Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder

Jesse
  • 5.0 (19)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Biweekly

The Learnings and Missteps Podcast is about unconventional roads to success and the life lessons learned along the way.You will find a library of interviews packed with actionable take aways that you can apply as you progress on your path to Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be.Through these interviews you will learn about the buttons you can push to be a better leader, carve your own path, and build your influence. Find yourself in their stories and know that your path is still ahead of you.

  1. Efficiency Isn't a Buzzword: Sneha Kumari on Merlin AI, Orchestration, and Operational Intelligence

    6d ago

    Efficiency Isn't a Buzzword: Sneha Kumari on Merlin AI, Orchestration, and Operational Intelligence

    Most people think Lean is a manufacturing methodology. Sneha Kumari lives it as a mindset. Sneha is back on Learnings & Missteps. She's the president of Merlin AI and one of the most recognized women in manufacturing; and this conversation gets into the stuff that actually moves the needle. Jesse and Sneha dig into why Lean isn't just a process tool, it's a way of thinking about simplicity, eliminating waste, and respecting people's time. That includes your team, your clients, and yes, even your kids. When you build systems — whether that's automation, AI, or a morning routine — the goal is the same: remove time as a bottleneck. They also break down how tight feedback loops change the game. Not chasing every outlier. Spotting patterns. Doing real root-cause analysis. Using an impact-versus-effort matrix to make smarter decisions faster. Sneha gets honest about what she's learned since launching Merlin AI, resilience, leading a remote global team, and how to maintain urgency without blowing up quality, safety, or delivery. And she explains what Merlin AI is actually solving: the fragmented, unpredictable mess that construction workflows still are. Orchestration and operational intelligence — predicting problems before they happen, making execution more scalable and repeatable. If you're leading people, building systems, or trying to figure out where AI actually fits in your operation, this one's for you. 00:00 Feedback Loops Mindset 00:14 Meet Sneha Kamari 02:41 Why Lean Matters 07:51 Respecting Time 12:18 AI Systems Design 15:27 Merlin AI Founder Lessons 20:19 Mistakes And Learning 22:01 Tight Feedback Loops 26:42 Patterns And Priorities 30:27 Orchestration Explained 32:59 Operational Intelligence Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    45 min

  2. May 21

    Break the Hyper Reactivity Loop: The Weekly Planning System Every Construction Leader Needs

    Time management for construction leaders isn't about working harder — it's about deciding what actually matters before the week decides for you. In this episode, Jesse breaks down the hyper-reactivity loop that keeps construction superintendents, foremen, and project managers double-booked and frazzled — and shares two practical tools to fix it. You'll learn: The "Book Your Week" system — one weekly reset, a daily task limit of seven, and how it makes it easier to push back on last-minute requestsThree mental preset phrases that buy you time without burning bridges with your team or managerWhy last-minute demands keep landing on your plate — and whose behavior is reinforcing itThe one priority conversation that protects your focus without throwing yourself under the busWhat Jesse will (and won't) let disrupt his weekly planIf you're a construction leader who ends every week wondering where it went, this episode is for you. Follow Learnings & Missteps for a new episode every week — practical leadership tools built for the field, not the boardroom. Depth Builder  |   Learnings & Missteps LinkedIn 00:00 Rushing Looks Incompetent 00:48 Two Tools Overview 01:31 Break Reactivity Loop 02:15 Book Your Week Habit 03:24 Calendar Skills Matter 04:37 Seven Tasks Limit 06:01 Say No With Confidence 11:20 Mental Presets Scripts 14:12 Stop Conditioning Yes 15:02 White Paper Lesson 16:48 Recap And Free Tools 20:19 Bonus Disruption Rules 22:33 Final Review And Signoff Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    28 min
  3. Your Workers Aren't Lazy - They're Depleted: Jennifer Martinez on Rapid Restoration for Industrial Athletes

    May 14

    Your Workers Aren't Lazy - They're Depleted: Jennifer Martinez on Rapid Restoration for Industrial Athletes

