August 12, 2025 • 15 mins
Send us your thoughts, ideas, questions
Summary
In this bonus episode, Host Ryan Ware discusses the importance of activating curiosity within the industry, addressing the challenges faced, and the need for a mindset shift towards embracing change and innovation. He emphasizes the significance of understanding resistance to new ideas and the role of experience in overcoming obstacles. The conversation encourages listeners to find value in their work and explore new opportunities for growth and improvement.
Takeaways
We need to figure out how to bring value to our work.
Activating curiosity is essential for addressing industry challenges.
Embracing change is crucial for growth in the profession.
Resistance to change often stems from fear and uncertainty.
Experience plays a vital role in learning and adapting.
Just trying something once won't make you an expert.
We must identify what makes it hard to adopt new solutions.
Change is constant, and we must learn to navigate it.
Finding value in our work is essential for progress.
We need to be willing to explore the unknown for growth.
Titles
Activating Curiosity in the Industry
Embracing Change: A Mindset Shift
Sound bites
"This podcast is about all of you"
"We want to try new things"
"Change is not easy, but I want to help"
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Activating Curiosity
01:35 Exploring Industry Challenges and Solutions
03:33 Understanding Our Relationship with Change
06:33 The Complexity of Change and Mindset
08:55 Choosing to Embrace Change
10:50 Conclusion and Call to Action
11:20 Activating Curiosity for Change
13:03 The Business Side of the Industry
14:04 New Chapter
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Follow Ryan at the following:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryankware/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/connective-consulting-group-llc
https://connectiveconsultinggrp.com/
https://connective-coaching.com/
https://ryanware.me/
Don't miss out on future episodes! Subscribe now and stay informed about the latest trends and insights in the construction industry.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
We have to figure that out.
And we can't just say, we don'thave time, we'll wait till that
next project's over.
Really, if the next project'sover and there's nothing in the
pipeline, that's not a businessmodel.
So there is no end to this.
We always are going to be goingin motion and needing to figure
out how to lead this change.
(00:45):
Hey, welcome everybody to thefirst bonus episode of
Activating Curiosity.
I am your host, Ryan Ware.
And bonus episodes are going tobe utilized in between all of
our episodes with guests.
So each month we'll...
really start to dive into thingsthat might be top of mind for
myself or things that I've heardout in conversations with other
(01:08):
people within the industry.
So bonus episodes will really beabout things that as I gain
feedback and even get questionsfrom all of you, things that you
want to see focused on, you'reable to put those into the
podcast mail.
As you subscribe, you can addmore information that you really
want to see being investigatedfor activating curiosity.
(01:30):
Again, this is a podcast that isabout all of you and this
industry that we're all focusedon and so passionate about that
we can start to find new ways toaddress some of the challenges
and problems that we face on adaily basis.
We know there are plenty of themout there and we know that there
are plenty of solutions thatwe've seen throughout our
(01:51):
careers in the industry.
So part of the conversationswill be focusing in on some of
those solutions and some ofthose areas that maybe we think
can bring value and solving someof the problems and some of the
reasons that we've maybe beenhesitant to try them.
And we know we have somegenerational things that we can
discuss within the industry, beit within the trades all the way
(02:13):
through the office or within theprofessional side.
So for architects, for engineersand other portions of the
industry, where we want to seegrowth within the profession to
new leadership, and we want totry new things within offices,
but we'll also deep dive intothings about in industrialized
construction, this convergenceof technology that has really
(02:36):
been accelerating things like AIand parts of AI machine learning
and how that extends into thefactories that might drive
designing for fabrication, partof prefabrication, which could
be all the way from kit of partsthrough modular.
And there's so many solutionsthere that can be discussed.
There are things like additivemanufacturing that can be
(02:58):
combined now with materialscience along with AI and all of
this convergence can seem like alot.
It can seem like there's so manyoptions on the table now, and we
can find ourselves in a positionof I'm just not sure which one
to go with.
And we can feel overwhelmed bychoice within the design
(03:18):
industry, within theconstruction side, that everyone
is bringing their solutions tous.
And while we might recognizethat the problems are real,
we're just not sure what to donext.
So today's episode really isn'tabout deep diving into all
things construction and allthings industrialized
(03:40):
construction.
Given that the podcast is titledActivating Curiosity, I want to
focus some of these areas on ourmindset and really think about
like, should we take thesolutions for what they are?
and really start to investigateour own mindsets.
(04:00):
Like, what is it about changethat we, as individuals,
struggle with?
Because change is the oneconstant that we've seen, you
know, our entire life.
It's not new territory.
We've been changing since themoment we were born.
However, we tend to, as we movethrough life, some of us might
(04:27):
tend to resist change and ourmindset around it.
And we're just not sure what ourrelationship with change
actually looks like.
Am I a willing participant?
Am I that person that tends toresist it?
You know, it's okay if youunderstand now in that
(04:51):
self-awareness piece that you doresist change.
You're human.
And there's human complexity tothat.
But what I would challengeeverybody with is just because
how you feel doesn't mean that'show everyone does as it relates
to change.
So we need to take a step backand instead of looking at all
(05:15):
these solutions to solve theproblems, what if we zeroed in
on what is it that is making itso hard to adopt it?
You know, if we back up andthink about like, hey, we've all
been taught a certain way.
We've learned this a certainway.
We've implemented a processaround it.
We already went through a majorchange.
(05:37):
We added new software that wassupposed to help.
And maybe we don't think it has.
Or maybe not everybody adoptedit.
The real question is, is thatgiving us the right data to know
whether or not it's going towork?
But I think too often we trysomething and it doesn't work,
(06:02):
so we punt.
We'll punt because we just don'thave time.
There's not enough of us tocontinue to utilize time that we
don't see as value.
But the reality is just tryingsomething once isn't going to
(06:22):
make you the expert.
Really, how do you start tobecome an expert?
Well, you become an expert bycontinually advancing and
learning from past struggles orthe challenges that maybe you
faced before.
And you got good at that becauseyou didn't give up.
(06:44):
You got good at it because youdidn't allow it to become an
obstacle.
You saw it as an opportunity,the opportunity to learn.
And as we explore a lot of thesenew innovations, as we think
about a lot of the ways that wecan solve a lot of these
problems, we really need to backup and we need to figure out
(07:09):
what it is about change that westruggle with.
Is it around the choice?
We didn't make it.
Maybe we feel like it's beingforced upon us.
Or that we want to make thechoice, but someone at a higher
level doesn't want to make thatchoice because it's their
(07:31):
business.
They see it as a possible riskthat if this doesn't work, my
business could go under.
We could fail.
And all of those things, they'reworthwhile to be explored
because, again, we are humans.
(07:53):
Because the reality becomeslike, how are we as individuals,
how can we gain experience intesting things?
If we're constantly going tostay in a mode of, I don't have
time to test things.
I don't have time to learnsomething new.
I have so many solutions broughtat me where I tried it and it
didn't work.
Or the people who are pushingthe solutions are disconnecting
(08:16):
the humans from theimplementation piece, meaning
find the softwares put in place,find maybe the process.
is somewhat put into place, butif the true buy-in isn't set by
everybody that needs to beinvolved in it, and if everybody
didn't get to make the choice tobecome that willing participant,
(08:37):
if they didn't get to figure outwhat portions of it that they
can control, their committedlevel is going to be very low.
And I think that's where we seea lot of the challenges.
I think that's where we see thisarea where we're not embracing
what we don't know.
We're overvaluing what we doknow.
(09:01):
We look at it like, hey, I gothere because of everything that
I've done in the past.
Everything that I've known to betrue in the past has gotten me
to this point.
And that's okay.
That's true.
We all have gotten to this pointby everything that we've known.
But the reality is it isn'tabout that we've known that.
(09:22):
It was about that we were morewilling to be curious, to
explore, to figure it out thefirst time.
So when we think about designthrough the construction, we
know there are a lot ofchallenges that we need to take
on.
(09:44):
But we have a choice.
We either kick the can down theroad further.
We blame other generations.
Or we say, change is not easy.
But I want to figure out how tobecome a willing participant.
(10:06):
I want to figure out how tohelp.
Because I'm passionate aboutthis profession.
have a purpose to be in thisprofession, but we can't blame
anyone else.
If we're not willing to open ourminds, instead of only seeing
(10:27):
problems, start seeing solutionsand the opportunities of the
unknown.
that I'm willing to explore,that I'm willing to test, that
I'm willing to expand my mindsetjust a little bit more in giving
myself the grace and the empathyto know like, hey, I'm not going
(10:50):
to be good at this right off thebat.
Again, we're really good atsomething right now because we
didn't give up then.
And some of these things thatwe're going to be talking about
that we can really dive in andtrying to activate the curiosity
portions, you're going to haveto be able to clear your head
and be honest with yourself oflike, did I give it a fair
(11:12):
shake?
Or am I just too exhausted totry it?
And then you got to figure outwhy am I exhausted and what is
not serving me anymore to say,hey, That's got to go.
That's got to be the piece thatgoes because it's not bringing
enough value anymore.
It might have gotten me there,but it's not getting me to where
(11:33):
I need to go.
And it's not going to get thisindustry to where it needs to go
either.
This is part of what I want todiscuss today.
You know, as I have guests on orthrough some of the bonus
episodes that I'm able torecord, it is just a moment to
sort of free my own mind.
But hopefully you have some ofthe same questions.
(11:56):
Hopefully you feel the way I dothat we in this industry should
be figuring this out.
And if we're not going to, thenwho is?
But we need to understand thatwe may not need another
solution.
We may not need another idea.
We need to take the ones that wesort of have out there at our
(12:20):
disposal and we need to figureout how they can bring value to
what we're doing now and findingthe time, getting rid of things
that aren't serving the industryanymore, aren't giving us what
we need.
We have to figure out how tostart bridging this gap.
We have to start figuring outhow does the younger generation
that wants to come in and testsome of these new methodologies
(12:42):
and new delivery models or newsolutions that are coming in,
the processes were built onconventional means and methods
or conventional mindsets.
Like, we have to figure thatout.
And we can't just say, we don'thave time, we'll wait till that
next project's over.
Because really, if the nextproject's over and there's
nothing in the pipeline, that'snot a business model.
(13:04):
So there is no end to this.
We always are going to be goingin motion and needing to figure
out how to lead this change.
So I'm hoping that this startsto activate a thought of what
are some things that you'vereally been challenged by in
your portion of the industrythat you've really wanted to
(13:26):
try, but you just haven't hadthe time to do it.
You need to figure out when willyou have the time and what does
that need to look like?
What does it need to look likein order for you to find the
time to try something, evaluateit, explore it?
(13:50):
What's it going to take to findthat time?
That's the end of bonus episodenumber one.
Our first episode is going to bewith a fractional CFO.
And I wanted to have thisconversation because while it is
a profession and an industry, weare all businesses.
And I wanted to start with thatfirst piece of really the
(14:12):
business side because if we canbegin to improve net profits,
begin to see better data, if webegin to understand our
businesses better, then thingscan start to improve to maybe
look at investments.
I thought I would start withthat financial side and that
conversation to spark somecuriosity around what does it
mean to have a business in thisindustry, especially for a lot
(14:33):
of our younger listeners.
But the reality is, this is aconversation that you have to
have all the way through.
We have to figure out ourbusinesses within this
profession.
So until next time, I hope youall stay well, continue to work
through challenges within theindustry, but begin to explore
your own mindset around changeand start activating your your
(14:58):
curiosity the activatedcuriosity podcast is brought to
you by connective consultinggroup and connective coaching
part of the curiosity buildingexperiences if you enjoyed
today's episode don't forget tosubscribe so you'll never miss a
conversation share the podcastwith your network and help us
bring more curiosity into theconstruction industry interested
in becoming a guest or a sponsorvisit us at activating curiosity
(15:22):
dot buzzsprout dot com Untilnext time, keep leading with
curiosity.
We have to figure that out.
And we can't just say, we don'thave time, we'll wait till that
next project's over.
Really, if the next project'sover and there's nothing in the
pipeline, that's not a businessmodel.
So there is no end to this.
We always are going to be goingin motion and needing to figure
out how to lead this change.
(00:45):
Hey, welcome everybody to thefirst bonus episode of
Activating Curiosity.
I am your host, Ryan Ware.
And bonus episodes are going tobe utilized in between all of
our episodes with guests.
So each month we'll...
really start to dive into thingsthat might be top of mind for
myself or things that I've heardout in conversations with other
(01:08):
people within the industry.
So bonus episodes will really beabout things that as I gain
feedback and even get questionsfrom all of you, things that you
want to see focused on, you'reable to put those into the
podcast mail.
As you subscribe, you can addmore information that you really
want to see being investigatedfor activating curiosity.
(01:30):
Again, this is a podcast that isabout all of you and this
industry that we're all focusedon and so passionate about that
we can start to find new ways toaddress some of the challenges
and problems that we face on adaily basis.
We know there are plenty of themout there and we know that there
are plenty of solutions thatwe've seen throughout our
(01:51):
careers in the industry.
So part of the conversationswill be focusing in on some of
those solutions and some ofthose areas that maybe we think
can bring value and solving someof the problems and some of the
reasons that we've maybe beenhesitant to try them.
And we know we have somegenerational things that we can
discuss within the industry, beit within the trades all the way
(02:13):
through the office or within theprofessional side.
So for architects, for engineersand other portions of the
industry, where we want to seegrowth within the profession to
new leadership, and we want totry new things within offices,
but we'll also deep dive intothings about in industrialized
construction, this convergenceof technology that has really
(02:36):
been accelerating things like AIand parts of AI machine learning
and how that extends into thefactories that might drive
designing for fabrication, partof prefabrication, which could
be all the way from kit of partsthrough modular.
And there's so many solutionsthere that can be discussed.
There are things like additivemanufacturing that can be
(02:58):
combined now with materialscience along with AI and all of
this convergence can seem like alot.
It can seem like there's so manyoptions on the table now, and we
can find ourselves in a positionof I'm just not sure which one
to go with.
And we can feel overwhelmed bychoice within the design
(03:18):
industry, within theconstruction side, that everyone
is bringing their solutions tous.
And while we might recognizethat the problems are real,
we're just not sure what to donext.
So today's episode really isn'tabout deep diving into all
things construction and allthings industrialized
(03:40):
construction.
Given that the podcast is titledActivating Curiosity, I want to
focus some of these areas on ourmindset and really think about
like, should we take thesolutions for what they are?
and really start to investigateour own mindsets.
(04:00):
Like, what is it about changethat we, as individuals,
struggle with?
Because change is the oneconstant that we've seen, you
know, our entire life.
It's not new territory.
We've been changing since themoment we were born.
However, we tend to, as we movethrough life, some of us might
(04:27):
tend to resist change and ourmindset around it.
And we're just not sure what ourrelationship with change
actually looks like.
Am I a willing participant?
Am I that person that tends toresist it?
You know, it's okay if youunderstand now in that
(04:51):
self-awareness piece that you doresist change.
You're human.
And there's human complexity tothat.
But what I would challengeeverybody with is just because
how you feel doesn't mean that'show everyone does as it relates
to change.
So we need to take a step backand instead of looking at all
(05:15):
these solutions to solve theproblems, what if we zeroed in
on what is it that is making itso hard to adopt it?
You know, if we back up andthink about like, hey, we've all
been taught a certain way.
We've learned this a certainway.
We've implemented a processaround it.
We already went through a majorchange.
(05:37):
We added new software that wassupposed to help.
And maybe we don't think it has.
Or maybe not everybody adoptedit.
The real question is, is thatgiving us the right data to know
whether or not it's going towork?
But I think too often we trysomething and it doesn't work,
(06:02):
so we punt.
We'll punt because we just don'thave time.
There's not enough of us tocontinue to utilize time that we
don't see as value.
But the reality is just tryingsomething once isn't going to
(06:22):
make you the expert.
Really, how do you start tobecome an expert?
Well, you become an expert bycontinually advancing and
learning from past struggles orthe challenges that maybe you
faced before.
And you got good at that becauseyou didn't give up.
(06:44):
You got good at it because youdidn't allow it to become an
obstacle.
You saw it as an opportunity,the opportunity to learn.
And as we explore a lot of thesenew innovations, as we think
about a lot of the ways that wecan solve a lot of these
problems, we really need to backup and we need to figure out
(07:09):
what it is about change that westruggle with.
Is it around the choice?
We didn't make it.
Maybe we feel like it's beingforced upon us.
Or that we want to make thechoice, but someone at a higher
level doesn't want to make thatchoice because it's their
(07:31):
business.
They see it as a possible riskthat if this doesn't work, my
business could go under.
We could fail.
And all of those things, they'reworthwhile to be explored
because, again, we are humans.
(07:53):
Because the reality becomeslike, how are we as individuals,
how can we gain experience intesting things?
If we're constantly going tostay in a mode of, I don't have
time to test things.
I don't have time to learnsomething new.
I have so many solutions broughtat me where I tried it and it
didn't work.
Or the people who are pushingthe solutions are disconnecting
(08:16):
the humans from theimplementation piece, meaning
find the softwares put in place,find maybe the process.
is somewhat put into place, butif the true buy-in isn't set by
everybody that needs to beinvolved in it, and if everybody
didn't get to make the choice tobecome that willing participant,
(08:37):
if they didn't get to figure outwhat portions of it that they
can control, their committedlevel is going to be very low.
And I think that's where we seea lot of the challenges.
I think that's where we see thisarea where we're not embracing
what we don't know.
We're overvaluing what we doknow.
(09:01):
We look at it like, hey, I gothere because of everything that
I've done in the past.
