Choosing Courage When Certainty Is Gone with Ernesto Aguilar
Tue Jan 20 2026
What happens when playing it safe starts costing more than taking the risk?
Ernesto Aguilar has spent more than three decades leading through complexity—scaling firms, integrating acquisitions, and making decisions where certainty was never guaranteed. In this conversation, Ernesto reflects on the moments when caution felt responsible—but courage turned out to be essential.
We talk about fear not as something to eliminate, but as something to work with. Ernesto shares how experience, loss, and long-term perspective reshaped the way he approaches leadership, growth, and responsibility—not just to the business, but to the people inside it.
This episode explores why meaningful progress often requires discomfort, how regret quietly accumulates when leaders delay hard choices, and why courage becomes clearer with time—even if it never gets easier.
Ernesto spoke about leading without false confidence, building an employee-centric culture in a fast-growing organization, and why integration—not expansion alone—is the real work of growth.
About the guest
Ernesto Aguilar is the CEO of Ardurra Group, Inc., a national architectural and engineering consulting firm. A seasoned Professional Engineer with over 30 years of experience, Ernesto brings deep expertise across operations, business development, project delivery, and M&A integration within the AE industry. As CEO, he leads Ardurra’s organic and acquisitive growth strategy with a sharp focus on culture, quality, and long-term value creation—drawing from his experience leading private, public, and private equity-backed organizations.
About the Host
Dave Osh is the founder of Varlinx and a transformation catalyst dedicated to evolving leadership potential and creating a ripple effect of unity in our divided world. His conversations surface practical, human strategies leaders can use tomorrow. Dave is the author of The CEO Potential: Transcend Self, Team and Organization for Lasting Success in the New Age of AI, and is known for his TED talk, Overcoming Bias to Unite Our Divided World.
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What happens when playing it safe starts costing more than taking the risk? Ernesto Aguilar has spent more than three decades leading through complexity—scaling firms, integrating acquisitions, and making decisions where certainty was never guaranteed. In this conversation, Ernesto reflects on the moments when caution felt responsible—but courage turned out to be essential. We talk about fear not as something to eliminate, but as something to work with. Ernesto shares how experience, loss, and long-term perspective reshaped the way he approaches leadership, growth, and responsibility—not just to the business, but to the people inside it. This episode explores why meaningful progress often requires discomfort, how regret quietly accumulates when leaders delay hard choices, and why courage becomes clearer with time—even if it never gets easier. Ernesto spoke about leading without false confidence, building an employee-centric culture in a fast-growing organization, and why integration—not expansion alone—is the real work of growth. About the guest Ernesto Aguilar is the CEO of Ardurra Group, Inc., a national architectural and engineering consulting firm. A seasoned Professional Engineer with over 30 years of experience, Ernesto brings deep expertise across operations, business development, project delivery, and M&A integration within the AE industry. As CEO, he leads Ardurra’s organic and acquisitive growth strategy with a sharp focus on culture, quality, and long-term value creation—drawing from his experience leading private, public, and private equity-backed organizations. About the Host Dave Osh is the founder of Varlinx and a transformation catalyst dedicated to evolving leadership potential and creating a ripple effect of unity in our divided world. His conversations surface practical, human strategies leaders can use tomorrow. Dave is the author of The CEO Potential: Transcend Self, Team and Organization for Lasting Success in the New Age of AI, and is known for his TED talk, Overcoming Bias to Unite Our Divided World.