Building Beyond Buildings: Don Taylor on Leadership, Legacy, and Resilient Growth in Construction
For this @SilverDisobedience Perception Dynamics podcast, host Dian Griesel interviews Don Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Welty Enterprises, about how construction shapes leadership, relationships, and purpose.
Taylor shares how he entered construction through family legacy, including his grandfather’s role in building the first nuclear power plant in Shippingport, PA, and notes a new project developing an AI data center on that cleaned-up site.
They discuss craftsmanship and why many modern U.S. buildings are designed for shorter lifespans, then covers practical fundamentals of starting projects (location, utilities, soil and bearing capacity).
Taylor highlights leadership lessons like “extreme ownership,” asking questions before reacting, breaking big problems into manageable parts, and adopting a “win or learn” mindset. He also explains Welty’s hyper-growth, learning through YPO, post-pandemic challenges (materials, logistics, labor shortages), "Lean thinking", trade careers, improved safety, and construction’s increasing use of AI, technology, and robotics.
You can learn more about Don Taylor and Welty Construction here: https://thinkwelty.com/
Here's Don's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donzell-taylor-14b26b1b/
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I’m Dian Griesel aka @SilverDisobedience to my hundreds of thousands of monthly blog readers. You can learn more about me here: https://diangriesel.com
For three decades, I’ve helped people understand what they may be missing — in themselves, in others, and in the situations they face — so they can communicate with greater clarity, make wiser decisions, and navigate both business and life more effectively.