Risk is not a spreadsheet problem. It’s an execution problem.

This week we're sitting down with Tom Polen (Deltek) to unpack “Risk for the Rest of Us” and why construction has made risk way more complicated, academic and intimidating than it needs to be.

Sharing from his own failure of walking into a risk briefing with 27 charts… and watching the room check out, Tom lays out a radically practical approach that actually gets teams to lean in, stop doom-scrolling and start solving problems in real time. The key is fewer charts, more clarity and simple ways to connect risk directly to forecasting and real project decisions.

If you’ve ever heard “we don’t have time for risk,” this conversation flips that idea on its head, shows why the field owns risk whether they like it or not and gives you a few small wording shifts you can use tomorrow to make risk conversations human, actionable, and impossible to ignore.

Listen in if you're ready for a healthier relationship with the “inconvenient future.”

It's time to challenge one of the most limiting beliefs in construction and engineering: that your job title defines your future.

Stefanie shares her own non-linear career journey and the thinking behind her More Than an Engineer movement, helping professionals who feel stuck, restless or boxed in realize they’re not handcuffed to a single role forever. Together, we unpack why “stability” is often an illusion, how fear and identity quietly drive burnout and why small career sidesteps can be more powerful than dramatic pivots.

This conversation is honest, practical and grounded in real experience. If you’ve ever felt like something was missing in your career, but couldn’t quite put your finger on it, this episode is for you.

Because you are more than your job title.

And construction careers don’t have to be linear.

Construction doesn’t struggle because we lack expertise. It struggles because we lack safe ways to talk about the things we all know are broken. Labor shortages. Bad drawings. Buzzwords pretending to be strategy. Tools that promise transformation but deliver yet another login and another workflow no one asked for.

Everyone sees it. Few say it. And even fewer say it in a way that doesn’t instantly raise defenses.

That’s why some of the most meaningful progress in our industry doesn’t start with a white paper, a dashboard or a keynote deck. It starts with a laugh. Not because the problems are funny, but because laughter lowers the guard just enough for honesty to sneak in.

That’s exactly why my first conversation on TheEngiNerdLife podcast had to be with Matt Graves, the mind behind Construction Yeti. Matt’s superpower isn’t memes. It’s what happens after the meme does its job.

This show exists for one simple reason: to expand the conversation in construction.

That's right, the construction industry doesn’t need more buzzwords. It needs more honesty.

Everywhere you look, someone’s selling the future of construction, whether it be new tools, new platforms or just new promises.

Yet the people out building the projects are left asking the same questions: What’s actually working? What’s not? And why does this still feel harder than it should be?

On TheEngiNerdLife, we don’t interview people because of their title. Instead, we spotlight their superpowers. Real strengths that don’t show up on a LinkedIn headline. Real, lived experience behind the lessons learned the hard way.

The friction. The failures. The moments where things finally clicked.

You’ll hear from builders, technologists, owners and leaders who are shaping the future of construction by being human first, practical second and honest at all times.

Plus, every episode is built around one core question: What can you take from this conversation and apply tomorrow?

If you care about people over platforms, progress over posturing and doing the hard work of actually making construction better, you’re in the right place.

Construction is cool, go tell your friends!