Construction Genius

Leaders get stuck inside a box of their own perceptions. They struggle to see things from other people's point of view and this hinders them from improving and growing their business. In today's Construction Genius episode, Michael Girdley — an investor and entrepreneur who has built, incubated and sold several businesses — joins us to give his insights about leadership and how great leaders impact their business. Some of the highlights we deep dive into are the following: • Why leaders fail when hiring people and how to make the hiring process more effective, • Balancing the need for sympathy and empathy in leadership, • Plus many more… Join me and Michael and discover how great leaders benefit greatly from learning to look at things from other people's perspectives! Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 5:00 Building a following? Why you should and shouldn't consider Twitter • 8:07 What do most leaders get wrong about people? • 9:54 Sympathy, empathy, and leadership • 14:11 Common misconceptions about a leader that can be damaging • 15:08 How to become a better listener • 16:24 Why it's essential to have a team that shares the same perspectives with the leader • 18:04 Most people asking for advice don't want to have their minds changed • 19:31 Being able to give constructive criticism without coming off as offensive • 22:12 Questions leaders need to ask to get honest feedback from the team • 26:20 Responding to feedback and handling it as a great leader would • 30:10 How great leaders move on from failure without the loss of enthusiasm • 32:09 When is the right time to quit? • 34:25 What successful entrepreneurs focus on that attract and develop young talent • 36:13 For leaders who are reluctant to invest in their people • 37:37 The need for assessments when you're hiring • 40:51 Why qualified CEOs fail • 43:11 Identifying your vision for the company and pointing it towards that direction • 48:14 For leaders who know they need to improve, here's where you can start About Our Guest: Michael Girdley is the Chairman and co-founder of Dura Software, the second-largest software company in San Antonio. Michael is also a partner at the Geekdom Fund, a seed-stage tech venture capital fund that has invested in over 50 high-growth tech companies. Most recently, Michael led a private equity transaction that created the largest private tech company in San Antonio with Jungledisk buying a set of technology products out of global conglomerate, J2. In 2015, the San Antonio Business Journal named Michael "Man of the Year," and in 2016, Geekdom presented him with their first-ever "Geek of the Year" award. Michael has also authored several books on computer programming which have been translated into four languages. His passions are his kids, his lovely wife, and growing San Antonio's startup ecosystem. Resources: • Michael Girdley's Website: https://girdley.com/playbook/ • Michael Girdley's Twitter: https://twitter.com/girdley • Michael Girdley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgirdley/ • Restaurant Recommendation: https://www.losbarriosrestaurant.com/ Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

Basic sales knowledge tells us: "You cannot control productivity but you can control activity. Focus on quality activity, and the productivity will follow." Productive business development for a construction company focuses on landing the right projects, with great clients, in the right locations. In this short episode of Construction Genius I explain why the productivity of your business development is linked to the quality of your business development activity, and how you can improve that activity and increase your backlog. If you'd need to get more projects on the books in 2022, this episode is for you. Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 1:57 Tip # 1 to having quality activity: Select your target (right project type, right location, right client, right point of contact) • 2:25 Focusing on quality activity involves three things: •• 2:40 Research •• 3:45 Safe space •• 4:35 Time blocking • 5:49 Focus on accountability Does your construction company need to get better at sales and marketing? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

