PODCAST

Josh Hoffman from Bechtel shares his thoughts on leadership and the need for purposeful communication. We discuss that leaders often  fail to get the best out of people due to lack of communication skills, inability to express what they really want and unwillingness to listen first. Josh also talks about leadership in the wider sense and is own growth as a leader. Josh grew up with his two parents and older sister.  Due to the nature of his dad's job in oil and gas, they lived in Washington State, USA, California, USA, Singapore and the UK.  From an early age, he enjoyed tinkering and was very inquisitive.  This, along with his dad's engineering influence, was the reason he chose to study Mechanical Engineering at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo.  While at university, he was able to break out of his shell and develop his passion for continuous learning.  He started his career moving to Houston, TX working for Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals as a Project Engineer.  This gave him the opportunity to dip his toes into the corporate world and utilize his engineering degree.  11 years and many assignments later, he lived in Soyo, Angola, travelled to New Delhi and London to train co-workers and commissioned a liquified natural gas facility in Western Australia.  Along the way, he met his wife, Lizzie, and managed to squeeze in their wedding a week before the world shut down due to COVID.  He enjoyed stints in Engineering, Business Development, Financial Planning and Analysis and now finds himself working as a Senior Cost Engineer in Pittsburgh, PA.  Josh has always been fascinated with the sociological dynamics of the workplace, getting to know people, what motivates them and how different people communicate and lead effectively. Favourite Book: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Favourite Leadership Quote: “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Colin Powell How to connect: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-hoffman-89a01034/