Bridging the Gap: Insights & Innovations in Construction

How to Rock the Trades

Are you ready to turn the volume up and rock the trades loud? Join host Todd Weyandt and guest Christopher Brenchley as they discuss the state of the trades today, the absolute importance of skilled tradesmen as essential workers, how Rock the Trades is helping to revitalize the workforce, and how there would be “no white-collar world without blue-collar workers.”
A digital evangelist for nearly three decades, Christopher Brenchley is co-founder and CEO of Surehand, Inc.—an industrial talent sourcing platform provider—and the driving force behind the Rock the Trades workforce development movement. He is deeply committed to expanding awareness of blue-collar career paths, reducing industrial labor shortages, and ending underemployment. Get involved at https://rockthetrades.com.
 
TODD-TAKES:
This conversation really gets at one of my soapbox topics around helping to change the perception problem that exists around the skilled trades. Loved that Chris is working to help, in his words, “elevate the perception of the skilled trades back to the industrial artists that they were decades ago.”
To help increase exposure to the trades and reach a younger audience, we need to humanize the trades while getting information out about the reality of this industry in current and creative ways.
The key to accomplishing this rests in our ability as an industry to lock arms with each other around a single message and rallying cry. I love the “Rock the Trades” mindset to bring people together to turn the cameras around and show the amazing things happening in the industry. So, let’s go rock the trades together!

Creatively Bringing People Together

Are you well equipped and empowered to thrive in the new normal? Join host Todd and guests Melissa Lopez and Ryan Shortill as they discuss what a healthy corporate culture looks like, the new opportunities that have arisen from the remote work environment, how to adjust to working from home in the face of burnout and different schedules, attracting top talent employees to your company, and the importance of empathy in every context.
Melissa Lopez currently serves as the CEO of Positive Adventures and CEO and Co-Founder of Onyx Offsites & Trainings, a new corporate concierge team building company designed to create meaningful culture, connection and change in corporations of all sizes. With more than 25 years of industry and leadership experience in marketing, advertising and entrepreneurship, Lopez successfully navigated Positive Adventures through the COVID-19 pandemic and launched Onyx in early 2021 to address the new needs of the corporate landscape. Lopez currently sits on the Board of Directors for Entrepreneur’s Organization San Diego Chapter as Integration Chair as well as serves on the Board of Directors for Pegasus Building Services, where her board role is centralized on marketing, operational and visionary guidance for the institution.
As the Founder of Onyx Offsites & Trainings and Positive Adventures, Ryan Shortill is the driving force behind the brand’s mission. Passionate about helping communities, organizations, teams, and individuals realize their productive power, for more than 15 years, Shortill has provided counsel for companies and communities through unique, purpose-driven techniques. Shortill has taught a variety of curriculum to every level of academia as well as large organizations and senior management teams and is accustomed to speaking to a variety of audiences.
TODD-TAKES
I loved the birds chirping in the background of Ryan. It was such a great example of embracing this new normal and allowing the flexibility and empowerment for people to work from where they can thrive the most.
Melissa and Ryan provided so many great examples of thinking outside the box in order to connect people across departments, for example the Run Club or serving together. I also loved the idea of switching things up in meetings and brainstorming to meet at a park. Recently, I was able to bring my entire team together for the first time in 2 years and we incorporated that advice into our meeting. It was fantastic to enjoy being outside together.
Construction workers are athletes that must take time to focus on Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual health. As part of this, it is incumbent on leaders to know the person behind the employee. Take the time to know what drives and fulfills your team members so you can as Ryan said, “relate as a human rather than an item that needs to be accomplished.” Ryan also provided some powerful examples of this in action with purchasing concert tickets and plane tickets for his employees.

Making Construction of the Future A Reality

It is an amazing time for construction but with the growth comes a lot of change. Are you harnessing the change required to launch you into a successful future? Join host Todd Weyandt and guest Randee Herrin as they unpack change management, developing alignment throughout the organization, investing in a healthy culture, data strategy, diversity in the workplace and more.
Randee Herrin is the Senior Vice President of Construction Technologies & Manufacturing at TDIndustries, Inc. With 20+ years of experience as a leader in construction, she has been innovative and utilized technology to drive value creation through big-picture and futuristic thinking. She is well versed in technology-driven workflows to transform how building and construction is executed.

