Vulnerability Is Not Weakness: People & Lean with Geoff Lobley (Episode 97)
About this episode
Geoff Lobley discusses the importance of vulnerability in building trust within the construction industry and addresses mental health issues faced by workers.
In this wide-ranging episode of Hoots on the Ground with No Bullshido , Adam Hoots sits down with Geoff Lobley, a Calgary-based construction professional, educator, and risk specialist with TRAVIS Engineering Inc., who came up through the trades and has worked nearly every seat on the org chart. Adam and Geoff have only crossed paths a couple of times (the first in Auburn), but Geoff is the kind of person whose energy you feel the moment he walks into a room. Recording from a deep-frozen Calgary, Canada, at -25°C, the two skip the small talk and dig straight into the human side of building. Geoff is refreshingly honest about not being a natural "people person." He shares how a painful personal loss, paired with a blunt-but-caring boss named Lisa Gibson, cracked him open to mentorship at exactly the right moment — and reframed vulnerability from a perceived weakness into the fastest way to build trust and rapport. The conversation dives deep into: • Why vulnerability is the fastest path to trust and why it isn't the same thing as weakness • The mental health and suicide crisis in construction and why the six-day-week culture deserves scrutiny • Walking the six core principles of…
People in this episode
Host: Adam Hoots
Guest: Geoff Lobley
Topics covered
- vulnerability
- mental health
- Lean principles
- trust building
- construction industry
- reflective practice
Keywords
- vulnerability
- trust
- mental health
- Lean
- construction
- reflective practice
- suicide crisis
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: TRAVIS Engineering Inc.
Places: Calgary, Auburn, Calgary, Canada
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