What if understanding your team starts with questioning your own assumptions? In this episode of Leadership Blueprints, BJ Kraemer welcomes speaker, leadership consultant, and communication strategist Skot Waldron, whose work brings him into firms across architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). In their conversation, Skot shares his perspective on people at work, and BJ reflects on his own experiences as a leader. They discuss how the way we interpret everyday behavior shapes our relationships and what it means to help people do their best work. They consider how people experience the same workplace differently and why making room for those differences matters. BJ and Skot challenge familiar ideas about what a meaningful contribution looks like and how leaders can recognize it. They also discuss the importance of self-acceptance, compassion, and the legacy we leave through everyday interactions. Tune in to learn how to understand the people you lead and recognize what they bring to your team.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Background on Skot and how referrals opened doors for him in the AEC industry.
- Discover why labels like “lazy” can lead you to misinterpret a team member’s behavior.
- Learn how noticing your triggers helps you give people the benefit of the question.
- Explore whether the same person can be both a fast starter and a last-minuter.
- Hear why feeling seen at work matters for fast starters and last-minuters.
- Uncover how company culture and mindset create the pressure to look busy.
- Recognize why you may excuse your own delays while judging someone else’s.
- Consider why fixing friction can be more useful than trying to fix people.
- Find out how remote work can fuel judgments about a colleague’s progress.
- BJ explains why value-based delivery challenges the logic of billing by the hour.
- What counts as work when thinking is central to solving a problem.
- Skot’s rapid-fire picks, including a book, a memorable lyric, and dinner guests.
Quotes:
“[A salesperson’s] job is not to necessarily have the answer. Your job is to ask a whole lot of questions.” — Skot Waldron [0:12:22]
“That longing to want to be somebody else means that you’re never really in touch with who you really are.” — Skot Waldron [0:17:34]
“Fundamental attribution error is a principle in psychology that says, ‘I judge you by your character; I judge me by my circumstances.’” — Skot Waldron [0:27:12]
“I don’t fix people, I fix friction.” — Skot Waldron [0:30:25]
“I never look at overhead as a burden. I always look at overhead as an investment.” — BJ Kraemer [0:46:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Unlocked: A 52-Week Guide for the Intentional Leader
American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC)
Skot Waldron at the ACEC Fall Conference