Bringing Iron Man to Construction

Does your company embrace innovation and new opportunities? Do you? Also, what is the future of robotics in construction? Join host Todd and guest Aarni Heiskanen as they discuss crossing the divide between labor and construction demand, the growing importance of robotics in the field, the people-centric aspect of the construction industry, and much more.
Aarni Heiskanen is a Finnish construction innovation agent helping construction sector companies innovate and communicate. He has worked as an architect, consultant, and software developer. Aarni is the co-founder of AE Partners, a business development firm, and heads AEC Business, a construction communication agency. He has been hailed as a Top 100 construction tech influencer. His award-winning blog is at AEC-Business.com.

The Catalyst Behind a Growth Mindset

What does it mean to grow? Will you have to move beyond your comfort zone to keep up? Join host Todd and guest Doug Howard as they discuss navigating growth with your company, nurturing long-range plans over time, the absolute necessity of skill training, and how to both embrace and understand the downsides of technology. 
Doug Howard is the Director of Consulting Services at Remodelers Advantage, Inc. He has extensive experience in business consulting, facilitating and training on profit improvement, growth strategies, financing, succession planning and business enhancement in the home remodeling industry

Embracing Tech in the Field and Office

Are you ready for what’s ahead? Is your company And how can you know? Join host Todd and guest Jason Gregg as they discuss the continuing hesitancy around the adoption of technology, pursuing and achieving goals even though the path may be unsure, and how ensure that your company survives—and grows stronger through—every obstacle placed in its way.
Jason Gregg is the VDC Manager at RK Mechanical. He has 30 years of construction experience bringing innovation, technology and prefabrication to the construction industry by utilizing field experience and project management to help propel employees to the next level.

What’s Next for Construction Technology?

How do you bridge the gaps that occur in your workflow? What’s the best way to adapt? Join host Todd Weyandt and guest Justin Saeheng of Stanly X as they discuss the connection between the field and the shop, the most rampant problems in the industry today, and the potential of an open innovation platform in Contech.
Justin Saeheng leads the Construction Technology team at Stanley X, where he is responsible for defining the product vision, strategy, and overall roadmap execution. Prior to Stanley X, Justin led product teams across various startups and large enterprises. Most recently, he was at a Series A software startup leading the Supply Chain team on first to market logistics SaaS features. Prior to that, Justin was a product manager at Uber Freight for the Marketplace Dynamics and the Carrier Fleet teams. At Adobe, Justin delivered innovative features for Adobe Analytics for Fortune 500 customers and led partnerships with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

The Importance of Image in Construction

How are you presenting your company to a watching world and why does it matter to your bottom line? Join host Todd and guests Tom Deane and Noel Brady as they discuss how to ensure that you are catering to your audience and customer base, the importance of first impressions (especially when it comes to your company), and how to empathize with others before making a commitment to change.Tom Deane and Noel Brady are the co-founders of ProjectMark. Tom the CEO of ProjectMark. He has spent 10 years in the Construction Industry, working primarily in Cost and Risk Management. He has been a part of multiple project teams across a range of sectors, touching over $5 billion in construction cost. He has a bachelor’s degree in Quantity Surveying from Limerick Institute of Technology. He is extremely passionate about the contech landscape and for making a real difference to daily processes in the industry.

The Curious Case of People and Innovation

With a younger generation coming into the workforce, what will change? And with the rise of security concerns, what parts of the industry do we need to ensure are secure? Join host Todd Weyandt and guest Jennifer Byrne as they discuss embracing tech in the industry, the recent rise of “asymmetric warfare” and cyber attacks, what the future workspace will look like, and fostering a collaborative and problem-solving mentality and environment where we work.  
Jennifer Byrne is currently an independent advisor, speaker, and author. A lot of her work is centered around digital transformation. Previously, Jennifer was Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft US. She infused innovation practices into Microsoft’s technical field teams which led to high-value and well-publicized digital transformation strategies with top global companies.

The Future of Tech in Construction

How does a passion for innovation tie into the construction industry? How about creativity and a desire to drive the future? Join host Todd Weyandt and guest Adrian Hatch as they discuss the future of construction work, the rising power of AR and VR, how to allow workers to be more intentional with their time and resources, and much more.
Co-founder and CEO of IMAJION, Adrian Hatch is a product developer and sales leader who is passionate about creating practical innovations and experienced in the conception and engineering of prototype software products and applications. Prior to co-founding IMAJION, Adrian worked at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies as a brand designer and co-founded and operated Lokil, an app and website development firm. Adrian holds a BS in Information Management and Technology and an MS in Management Information Systems from Syracuse University.