Engineering Firm
Aulick Engineering is a women-owned small business based in the Atlanta area with offices in North and South Carolina. Aulick provides engineering design and construction management services for transportation and site-related projects. The firm’s primary focus is hydrology/hydraulics, roadway drainage, erosion control, storm water management, airport inspection and more.
Since its founding in 2011, Aulick Engineering has seen significant growth. What started as a single-person firm has flourished into a team of 40 professionals made up of engineering design, administrative support and construction inspection staff. The firm prides itself in producing a high-quality product while maintaining dependable and client-focused relationships by following our core values of being kind, resourceful, respectful and trustworthy.
The Challenge
For larger engineering firms, an IT pro on staff is fairly routine. Aulick vice president Kate Henry explains that the confidence and familiarity that comes from personally knowing your company’s “IT guy” lends a level of trust you just don’t get when outsourcing that function. It’s a partnership between colleagues. In smaller firms like Aulick, dedicating a staff position to IT oftentimes isn’t feasible. When things go wrong or equipment needs upgrades, they need to rely on outside people to get the job done. Many times, that sense of partnership isn’t there. It’s a leap of faith for a company that performs complex functions like computer-aided drafting with an on-site server as its bread and butter.
In addition to the trust factor, with no IT pro on staff, it’s difficult to stay on top of the latest advancements in technology or get recommendations for features that might work better for a company’s specific needs. Logic Speak helped change all of that.
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The Solution
Although Logic Speak is an outside vendor, they are a true partner to Aulick Engineering, Henry explains. The dedicated team at Logic Speak has come to feel like extensions of their own staff. The personal aspect of getting to know the team has been an important part of the trust, confidence and ease of working with Logic Speak.
Henry explains Aulick has formed an internal projects group, in which they aggregate IT issues that multiple people on staff have been experiencing. Then they take those issues to the Logic Speak team to help find a solution to a common problem. A part of that has been the Logic Speak client success team, which has regular meetings with Aulick to touch base on what’s working and what could be improved upon. Close communication has been a key element to that success.
But, the relationship is deeper than simply fixing problems when they arise. Henry explains Logic Speak really knows Aulick’s business and has made (and continues to make) recommendations based on their needs, what’s happening in the marketplace and what may happen in the future. Technology is changing all the time, and it’s not Aulick’s business to keep on top of that. It’s Logic Speak’s. “Jason (Etheridge, Logic Speak’s president and founder) is passionate about staying in the forefront of tech advancements,” she says.
The Results
One way Henry saw the value and power of personalized outsourcing with Logic Speak was during the pandemic. Logic Speak’s recommendation of using a remote (cloud) server rather than one onsite put them ahead of the game when the country went into lockdown.
“When we hit the pandemic, I felt like we were ahead of probably over 90% of our industry because we already had the ability to work remotely,” she says. “We already had a remote server. We had been doing things like automatically updating files on our computer to the network. So many engineering companies were not there and fumbled through VPN access. Because of the position Logic Speak had put us in, we went seamlessly to working from home.”
Whatever the problem or stumbling block Aulick experiences because of IT issues, including those associated with complicated engineering software, the company knows Logic Speak will be there to collaborate on getting the job done.
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At Logic Speak, our core values shape how we lead, how we work, and how we serve our clients. They’re not words on a wall, they’re filters for decisions and expectations for how we show up every day.
But here’s something we’ve learned the hard way: even good values have a shadow side.
Values, when taken too far or applied without self‑awareness, can create unintended consequences. What starts as a strength can quietly become a blind spot. And if we’re not careful, the very things we pride ourselves on can work against us.
So today, we want to talk honestly about our values, not just the best of them, but the risks of overusing them.
We Care for You
The strength:
Caring for others is foundational to who we are. It means treating people with dignity, empathy, and kindness. It means remembering that coworkers, clients, and partners are humans first, not just roles or tickets or invoices.
The shadow side:
When care goes unchecked, it can turn into avoidance. We may hesitate to give hard feedback because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. We may tolerate behaviors longer than we should because we empathize deeply with circumstances. Over time, clarity suffers, and ironically, so does trust.
Care without courage isn’t actually care.
We Lean In
The strength:
We lean in when there’s a need. We take ownership. We step up when things are unclear or uncomfortable. This value fuels responsibility, initiative, and teamwork.
The shadow side:
Leaning in too much can become overfunctioning. We jump in to fix things that aren’t ours to fix. We take on too much instead of letting others wrestle and grow. Eventually, this can lead to burnout, resentment, or invisible bottlenecks where “that person always handles it.”
Sometimes the most responsible thing to do is not lean in, but step back.
We Love Our Craft
The strength:
We take pride in doing things well. We pay attention to details. We care about quality, process, and doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
The shadow side:
At its extreme, loving our craft can turn into perfectionism. We may over‑engineer solutions, delay decisions, or become critical when others don’t meet our internal standards. What was meant to produce excellence can unintentionally slow momentum or make collaboration harder.
Excellence should serve the outcome, not replace it.
We Keep Improving
The strength:
Growth matters here. We believe learning never stops and that feedback, when handled well, is a gift. This value keeps us curious, hungry, and moving forward.
The shadow side:
Constant improvement can quietly create the feeling that “where we are is never enough.” Wins may go uncelebrated because we’re already focused on what’s next. People may feel like they’re always being evaluated instead of occasionally being affirmed.
Improvement without appreciation can feel exhausting.
Why This Matters: Blind Spots Are Part of Being Human
None of these shadow sides mean our values are flawed. They mean we’re human.
Every person, every team, and every organization has blind spots. Often, they’re not found in our weaknesses, but in our strengths, overused or unexamined. The danger isn’t having blind spots, it’s assuming we don’t.
That’s why self‑awareness matters so deeply to us. It’s why feedback matters. It’s why we believe asking questions like “How is this landing?” and “What might I be missing?” is a leadership responsibility, not a sign of insecurity.
Living Our Values With Humility
Our goal isn’t to live our values perfectly. It’s to live them thoughtfully.
That means holding our values firmly, but ourselves humbly. It means inviting perspective, welcoming challenge, and remembering that good intentions don’t eliminate unintended impact.
When we name the shadow side, we don’t weaken our culture, we strengthen it.
Because the best teams aren’t made of people without blind spots.
They’re made of people willing to look for them.
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