When work gets hard, people look for someone to absorb the discomfort: the angry customer call, the budget cut, the tough performance conversation. De Pree’s point is that leadership isn’t about passing pain downward. It’s stepping in front of it so others can stay focused and safe enough to do great work.

Bearing pain means owning the messy parts. You take responsibility for decisions, communicate bad news clearly, and protect the team from unnecessary politics. You set fair standards, give direct feedback, and make trade-offs visible. When mistakes happen, you fix the system and share lessons instead of looking for a scapegoat.

Make it practical: create a clear escalation path, run short retros, and ask weekly, “What’s causing the most friction?” Remove one blocker, then tell the team what changed. When pressure spikes, keep your tone steady and your promises small but kept. Over time, people trust you, and they’ll stretch further because they feel protected.

Absorb pressure, remove one team obstacle each day, and take public responsibility for outcomes.

In 1999, the S&P 500 peaked. Then it took 14 years to gradually recover by 2013.

Today? Goldman Sachs sounds crazy forecasting 3% returns for 2024 to 2034.

But we’re currently seeing the highest price for the S&P 500 compared to earnings since the dot-com boom.

So, maybe that’s why they’re not alone; Vanguard projects about 5%.

In fact, now just about everything seems priced near all time highs. Equities, gold, crypto, etc.

But billionaires have long diversified a slice of their portfolios with one asset class that is poised to rebound.

It’s post war and contemporary art.

Sounds crazy, but over 70,000 investors have followed suit since 2019—with Masterworks.

You can invest in shares of artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.

24 exits later, results speak for themselves: net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

My subscribers can skip the waitlist.

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_{*Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.}

In a market where underwriting is more complex than ever, KAST frames itself as an extension of the owner’s team. The promise isn’t just to build, but to shape program and design for return, then advocate for that intent through proactive collaboration and shared risk mitigation.

That approach depends more on culture than on charisma. KAST elevates leadership, extreme ownership, trust, and humility as operating rules: everyone is accountable, decisions are empowered, and teams move fast because departments stay aligned around one mission.

Execution becomes believable when quality is treated as a strategy. KAST leans on vertically integrated quality control, “productively paranoid” planning, and VDC-enabled coordination to prevent minor issues from becoming expensive surprises. Pair that with a safety mindset that prizes training and clean, organized sites, and the real differentiator emerges: predictability built through disciplined habits.

Repeatable outcomes come from an ownership-driven culture, integrated quality control, and proactive preconstruction.

On December 22, 2025, the Interior Department said it is pausing leases for all large-scale ocean turbine projects under construction in federal waters, citing national security risks flagged in classified reports. The pause covers five East Coast leases and points to radar clutter from blade movement and reflective towers.

For contractors, this converts a work schedule into a demobilization exercise. Marine spreads, cable crews, and port staging yards bleed cash when they idle, and restart costs surface as reinspection, retesting, and reshuffling scarce vessels.

The insight is to treat federal approvals as long-lead equipment. Write clear suspension and restart terms, protect working capital with defined standby rules, and keep key suppliers on optioned commitments, not open-ended promises. Firms that maintain parallel backlogs in ports, transmission, and coastal protection can absorb policy whiplash without burning margins.

Define suspension pay and restart rules before mobilizing major crews.

Builders in South Texas say home construction has slowed after a recent rise in federal immigration arrests. Subcontractors report thinner crews, missed start dates, and longer gaps between trades, turning routine sequencing into a stop-and-restart cycle. Even short interruptions can cascade into delayed inspections, extended equipment rentals, and higher carrying costs on homes that are otherwise ready to close.

The near-term response is operational, not political. Builders are rebalancing schedules toward fewer simultaneous trades, reserving labor earlier, and paying for reliability when it prevents rework. Some are simplifying plans and shifting to more factory-built components to reduce onsite labor hours, while tightening documentation and compliance checks with subs to avoid halting work mid-phase.

Long-term, this becomes a risk management problem. Companies that prequalify multiple crews per trade, maintain a small float team for punch work, and align procurement to realistic labor capacity avoid the worst bottlenecks. Clear buyer communication matters too, because missed milestones erode confidence faster than higher prices.

Secure redundant crews early; labor volatility breaks the critical path.

Morning, crew. Any torch, weld, cut, or grind today gets a quick fire plan first. Clear or cover combustibles, protect openings, and keep an extinguisher within reach. If the work cannot be moved to a safe spot, we set shields to contain sparks and assign a trained fire watch. Watch both sides of the walls and floors for hidden ignition. When the last spark stops, the fire watch stays and checks the area for at least 30 minutes.

Sparks and slag can travel farther than you think, dropping through cracks, floor grates, and wall penetrations. They can smolder in dust, insulation, cardboard, or trash and flare up after the crew leaves. That is why we move the task to a safe area when possible, remove or protect combustibles when we cannot, and avoid spark-producing work where flammable coatings, vapors, or heavy dust make ignition likely. Ventilation, shielding, and constant monitoring are part of the control.

We control fires by planning before the first spark. If you see combustibles, openings, or unknown materials, call a stop and fix the setup. Operators, fire watch, and helpers must communicate, keep the extinguisher within reach, and stay alert after the work ends. A small smolder can become a major incident, so we do the basics every time, and we do not take shortcuts.

Plan the task, control the spark, and finish the shift with zero fires.