Ep 97 The Stubborn Bull: Robin Power on Why Changing Engineering Could Change Everything
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Show Notes
Seventy percent. That's the share of Australia's emissions associated with the infrastructure we build and operate — roads, railways, airports, tunnels. And the profession best placed to move that number? Civil engineering. Which also happens to be one of the most conservative industries on the planet.
Robin Power is the Chief Executive of Insitutek and the founding Chair of Ground Level Alliance — a volunteer-powered non-profit with a single ambition: to make sustainability a daily practice for the people who design and build our world.
He's not a civil engineer by training. He's a manufacturing engineer — which means he sees the industry through a people-and-process lens that most in the sector don't have. And it was that outsider's perspective, combined with a painful experience of losing everything in a failed property venture, that set him on the path to purpose.
In this conversation, Robin and Carolyn explore what it really means to use business as a force for good — and what it costs to choose to be a change agent in an industry that doesn't always want to change.
THEMES EXPLORED- Business as a relationship — and what it means to show up for clients when they're "up against the wall"
- The painful moment that reframed everything: losing a property business and what emerged from that period of deep reflection
- Why 70% of Australia's emissions connect back to civil engineering — and why the profession has more power than it realises
- The London Underground case study: how looking through a carbon lens changed what was possible
- Ground Level Alliance: building a movement of change with volunteer power and a vision of industry-wide transformation
- The first follower principle — why change agents need their people, not just their conviction
- Legacy thinking at 50: what it means to be in your "legacy phase" before you're anywhere near retirement
- B Corp certification in civil engineering — why most clients don't care, and why Robin does it anyway
- The Melbourne Business School partnership and what a sustainability course built into "flow of work" could unlock
Chief Executive, Insitutek, and Chair, Ground Level Alliance
Robin Power has spent his career pushing boundaries – and encouraging others to do the same. A strategist, educator, and advocate, he brings fresh thinking to civil construction challenges, combining practical experience, theoretical knowledge, and business acumen blended with his manufacturing engineer background.
For over 15 years, Robin has partnered with consultants, asset owners, government agencies, contractors, and researchers across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific to implement modern in situ testing and ground improvement methods that boost construction productivity, reduce costs, improve quality, minimise risk, and lower environmental impact.
Robin also champions sustainability as founding chair of Ground Level Alliance.
LINKS & RESOURCES Insitutek Ground Level Alliance
Click the 'Get Involved' tab to explore how to contribute — from sharing case studies to joining the community.
Connect with Robin Mentioned in This Episode- B Corp Movement
- Ground Level Alliance Sustainability in Civil Construction Course (in development, in partnership with Melbourne Business School)
- Derek Sivers: First Follower — Leadership Lessons from a Dancing Guy (YouTube)
- Intrepid Travel — intrepidtravel.com
ABOUT FOR LOVE & MONEY
For Love & Money is the podcast for leaders who believe that profit and purpose belong together. Each episode, host Carolyn Butler-Madden explores the intersection of business performance, human-centred leadership, and meaningful change — through stories of the people who are doing it.
Hosted by Carolyn Butler-Madden, founder of The Cause Effect.
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WORK WITH CAROLYN
If this conversation sparked something for you, Carolyn works with leaders and organisations who want to put purpose at the centre of their business.