On this episode of the Build Your Success podcast, host Brian Brogen welcomes Rob Sublette Vice President of Mountain Man Welding, a family-owned Denver welding and fabrication company founded in 1992 that transitioned from oil and gas into water infrastructure and has welded much of Colorado’s major welded-steel water pipelines over the past 34 years.

Rob shares his path from welder helper to project engineer, operations manager, and VP in 2024, and discusses buying out the business as his mom serves as president. He defines leadership as being people-first, accessible, and willing to work alongside crews.

Rob outlines opportunities for young people in fabrication, emphasizing starting at the bottom, gaining real field experience, and being patient about pay and progression.

He highlights 2026 challenges including tariffs affecting material lead times and the ongoing labor and training gap, and advises newcomers to stay humble, invest in themselves, and avoid job hopping.

Guest Social: Rob Sublette |LinkedIn

GuestWebsite: https://mountainmanwelding.com

Host Email:brianb@buildcs.netHost LinkedIn: Brian Brogen,PMP 🧱 | LinkedIn

About the host: Do you want true engagement at your event? Expect Brian Brogen to deliver a keynote that sparks dialogue, inspires growth, and leaves your audience thinking long after the event ends.

Drawing on his extensive experience as a general contractor and project manager in the construction, power, and mining industries, Brian brings the real-world credibility and relatable rapport your audience craves.

On this episode of the Build Your Success podcast we welcome Justin Barksdale, founder of Barksdale Safety and Barksdale Leadership. Justin shares his 15–16 years as a safety professional, starting as a scaffold builder, and explains his companies’ missions: educating, equipping, and empowering organizations to create safety and building leaders people want to follow and cultures people never want to leave.

Justin defines leadership as servant influence that adds value and builds trust, and defines culture as how people think, act, and interact. They discuss how leaders shape culture through what they reinforce and tolerate, how “culture isn’t what we expect; it’s what we accept,” and how poor culture drives disengagement, turnover, and hidden costs.

Justin warns against “flavor of the month” change, stresses measuring culture, investing in leadership development, and cites Microsoft’s culture shift from “know-it-alls”to “learn-it-alls.”

Guest Social: JustinBarksdale, CSP | LinkedIn

Guest Website: BarksdaleLeadership Solutions ; BarksdaleSafety Solutions -Safety Consultants

Host Email:brianb@buildcs.net Host LinkedIn: Brian Brogen, PMP 🧱| LinkedIn

About the host: Do you want true engagement at your event?Expect Brian Brogen to deliver a keynote that sparks dialogue, inspires growth, and leaves your audience thinking long after the event ends.

Drawing on his extensive experience as a general contractorand project manager in the construction, power, and mining industries, Brian brings the real-world credibility and relatable rapport your audience craves.

In this Build Your Success Podcast episode, host Brian Brogen interviews Rob Newman, Vice President of DeWalt Business Development Strategies, aboutleadership, innovation, safety, and workforce development in construction.

Rob shares his 27-year journey at DeWalt, emphasizing leadership through listening, continuous learning, and self-reflection in communication. He highlights DeWalt’s new down-drilling robot partnership with August Robotics, tested on data center projects to improve accuracy, reduce dust exposure, enhance safety, and save significant schedule time, including reducing a seven-week drilling scope to seven days.

They discuss labor shortages and how automation can repurpose workers into higher-value roles, including operating and programming robots. Rob also covers inherently safer tools and DeWalt’s Grow the Trades commitment, including expanded funding, tool donations, support for trade schools, veteran’spathways, and programs exposing youth and girls to skilled trades.

Guest LinkedIn: Robert Newman |LinkedIn

Guest Website: https://dewalt.com and https://stanleyblackanddecker.com

Host Email:brianb@buildcs.netHost LinkedIn: Brian Brogen,PMP 🧱 | LinkedIn

About the host:Do you want true engagement at your event? Expect Brian Brogen to deliver a keynote that sparks dialogue, inspires growth, and leaves your audiencethinking long after the event ends.

Drawing on his extensive experience as a general contractor and project manager in the construction, power, and mining industries, Brian brings the real-world credibility and relatable rapport that your audience craves.