    Your people aren't running out of steam because they're soft. They're running out of electrolytes — and the water cooler isn't fixing it. Jennifer Martinez is a sports-medicine-trained performance specialist who decided the trades deserved the same recovery science as elite athletes. She calls it rapid restoration. And she's got an approach that turns depleted workers around in about 10 minutes. In this episode, Jesse and Jennifer break down what's actually draining your workforce — filtered water, energy drinks, caffeine, stress, poor diet. Why the headaches, cramps, fatigue, and on-the-job mistakes your crew writes off as "just part of the job" are symptoms, not character flaws. It's a $100 billion annual problem hiding in plain sight. Jennifer also talks about the faith that kept her going through early pushback, why she rebranded to "rapid restoration," and the mission underneath all of it: getting workers home to their families healthier than when they showed up. In this episode: Why "drink more water" is making things worse, not betterThe everyday habits silently draining your crewHow depletion shows up as mistakes, heat illness, and underreported incidentsWhy workers have to feel better before they'll change behaviorJennifer's journey from pushback to rapid restorationConnect with Jennifer Martinez: J Mar Solutions | LinkedIn 00:00 The Hidden Cost 00:37 Meet Jennifer Martinez 03:44 Imperfect Action Wins 06:31 Handling Criticism Gracefully 08:47 When You Want To Quit 10:10 Surrender And Rebrand 13:31 Dehydration Myth Busting 16:41 Coffee Stress And Coping 20:19 Heat Exposes Depletion 22:15 Rapid Restoration In Action 26:34 From Sports To Job Sites 29:40 Friction And Pushback 30:51 Faith Fueled Resilience 34:15 Squirt Squad Marketing 34:52 Heat Stroke Save Story 38:15 Industrial Athletes Mindset 39:49 Change Through Feeling Better 42:55 Surrender And Service 45:26 Doing Right Over Profit 48:23 Kidney Health Mineral Message 50:22 Where To Find JMAR Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    1h 4m
  4. Leadership Tachycardia and the Power of Recovery with Hanna Bauer

    May 7

    Leadership Tachycardia and the Power of Recovery with Hanna Bauer

    Hanna Bauer, founder of Heartnomics, joins Jesse to talk about what she calls "Leadership Tachycardia" — what happens when leaders skip recovery and wonder why they're running on empty. Hanna blends Six Sigma, systems thinking, and personal experience to help leaders align internally so they can execute externally. In this conversation: empowerment, fabricated stress, the difference between excellence and perfection, and why purpose and passion aren't the same thing. Topics covered: Leadership Tachycardia and the cost of skipping recoverySeparating facts from the stories we tell ourselvesExcellence vs. perfectionPurpose vs. passionEmpowerment as a personal responsibilityConnect with Hanna: heartnomics.com | LinkedIn 00:00 Exhausted Yet Driven 00:15 Meet Hannah Bauer 02:14 Defining Empowerment 03:38 Stuck Signals and Burnout 06:09 Breathing and Recovery 08:40 Purpose Versus Passion 09:59 Leadership Tachycardia 13:15 Seasons and Rest Rhythms 16:21 Excellence Over Perfection 20:12 Facts Versus Stories 23:31 Beliefs and Empowerment 26:16 Trauma to Thrive 28:13 Pick Your Pain 29:55 Heartnomics and Innovation 32:30 Risk and Breakthrough Leadership 33:20 Risk And Real Leadership 34:34 No Roadmap For Change 35:58 From Survival To Six Sigma 38:04 Systems Thinking From The Heart 39:11 Stop Blaming People Fix Systems 42:28 Getting Used To Being Well 45:45 Coaching Mentors And Accountability 46:41 Your Story Becomes Your Message 50:43 Excellence Versus Perfection Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    1h 3m

  5. Apr 30

    YES! The Real Reason Your Weeks Feel Busy But Empty

    You'd never start a project without knowing what it's going to cost you. But most people say yes to commitments without running those same numbers. Jesse calls it choose your consequence. Consequence isn't punishment. It's just the result of every decision you make — whether you thought it through or not. He puts his own life on the table. Explains why he doesn't date. Not because he can't. Because he did the math on what it costs — hours, money, focus — and decided that's not where he wants to spend it. Every yes is a no to something else. The question is whether you're choosing that tradeoff on purpose. If you keep ending the week feeling like you worked hard and moved nothing forward — this one's for you. 00:00 Choose Your Consequence 01:47 What Consequence Means 04:00 Time Pressure Reality 05:11 Dating Decision Example 10:17 Zoom Out and Simplify 11:55 Opportunities and Ego Traps 14:52 Long Term Lens 18:52 Non Negotiables and Hard Nos 22:58 Workshops and Next Steps 24:32 Podcast Outro and Resources Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    29 min
  6. Why Most Leaders Avoid the Conversations That Actually Build Culture (With Lisa Corrales)

    Apr 23

    Why Most Leaders Avoid the Conversations That Actually Build Culture (With Lisa Corrales)

