Leadership Questions

Brad Jurgensmeier, Maintenance Services Superintendent

2026-06-18

I had a previous discussion with Brad about his career/leadership lessons in January. I took some hand notes (i’ll add them at the bottom) but since I’m trying to hit as many leaders as I can this summer, I wanted to circle back and ask him some more questions.

Brad,

This summer, I’m trying to interview different leaders about how they think about/show leadership and what lessons I can gleam - Leader Questions — melloplatypus

I’d love to sit down with you and discuss what you’ve learned so far in your career.

I know we’ve already discussed a bunch so here’s some additional questions that should be new ground. But we can go over whatever you’d like to discus

  • What’s something you wish you knew early in your career?

  • How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Is there a favorite failure you’re willing to share?

  • What’s something that’s underestimated by others that you think is important?

  • How do you make “big decisions” in life/work? Who do you talk to, what do you weigh, how do you think about them?

-Nagle

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Original 1on1 Discussion Notes from 2026-01-07

Here’s some more of my questions. If you get any time, I’d love to know your thoughts.

  • When Ops superintendent, people are always asking for your approval on a million different things.

    • How do you ensure you get enough information to be confident in your decision?

  • When you are in a meeting or seeking input from your team, what has been the best way to get honesty/candor from your employees?

  • What has been the hardest “leadership skill” for you to develop in yourself? How did you go about it?

  • What level of the org did you feel the most power to change the “culture” in a positive way?

  • How can I make good changes at my level without upsetting the apple cart?

    • How to influence without “authority”’

  • Who do you look to as a great leader? What about them do you admire/want to imitate?

 More selfish/personal questions:

  • What do you see as my growth opportunities? What can I do to improve blind spots and move from a good engineer to great engineer?

  • How do you stay diligent with executing long term projects? This is one of my weaker skills to stay motivated and make continuous progress

My notes: