Activating Curiosity™ | Leading Change in the Construction Industry

Affordable Housing Starts With Better Questions | Purpose, Community & Construction

Affordable housing is often framed as a construction challenge, with conversations focused on cost, speed, and supply. Yet behind every housing project is a deeper question about community, purpose, and the people those spaces are intended to serve.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Rory Rubin, Founder and CEO of S...

For over 20 years, the construction industry has discussed prefabrication, modular construction, and industrialized construction as solutions to labor shortages, productivity challenges, and project inefficiencies. Yet, adoption has been slower than many expected.

Why?

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Josh Mensinger, President of Integrity Built Texas and Prefab, to reveal a hard truth often overlook...

Construction leadership culture shapes how teams work, perform, and respond to change. Yet across the construction industry, burnout has quietly become an accepted measure of commitment, leadership, and success.

But what if burnout isn't evidence of high performance?

What if it's evidence that we've accepted the wrong standard?

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with executive leadership coach Julie Riga to ...

Construction delays are often blamed on labor, cost, or materials—but what if the real problem starts much earlier, during design?

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Robb Andrade  of Overcast Innovations  to explore how siloed design decisions create downstream friction, rework, and unnecessary change.

Instead of focusing on what happens in the field, this conversation shifts upstream&m...

In this bonus episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Tom Raftery—speaker, sustainability strategist, and host of the Resilient Supply Chain and Climate Confident podcasts—to explore how global energy disruptions are reshaping construction, supply chains, and the future of resilience.

Using lessons from the 1970s energy crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and today's geopolitical u...

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, we explore a hard truth about construction: we’re not just facing a labor shortage—we’re facing a productivity problem.

If the construction industry is “busy” every day, why are projects getting slower, more expensive, and harder to deliver? This conversation challenges the idea that we’re solving problems and reveals how often we’re just firefightin...

What happens when architects and construction leaders stop accepting the limits of traditional building materials—and start asking better questions?

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Allison Dring, CEO and Co-Founder of Made of Air, to explore how discomfort drives curiosity, innovation, and change in the built environment. Explore how biochar is becoming a key tool for sustainable building pra...

What if the AEC industry’s biggest challenge isn’t a staffing shortage—but a work model problem?

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Erin Fantozz, Founder of EFDesigns, to explore how architecture and construction firms are navigating a deeper shift in leadership, change management, and the future of work.

As workforce pressure continues across the AEC industry, many firms focus on hir...

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Vikas Murali, Co-Founder and CEO of Offsight, to explore why limited visibility inside prefab factories remains one of the biggest barriers to scaling offsite construction.

As contractors and manufacturers expand into prefabrication, modular construction, and industrialized manufacturing, many still rely on manual processes and disconnected systems that create uncert...

Construction leadership development today requires more than toughness—it demands a human-centered approach to leading change.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Ed DeAngelis, CEO and Founder of EDA Contractors, to explore how trust, emotional intelligence, and curiosity are reshaping leadership in the construction industry.

As the AEC industry faces workforce challenges, change resistance, and i...

Affordable housing isn’t just about building more homes—it’s about whether people can actually sustain a place to live.

In this bonus episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Nneoma Albert-Benson, founder of BEFA Women and Child Care Foundation, to explore how construction leadership and change in the AEC industry must go beyond supply and into the systems that determine long-term stability.

This c...

The housing crisis isn’t just a policy problem—it’s a production problem hiding in plain sight.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Ryan Smith, Co-Founder of ModX, to explore how construction leadership and change management in the AEC industry must evolve to address housing affordability at scale.

This conversation challenges a common assumption: that better policy alone will solve th...

Climate policy shifts happen fast—but construction leadership in change management is what separates winning AEC firms from reactive ones. In this bonus episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan and Laura Steinbrink (CEO, Emerald Built Environments) dive into the mindset shifts and industry transformation needed when policy changes overnight. Discover the strategic framework for navigating regulatory uncertainty and building org...

Mass timber isn’t just a material shift—it’s a mindset shift critical for construction leadership development.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Kristen Slavin, founder of Conifer Advising, to explore how construction leadership and change management in the AEC industry must evolve to explore how construction leadership, change management, and modular construction in the AEC industr...

Mini Series Part 6:

Change fatigue is real in construction—but it’s not caused by change itself. It’s caused by our relationship with it.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware explores how construction leadership and change management in the AEC industry can shift from resistance to resilience by building a stronger relationship with change. Discover proven change leadership tips and strategies for bui...

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™ | Leading Change in the Construction Industry, Ryan Ware sits down with Kristin Kautz of JAM Idea Agency to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the AEC industry—and why most firms are approaching it the wrong way.

This conversation challenges a common assumption: that AI is a tool to implement. Instead, Kristin reframes it as something closer to “air”—an e...

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Ali Salman of Workspace Modular Structures to explore how prefab and modular construction can help solve some of the construction industry’s biggest challenges.

This conversation challenges a common assumption: that the industry’s current methods are sufficient. Instead, Ali reframes the opportunity—highlighting how modular construction offers a sca...

Mini Series Part 5:

Curiosity isn’t a soft skill—it’s a leadership advantage in construction.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware explores how curiosity drives effective change leadership in the AEC industry and why it’s essential for navigating uncertainty, overcoming resistance, and building stronger teams.

This conversation reframes a common challenge: leaders often focus on managing change, ...

Friction slows down decision-making in construction—but removing it doesn’t mean replacing expertise.

In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Scott Reynolds, Co-Founder and CEO of UpCodes, to explore how construction leaders can reduce friction in decision-making while maintaining control, judgment, and expertise.

This conversation reframes a critical challenge in the AEC industry: too much time...