ambitious projects aren’t struggling for lack of vision, but for leadership that bridges strategy with delivery.
Complexity is no longer the exception, but it’s also not the enemy. It’s the landscape and a reality we manage, master, and turn into a strategic advantage.
The Shape of Modern Complexity
A generation ago, complexity in infrastructure meant engineering hurdles: tunneling through bedrock, building over water, or scaling capacity. Today, it’s just as often about navigating multi-agency governance, embedding sustainability into delivery, managing community expectations, and adapting to regulatory, financial, and climate uncertainty in real time.
LiRo-Hill’s work on the East Side Coastal Resiliency project in New York illustrates this well. Coordinating across dozens of agencies, sequencing construction in active neighborhoods, and creating climate defenses that double as public space isn’t simply project execution – it’s delivery diplomacy. And increasingly, it’s what success demands.
What Megaproject Leaders Need Most
To meet that demand, our businesses across GISI Consulting Group have identified three essential capabilities for leading through complexity:
1. Integrated Delivery Thinking Today’s megaprojects are deeply interdependent. Design, permitting, procurement, and community engagement no longer happen in clean phases. Execution now hinges on real-time collaboration across teams, disciplines and partners.
2. Strategic Risk Leadership Risk can’t be treated as a static variable to be tracked and reacted to. It must be actively shaped. That means creating shared accountability, building flexibility into delivery models and seeing risk as potential – not just exposure.
3. Relentless Executional Discipline Vision is essential. But discipline delivers. The most successful megaprojects are managed with clear roles, accountable teams and a relentless focus on follow-through.
GISI Consulting Group in Action
In Arizona, GISI Consulting Group business Hill International is supporting the Valley Metro Regional Transportation Authority to deliver $6.9 billion in transit improvements across the Phoenix area. As Valley Metro’s program and construction management partner, Hill is coordinating the simultaneous delivery of four major projects.
To meet this challenge, Hill implemented a proactive stakeholder management framework. This tool identified and organized third parties, authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), and other key stakeholders based on influence, concerns, level of support, and other criteria. The approach helped clarify responsibilities, reduce risks to revenue operations, resolve on-the-ground issues, and maintain open communication with businesses and the community.
Hill’s approach also delivered quantifiable results: the $30 million renovation of 50th Street Station (which connects Phoenix to Tempe via light rail) was completed more than six months ahead of schedule, and the award-winning $192 million Tempe Streetcar opened more than five months ahead of schedule.
Hill’s efforts led to measurable success: the $30 million renovation of 50th Street Station was completed more than six months ahead of schedule, and the $192 million, award-winning Tempe Streetcar opened over five months ahead of schedule.
A Call to Action for Owners and Policymakers
With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and global climate financing flowing into the market, now is the time to rethink how we approach complexity. Owners, both public and private, must invest earlier in project leadership and align incentives with long-term outcomes, not just near-term milestones.
Procurement models should reward delivery integration, not just the lowest bid. And policymakers must recognize that navigating complexity isn’t a soft skill; it’s a core delivery capability.
Complexity Isn’t Going Away, But Neither Are We
The firms best positioned to lead in this moment don’t just navigate complexity, they clarify it. That means developing project leaders as systems thinkers, showing up early, planning holistically and executing relentlessly. And it means being the kind of partner our clients trust to turn vision into results, no matter how complex the road.
Complexity will define the next generation of infrastructure projects. Let’s make sure it never stands in the way of progress.
Contact info@gisiconsulting.com to learn more.