What if there was a way to manage and control risk effectively all while lowering your insurance costs? Today, we have Wesley Sierk with us, President and Lead Strategist at Risk Management Advisors — who joins us to talk all about captive insurance. Learn the types of captive insurance you can set up, the obstacles to getting started, and why you should or should not set up one in the first place. This episode is especially for established and growing construction companies. And those who are looking to manage risk, save on costs, and boost personal wealth. Go ahead and listen to this episode to get a better understanding of captive insurance! Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 3:08 How long Wesley Sierk has been working in the insurance industry • 3:58 What's wrong with the insurance industry? • 10:07 What is a captive insurance company? • 11:16 Reasons why a construction company owner should get involved with captive insurance companies • 12:47 How not being able to control premiums affects the construction company owners • 14:08 The Experience Model • 18:49 Is it possible to boost wealth through captive insurance? • 23:45 Questions you should ask to find out if the captive insurance approach is for you • 26:43 Different types of captives to consider • 31:20 Transitioning from group captives to a single parent captive • 32:56 What's the best type of captive insurance for you? • 36:45 What types of insurance should and shouldn't be included in a captive? • 38:18 Evaluating the rates of your captive on an annual basis • 44:05 First steps to take in exploring the captive insurance option • 47:20 Captive insurance is NOT for you if… • 49:01 What's a rent-a-captive? About Our Guest: Wesley Sierk is the President and Lead Strategist at Risk Management Advisors, Inc. and an expert in the implementation, design, and management of captive insurance. With almost 20 years of experience in the field, Sierk has unique insights into the world of captive insurance, asset protection and risk management. Today, his firm manages the second-largest number of captives in the world. Resources: • Contact Wesley Sierk through these websites: •• http://www.turnriskintowealth.com •• https://riskmgmtadvisors.com/ • Taken Captive: The Secret to Capturing your piece of America's multi-billion dollar insurance industry https://www.amazon.com/Taken-Captive-Capturing-multi-billion-insurance/dp/0980192501 • You Can Make It, But Can You Keep It? https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Make-But-Keep/dp/0980192528/ • Invisible Bankers: Everything the Insurance Industry Never Wanted You to Know: https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Bankers-Everything-Insurance-Industry/dp/0671228498 Connect with Wesley Sierk: • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZcvkK4Iy7NhsN0OC5IbF-g • LinkedIn: •• https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleysierk •• https://twitter.com/riskmgmtadvisor Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

Mark Twain says, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and starting with the first one." Making massive improvements in your business is difficult and can be overwhelming. However, if you understand how to make incremental improvement, you can take on even the biggest projects with tremendous success. In this episode of Construction Genius Podcast, I share very helpful method you can use to make incremental improvement in your business. Listen in and you'll learn how to stop being overwhelmed, and start making progress, right away. Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 1:44 Four Parts of the simple path to Incremental Improvement • 2:34 Think for a moment! When do you start to get overwhelmed? • 4:18 Step #1: Describe the issue • 6:13 Step #2: Generating a list of ideas and identifying the best one • 8:42 Step #3: The drill down question that allows you to explore the best idea you chose • 11:15 Step #4: Commitment to action • 12:47 What's the best way to eat an elephant? Resources: • The Drill Down Method FREE Download: https://www.constructiongenius.com/drill-down/ • Are you a construction executive, looking for an industry expert who can coach you on improving your leadership? Contact Eric here: www.constructiongenius.com/contact Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

Why do employees perform poorly? 80% of the time, it's just because they're in the wrong position, and unable to leverage their strengths. Our returning guest today, John K. Coyle — is one of the world's leading experts in Design Thinking, and an Olympic silver medalist. At a young age, John was able to identify his strengths and use those strengths to his advantage. I've invited John to join us today to talk about the following topics: • Why we're so obsessed with our weaknesses, • How should we separate our ego from reality in defining our own strengths, • How to define our strengths, and • How we should be building our activities around our strengths. Stop trying to fix your weaknesses, and start designing on the strengths you already possess in today's episode. Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 2:25 Why it's crucial for leaders to stop fixing weaknesses and start designing for strengths • 4:06 Identifying your strengths and communicating it to other people • 6:43 Maximizing your own strength to do your job • 7:56 John shares his story of how he figured out his own strength • 10:55 Translating John's experiences into your role as a leader or for construction companies • 12:33 Identifying your superpowers: Should you trust personality assessments? • 14:45 For construction companies, how do you group people according to their strengths and build teams? • 17:27 Team configurations can change from project to project • 19:07 Being able to differentiate between ego from actual strength • 21:22 Characteristics that beginners and seniors should possess to be able to maximize their strengths • 22:42 Poor performer doesn't instantly equate to bad employee • 23:36 When you're good at something but don't have the confidence to step up and do something about it… • 25:38 The 5 step design thinking process • 27:37 About John's book Design for Strengths About Our Guest: John K. Coyle is one of the world's leading experts in "Design Thinking" and Innovation. A highly sought-after speaker and lecturer, John is a graduate of Stanford University with a degree in Engineering - Product Design (Design Thinking) and Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of business with an MBA in organizational behavior, marketing and entrepreneurship. A former head of innovation for a Fortune 500 wireless telecom, John has also been the SVP of innovation for a leading strategy consultancy. John is a world class athlete in two sports (cycling and speedskating) and an Olympic silver medalist, as well as an NBC Olympic Sports analyst, and a guest lecturer on Innovation at several leading universities (Kellogg, Marquette, CEDIM). John is a two time TEDx speaker, and an award-winning author of two books, including the (2018) best seller: Design For Strengths: Applying Design Thinking to Individual and Team Strengths. John is also a thought leader in the field of "chronoception" - the neuroscience and psychology of how humans process time. Learn more at his website www.johnkcoyle.com Resources: • Design for Strengths by John K. Coyle (https://amzn.to/3nOeaX9) and (https://johnkcoyle.com/design-for-strengths) • Visit John K. Coyle's website: www.johnkcoyle.com • Follow John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkcoyle1/ • Follow John on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnkcoyle/ Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

