Dare to Disrupt: Skill Shortages, Leadership, and Innovation in Infrastructure

Uncharted Conversations facilitates unscripted and controversial discussions aimed at disrupting the infrastructure industry. In the face of major skills shortages affecting Canada’s major programmes, Riccardo sits down with David Ho, the National Leader for Healthcare and Buildings at Accenture. What begins as a look at the skill-based industry shortcomings transforms into a nuanced conversation about cultural, structural, and leadership challenges.

Is the talent shortage just about trades and technical labour, or are we also seeing a void in leadership and bold thinking? Together, David and Riccardo dig into why the industry struggles to innovate, what it would take to truly break from tradition, and how a fear-based approach to risk weakens even the most capable leaders. They explore how changing political priorities, unclear project outcomes, and resistance to outside ideas further complicate the path forward.

This conversation challenges long-held assumptions and invites anyone involved at every stage of the infrastructure delivery lifecycle to have the kinds of discussions that, David and Riccardo argue, are essential to carrying the industry into the future.

Key Takeaways:

• Current labour shortages may be overshadowed by a systematically hindered approach to leadership.
• The shift of project outcomes over time, while often unavoidable, creates missed opportunities for the implementation of new technologies.
• Fear of risk is an intrinsic part of the industry’s culture, discouraging first movers and stifling the bold leadership required for innovation.
• Venture capital constraints and razor-thin contractor margins leave little room for research and development.
• Remote and underserved communities could be catalysts for innovation—if approached with intention.
• How a uniqueness bias prompts us to reject international approaches that could help Canada adapt and improve.

Quote: 

“I encounter lots of different infrastructure leaders and usually conversations where  these individuals are reflecting on their own organizations or on other  organizations. Somewhere  within the diagnosis is a problem of disempowerment.  And  that when people and leaders are not truly empowered, they fail to live up to what are their on paper accountabilities. And lack of empowerment at all different  levels of leadership causes people to put the blinders on, work in their silo and  become content or comfortable being told what to do. And ​that ​is ​the ​sort ​of ​exact ​​opposite ​type ​of ​outcome ​and ​behaviour ​we ​want ​from leaders.” - David Ho

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:

• Follow Navigating Major Programmes - https://www.linkedin.com/company/navigating-major-programmes/
• Follow Riccardo Cosentino - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cosentinoriccardo/
• Read Riccardo’s latest at http://www.riccardocosentino.com
• Follow David Ho - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidtho-ontario/
• Listen to Riccardo’s interview with Alice of Brick & Mortar Ventures at https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/construction-technology-and-the-importance/id1683413407?i=1000709879402

Music: "A New Tomorrow" by Chordial Music. Licensed through PremiumBeat.