Moneyball for Construction: Why Projects Don’t Go Wrong — They Start Wrong

In Moneyball, Billy Beane proved that winning wasn’t about working harder or trusting tradition; it was about redesigning the system that defined success. Construction faces the same challenge. Drawing on lessons from Moneyball, decades of field experience, and research by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, Rex Miller makes the case that most projects don’t fail in the field; they fail at the starting line. Long before the first shovel hits the ground, teams lock in assumptions, incentives, and behaviors that quietly guarantee friction, rework, and distrust. This session challenges contractors and trade partners to rethink “the way we’ve always done it” and shows how Lean principles, trust-based delivery, and better early conversations can radically improve flow, coordination, and outcomes. If you’ve ever felt trapped in a system that makes good people look bad, this keynote will give you a new lens and practical tools to change the game.

  Speaker:

 

Rex Miller is a pioneer in Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and trust-based project delivery, with more than four decades of experience working alongside contractors, designers, owners, and trade partners on complex capital projects. He began his career in 1978 as a construction project manager and facility manager and has spent his career helping teams reduce friction, improve flow, and prevent the people-related breakdowns that derail even well-planned jobs. Rex is the author of seven books, including The Commercial Real Estate Revolution, that helped catalyze the early IPD and Lean Construction movement and earned the CoreNet Global Innovator of the Year Award. Today, he works with integrated teams on large healthcare, infrastructure, and commercial projects, bringing a practical, field-tested approach to trust, alignment, and performance through his Genius Spark framework, which taps into individuals' and teams' hidden potential.

 

Parking available onsite.

Light refreshments will be provided.

This event is sponsored by:   

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When
3/18/2026 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Central Daylight Time
Where
Texo, The Construction Association 11101 N Stemmons Fwy Dallas, TX 75229 UNITED STATES
Spots available
Registration
Registration is closed.

Speakers
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