Leadership Recap with Brindley Engineering’s Gourav Patodi, PE, on attending the 2025 Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) conference in Pittsburgh, PA.
We recently conducted a Q&A with Associate Structural Engineer and Team Lead for Brindley Engineering, Gourav Patodi, PE, one of seven young members selected by The American Concrete Institute (ACI) to attend the Emerging Leaders Alliance conference as representatives of ACI. The Emerging Leaders Alliance (ELA) is a partnership among leading engineering- and science-based organizations that provides high quality leadership training. The ELA hosts an interdisciplinary Leadership Conference for young professionals, providing advanced leadership training in topics such as management, personal branding, social styles, problem solving, presentation skills, and global diversity. Selected applicants will have been in the concrete or construction related industry for less than 8 years.
We followed up with Gourav to find out more about the conference and to learn about some of his key takeaways.
Q: How was the 2025 Emerging Leaders Conference?
Gourav: It was energizing — three packed days of learning, reflection, and networking. Pittsburgh’s skyline, The Duquesne Incline and rivers weren’t a bad backdrop either!
Q: What are your top 3 takeaways?
Gourav:
- Leadership is less about titles and more about influence.
- Feedback works better when it’s a conversation, not a monologue.
- Stress management is a skill, and it matters as much as technical know-how.
Q: How will you apply your learnings to your role at Brindley Engineering?
Gourav: By listening more intentionally, coaching rather than just answering, and remembering that every technical project is also a people project.
Q: You talked about Brindley Engineering’s core values in our pre-event discussion. Can you elaborate on how you put those into practice in your role?
Gourav: For me, BE Creative is about simplifying the complex challenges we face in the field. BE Meticulous is sweating the details so we don’t miss what matters. BE Reliable is always having our clients’ and teammates’ backs and BE Together focuses on spending time with our team, clients and family.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to share with us about your experience?
Gourav: I’m grateful to ACI and to Brindley Engineering for the opportunity. The conference reinforced that leadership starts with technical excellence but grows through people skills. Also, Pittsburgh is full of fun stats. Pittsburgh has more bridges than Venice, and the city has roughly 700–800 public stairways. If you stacked them end to end, they’d climb about 24,000 feet, nearly the same as Mount Everest (29,032 feet).
The Emerging Leaders Alliance seeks to foster leadership in the engineering and scientific community. According to ELA, leadership is the art, science and craft of influencing people to accomplish tasks and improve organizations. That leadership starts with technical excellence, which is promoted by the engineering founder societies.
About ELA
The Emerging Leaders Alliance was formed in 2008 as a cooperative project of the Founder Societies. In addition to technical competency, today’s engineering leaders need broad skills to meet the real problems facing mankind, including energy, sustainability and health care.
About ACI
The American Concrete Institute (ACI) is a leading authority and resource worldwide for the development, distribution and adoption of consensus-based standards, technical resources, educational programs, and proven expertise for individuals and organizations involved in concrete design, construction, and materials, who share a commitment to pursuing the best use of concrete.
- Learn More about ACI
- Learn More About ELA and ELA Support
- Check out some of Gourav’s work at Brindley Engineering.
- Get in Touch with Brindley Engineering Today!
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