Construction companies often struggle to adopt new technology. It takes work, time, costs money, and entails risk. Our guest, Yaron Dycian — Chief Product and Strategy Officer at WINT-Water Intelligence brings an outsider's perspective to the table today on how construction companies can benefit from adopting new technology and using it effectively. We discuss the following essential highlights: • The importance of getting into a rhythm of technology adoption in your organization, • The importance of consistent communication between the people on the ground and senior executives to ensure good technology adoption, • How to be more effective at adopting technology in your construction company, and many more. There's so much to learn today. So keep the beat and dance to the rhythm of adopting new technologies in your construction companies, starting with tuning in to this episode! Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 3:03 The biggest challenge in terms of construction companies adopting new technologies and using them effectively • 4:22 What does getting in the rhythm of adopting new technologies really mean? • 6:19 Balancing the need for profitability and adopting new technologies • 9:53 Two sets of people involved in the process of adopting new technologies and why it's crucial for them to stay aligned • 11:42 Technology providers: Distinguishing good vendors from bad vendors • 12:37 Characteristics of a good vendor • 16:02 Bringing innovation experts/executives into the team and what their roles are • 19:36 Examples of the benefits you get when you have innovation executives • 21:00 What WINT does for construction companies About Our Guest: Yaron Dycian — Chief Product and Strategy Officer at WINT-Water Intelligence brings over 25 years' experience in driving strategy, building disruptive products and running market execution at innovative startups and Fortune 500 companies. Before WINT, he ran IBM's cybercrime protection portfolio following its acquisition of Trusteer, and held executive positions at Consumer Physics, RSA, the security division of EMC, Mercado Software, Cyota and others. Yaron holds an MBA summa cum laude from the Tel Aviv University, an MS in Engineering summa cum laude, and a B.Sc. in Math and Physics with the IDF's Talpiot excellence program. He is also an avid road and mountain cycler. He also loves skiing and hiking, especially in remote locations like the Himalayas. Resources: • WINT's Website: https://wint.ai/ • CNN Spot: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/15/tech/ai-water-meter-wint-spc-intl/index.html • Restaurant recommendation: https://www.timnatlv.co.il/ or https://www.instagram.com/timna_tlv • Yaron's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yarondycian/# • Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wint-waterintelligence/ Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

I'm shopping for a new car. I make these types of decisions slowly, and do lots of research. Recently, I was driving by a dealership and popped in to see if they had the car I'm looking for. They didn't. What got my attention was after I was finished chatting with the employees at the front desk, they didn't ask me for my name and email to keep in touch. They just let me walk out the door, despite me being their perfect target customer. This got me wondering about the processes they had in place and whether their employees were trained on how to handle walk-in customers. Processes that work are essential to your business success. How do you build new processes and fix the broken ones you already have in place? Tune into this short Construction Genius episode and find out! Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 4:52 What is a process and why are processes important? • 6:46 3 reasons why processes fail • 8:06 Tips to improve your processes • 12:29 How to plan out a process • 13:35 Steps to improve your processes Resources: • Free Download Process Mapping Tool: https://www.constructiongenius.com/process-mapping/ Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

This week's podcast takes a detour from our usual leadership topics. A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction. For example, Pepsin is an enzyme that acts as a digestive catalyst, speeding up the digestion of meat. We are also familiar with the use of catalyst to refer to a person that causes change or action. In this episode we will think about such a person. That catalyst is Jesus Christ. Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, I explore how the birth of Christ impacted the lives of the Magi, King Herod and Joseph, the husband of Mary. Here are the highlights: 0:00 Introduction 1:13 What is a catalyst? 2:14 The threefold nature of the catalyst 3:35 The response to the catalyst 3:53 The response of the wise men 5:58 The response of King Herod 9:37 The response of Joseph 13:13 How will you respond to this catalyst? Resources: Passage to Read: Matthew 1:18 - Matthew 2:23 YouVersion Bible App: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/ Have a terrific Holiday Season with your family and friends, and thank you for tuning in!