    Most leaders say culture matters. Very few are willing to do what it actually takes to build one. In this episode, Jesse sits down with Lisa Corrales - Field Verified leader with 25 years in organizational development and healthcare - to unpack the uncomfortable truth: culture isn’t built through values on a wall. It’s built through conversations most leaders avoid. They get into why promoting people based on seniority quietly erodes teams, what separates leaders who grow from those who stall out, and why self-awareness is the foundation almost no one invests in enough. Lisa also shares how Field Verified operationalizes culture - from weekly check-ins to real-time recognition - and what changed when she stepped into the direct, no-filter world of construction. But the real shift? Reframing “hard conversations” as the job, not the exception. If you’ve ever avoided a conversation, you knew you needed to have… this one will hit. 00:00 Leadership Not Conflict 00:13 Meet Miss Lisa 03:36 Why Culture Drives Growth 07:24 Internal Customers Matter 10:19 Can Leadership Be Taught 15:51 Building Leaders at Work 21:01 Designing Thriving Culture 29:16 Accountability And Coaching 33:52 Responsibility Of Leadership 35:16 Rewarding Top Performers 35:57 Willing Versus Capable 36:53 Bad Behavior Spreads 38:21 Communication Styles Matter 40:00 Praise And Direct Feedback 43:09 Building A Praise Culture 46:50 Reps For Tough Talks 52:56 From Medicine To Construction 59:12 Site Visit Perspective Shift 01:02:06 Promise And Closing Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    1h 8m
  7. Your Broker Might Be Costing You: Micah Salas on Insurance That Actually Works

    Apr 16

    Your Broker Might Be Costing You: Micah Salas on Insurance That Actually Works

    Most construction owners treat insurance like a bill they just have to pay. Micah Salas thinks that's exactly why they overpay. Micah is an Austin-based commercial insurance author and the guy who wrote The Business Insurance Playbook — not for agents, but for owners like you. In this episode, he breaks down why the way most contractors shop for coverage is quietly working against them, what it actually looks like to "sell your risk," and the specific things happening inside your operation right now that are either raising or lowering your premiums. This one gets practical fast. We get into driver controls, subcontractor agreements, and what an underwriter is actually looking for when they get on a call with you — and it's not what most people think. If you've ever wondered whether your agent is actually working for you, this episode is worth your time. 00:00 Risk First Mindset 00:15 Meet Micah Salas 03:03 Insurance Shopping Myth 04:30 Carrier Blocking Explained 06:52 Agent Versus Underwriter 08:07 Sell Your Risk 10:23 Real Estate Analogy 13:13 Shoutout And Recap 14:08 Cost Of Risk 16:22 Why He Wrote Book 20:21 Practical Risk Reducers 27:33 Leadership And Character 29:23 Client Fit Signals 30:46 Risk Readiness Checklist 31:39 Social Media as Signal 32:29 Selling Your Risk Story 33:58 BIM and Prefab Safety 37:14 Side Hustle Selling Mindset 39:57 Workshop to Product Pipeline 43:17 Cold Outreach and Content Reality 46:32 Building Max Revenue 49:18 Bumps and Big Leaps 52:37 Stillness for Resilience 56:47 Meaning Making and Rejection Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    1h 5m

  8. Apr 9

    Stop Winning At Work And Losing At Life

    You can be great at your job and still be losing the parts of life that actually make success worth it. That’s where we start: the quiet trade so many high performers make, sacrificing sleep, health, learning, and real presence with the people we love so we can keep delivering, keep getting promoted, and keep looking “fine” from the outside. I share a personal wake-up call that made it impossible to ignore the gap between professional execution and personal neglect. From there, we lay out the Self First Framework, a plan, commit, execute system built for self-management. We talk about guilt-free future planning to get your goals out of your head and into three clear buckets: meaningful connections, personal growth, and business or professional growth. Then we prioritize using the DAM Matrix so you can start with high impact, low effort wins that build momentum instead of shame. The key is simple: plan without rushing to the calendar, then commit real time to the first small step. We also get tactical about “not having time.” Most capable people aren’t failing because they’re lazy, they’re failing because they’re overcommitted. I’ll show you how to make your workload visible, then use strategically selfish scheduling with the FIRE boxes to finish what’s urgent, invest in what only you can do, reduce what can be delegated or automated, and extinguish what never needed you. We close with a straightforward daily execution method that helps you track distractions and actually follow through. If this hits home, subscribe, share this with a high-achiever who’s running on fumes, and leave a review with one thing you’re committing to protect this week. Get the time management system that will make you dangerously effective: https://www.depthbuilder.com/time-management-webinar-sign-up-page Subscribe to the Monday Morning Hugs Newsletter for thought provoking topics to accelerate your growth: LinkedIn Newsletter  Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be

    50 min
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5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

The Learnings and Missteps Podcast is about unconventional roads to success and the life lessons learned along the way.You will find a library of interviews packed with actionable take aways that you can apply as you progress on your path to Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be.Through these interviews you will learn about the buttons you can push to be a better leader, carve your own path, and build your influence. Find yourself in their stories and know that your path is still ahead of you.

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