AEC Industry Episodes

AEC professionals spend their careers solving complex problems. But are we applying that same problem-solving ability to our finances, businesses, careers, and lives? In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Ryan Sullivan, founder of Off the Beaten Path Financials and Off the Beaten Path Advisors, to explore a different question: What if some of the financial realities we've accepted in AEC aren't rules at all? Ryan began his career as a mechanical engineer. At just ...

The construction industry has a changing workforce. But are the ways we recruit, hire, and develop people changing with it? In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Bryce Batts, Co-Founder of Career Collective and a recruiter with 20 years of experience in the AEC industry, to explore a different question: Can construction really hire its way through a changing workforce? Bryce has watched the AEC recruiting and talent landscape shift dramatically over the past two d...

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 SI Container Builds, to explore her unique journey from socia...

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 overlooked: The biggest barriers to prefabrication aren't technical—...

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 hiring more people without rethinking how work is structured. This conversation c...

Mini Series Part 3: Clarity doesn’t come before change—it’s built through it. In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware explores how construction leadership and change management in the AEC industry often stall because leaders wait for clarity that never arrives. This conversation reframes a common belief: that teams need full clarity before taking action. Instead, Ryan highlights that clarity is personal, evolving, and developed through movement—not planning alone. Through th...

Efficiency in construction isn’t just about speed—it’s about how teams work together. In this episode of Activating Curiosity™, Ryan Ware sits down with Brian Skripac of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) to explore how construction leadership and change management in the AEC industry are evolving through collaboration, technology, and design-build delivery. This conversation breaks down a critical shift: moving from fragmented workflows to integrated teams. From early BIM adoption ...