Contrary to the popular belief the construction industry is an innovative and forward thinking industry. However, there are some risks inherent in construction that can slow the pace of innovation. Brian Potter — a structural engineer, returns to Construction Genius to discuss why it's seemingly hard to innovate in construction and how construction companies can do it more effectively. We also discuss: • What construction companies should focus on to make innovation happen, • The difference between the United States, Europe, and Asia in terms of innovation. We also touch on some opportunities for innovation in terms of 3D printing, and the future of innovation in the construction industry for the next 4-5 years. Press that play button and let's get started! Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction • 3:02 The construction industry is quite advanced than outsiders actually think it is • 4:53 Why it's hard to innovate in the construction industry • 7:25 Micro approach vs macro approach to innovation? • 8:20 Who should be initiating innovation in a construction company? • 10:50 The role of project owners in terms of driving innovation • 12:21 Characteristics of a General Contractor or Subcontractor who are effective at innovation • 13:37 Maintaining profitability while promoting innovativeness • 16:02 How construction companies manage risk without taking so much of a toll on the financial aspect • 17:26 Understanding that failure is a part of innovation • 19:54 Key innovation trends in the next five to seven years • 21:06 The future of 3D printing in the construction industry • 23:32 Adopting innovation: The difference between the United States, Europe, and Asia • 25:34 The effect of the American business system towards innovation in construction industries in the United States • 27:20 The characteristics of a highly effective company when it comes to innovation About Our Guest: Brian Potter is a structural engineer and formerly worked at the construction startup Katerra. He is the author of the "Construction Physics" newsletter. Resources: • Episode 131: Katerra: The Rise and Fall of a Billion Dollar Construction Start Up: https://www.constructiongenius.com/podcast/katerra-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-billion-dollar-construction-start-up/ • Subscribe to Brian's blog: https://constructionphysics.substack.com/ • Another Day In Katerradise https://constructionphysics.substack.com/p/another-day-in-katerradise • Follow Brian on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-potter-6a082150/ Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? • Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!

Your projects will be profitable if your field crews are efficient. How can you increase your crew's efficiency so that you can make more money? On this week's episode of the Construction Genius Podcast we are joined by the co-founder and CEO of Clue Insights Inc. — Oded Ran. Oded is obsessed with helping construction companies make more money by improving their field efficiency using data and AI. We invited him over to share with us some insights into: What we need to look out for to make sure we're using technology in an effective way to better our organization What construction companies need to do to win every shift And lots more of valuable insights Make sure to check out the video of this podcast episode for a clearer view of a very useful slide Oded shares with us halfway through our podcast. Lots of valuable lessons to learn so press that play button and let's get started! Discussion Points: 0:00 Introduction 2:48 Biggest, most common problems of contractors that impact profitability 3:38 Why does the construction industry seem to have minimal to no improvement? 6:32 Is it true that most data is inefficiently communicated within a company because of this reason? 9:07 Solving communication inefficiency within a construction company 10:07 How the most effective construction companies go through the debriefing process 10:11 Step 1: Preparation of Data 10:56 Step 2: Using the data effectively 13:31 Making data collection easier with this framework 17:24 3 questions you need to ask yourself if you're in charge of process improvement 22:15 What Clue Insights does as a company 25:56 Empowering field crews with the data they need 31:32 What a construction company needs to do to win every shift About Our Guest: Oded Ran is Co-founder and CEO of Clue Insights Inc. — a company that aims to help construction companies maximize their company's efficiency through the use of data and AI. He is obsessed with helping construction companies improve their productivity which is why they founded Clue Insights. Oded is a hands-on leader from early-stage start-ups to Fortune 500 Companies. Resources: Clue Insights Inc. Website: www.getclue.com Clue Insights LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clueinsights Clue Insights Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clueinsights Clue – Real Time Productivity Monitoring Restaurant Recommendation: https://www.truefoodkitchen.com/menu/ Do Your Project Executives Need to Become Better Leaders? Book a 10-minute call with Eric Anderton to see if/how he can help (https://10minutes.youcanbook.me/) Connect with me on LinkedIn. For more podcast episodes, you may also visit my website. Tune in and subscribe to the Construction Genius: A Leadership Master-Class Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. Thank you for tuning in!