Everything that I've known to betrue in the past has gotten me
to this point.
And that's okay.
That's true.
We all have gotten to this pointby everything that we've known.
But the reality is it isn'tabout that we've known that.
(09:22):
It was about that we were morewilling to be curious, to
explore, to figure it out thefirst time.
So when we think about designthrough the construction, we
know there are a lot ofchallenges that we need to take
on.
(09:44):
But we have a choice.
We either kick the can down theroad further.
We blame other generations.
Or we say, change is not easy.
But I want to figure out how tobecome a willing participant.
(10:06):
I want to figure out how tohelp.
Because I'm passionate aboutthis profession.
have a purpose to be in thisprofession, but we can't blame
anyone else.
If we're not willing to open ourminds, instead of only seeing
(10:27):
problems, start seeing solutionsand the opportunities of the
unknown.
that I'm willing to explore,that I'm willing to test, that
I'm willing to expand my mindsetjust a little bit more in giving
myself the grace and the empathyto know like, hey, I'm not going
(10:50):
to be good at this right off thebat.
Again, we're really good atsomething right now because we
didn't give up then.
And some of these things thatwe're going to be talking about
that we can really dive in andtrying to activate the curiosity
portions, you're going to haveto be able to clear your head
and be honest with yourself oflike, did I give it a fair
(11:12):
shake?
Or am I just too exhausted totry it?
And then you got to figure outwhy am I exhausted and what is
not serving me anymore to say,hey, That's got to go.
That's got to be the piece thatgoes because it's not bringing
enough value anymore.
It might have gotten me there,but it's not getting me to where
(11:33):
I need to go.
And it's not going to get thisindustry to where it needs to go
either.
This is part of what I want todiscuss today.
You know, as I have guests on orthrough some of the bonus
episodes that I'm able torecord, it is just a moment to
sort of free my own mind.
But hopefully you have some ofthe same questions.
(11:56):
Hopefully you feel the way I dothat we in this industry should
be figuring this out.
And if we're not going to, thenwho is?
But we need to understand thatwe may not need another
solution.
We may not need another idea.
We need to take the ones that wesort of have out there at our
(12:20):
disposal and we need to figureout how they can bring value to
what we're doing now and findingthe time, getting rid of things
that aren't serving the industryanymore, aren't giving us what
we need.
We have to figure out how tostart bridging this gap.
We have to start figuring outhow does the younger generation
that wants to come in and testsome of these new methodologies
(12:42):
and new delivery models or newsolutions that are coming in,
the processes were built onconventional means and methods
or conventional mindsets.
Like, we have to figure thatout.
And we can't just say, we don'thave time, we'll wait till that
next project's over.
Because really, if the nextproject's over and there's
nothing in the pipeline, that'snot a business model.
(13:04):
So there is no end to this.
We always are going to be goingin motion and needing to figure
out how to lead this change.
So I'm hoping that this startsto activate a thought of what
are some things that you'vereally been challenged by in
your portion of the industrythat you've really wanted to
(13:26):
try, but you just haven't hadthe time to do it.
You need to figure out when willyou have the time and what does
that need to look like?
What does it need to look likein order for you to find the
time to try something, evaluateit, explore it?
(13:50):
What's it going to take to findthat time?
That's the end of bonus episodenumber one.
Our first episode is going to bewith a fractional CFO.
And I wanted to have thisconversation because while it is
a profession and an industry, weare all businesses.
And I wanted to start with thatfirst piece of really the
(14:12):
business side because if we canbegin to improve net profits,
begin to see better data, if webegin to understand our
businesses better, then thingscan start to improve to maybe
look at investments.
I thought I would start withthat financial side and that
conversation to spark somecuriosity around what does it
mean to have a business in thisindustry, especially for a lot
(14:33):
of our younger listeners.
But the reality is, this is aconversation that you have to
have all the way through.
We have to figure out ourbusinesses within this
profession.
So until next time, I hope youall stay well, continue to work
through challenges within theindustry, but begin to explore
your own mindset around changeand start activating your your
(14:58):
curiosity the activatedcuriosity podcast is brought to
you by connective consultinggroup and connective coaching
part of the curiosity buildingexperiences if you enjoyed
today's episode don't forget tosubscribe so you'll never miss a
conversation share the podcastwith your network and help us
bring more curiosity into theconstruction industry interested
in becoming a guest or a sponsorvisit us at activating curiosity
(15:22):
dot buzzsprout dot com Untilnext time, keep leading with
curiosity.
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