S2 Ep 1 | From Blueprints to Behaviour: The Early Foundations of TRAITS with DeWayne Fliss

How one engineer’s search for better performance revealed the early foundations of TRAITS and a new way to understand people at work.

In the Season 2 premiere of The TRAITS Podcast, host Mark Frentz sits down with DeWayne Fliss, founder of Concord Consulting and the visionary mind behind the TRAITS Assessment, to uncover the early foundations of TRAITS—and how an engineer’s fascination with systems evolved into a passion for understanding people.

Long before developing one of today’s most practical tools for leadership and hiring, DeWayne was building something entirely different: bridges, structures, and careers in engineering. But beneath the blueprints and numbers, he began noticing something data couldn’t fully explain—the people. Why did some teams excel while others, with the same technical skill, fell apart? Why did some leaders inspire performance while others created resistance?

That curiosity led DeWayne to study organizational behaviour and psychometrics, discovering how human tendencies, motivation, and self-awareness shaped outcomes far more than technical expertise. Those insights became the early foundations of TRAITS, decades before the tool itself existed.

Throughout this episode, DeWayne and Mark explore how his experiences in engineering laid the groundwork for his people-first philosophy. They discuss:

✅ The turning point that made DeWayne question whether performance is more about personality than process.
✅ Early research on why people stay—or leave—organizations.
✅ Lessons from leading teams under pressure, where success depended on communication and trust.
✅ How curiosity about people evolved into a systematic approach to leadership and performance.

Listeners will hear DeWayne describe how understanding behaviour became his blueprint for success—a way to diagnose team friction, improve leadership alignment, and drive long-term performance. His early work emphasized a timeless truth: people don’t fail because of what they can’t do, but because they’re in roles that don’t fit who they are.

By the end of this episode, it’s clear that the foundation of TRAITS was never built on technology—it was built on human insight. DeWayne’s story reminds leaders that before you can optimize performance, you must first understand people.

Show Notes:

00:00 – Welcome to Season 2 of The TRAITS Podcast
02:15 – DeWayne’s engineering background and the curiosity that changed everything
08:30 – The first sparks: lessons from leadership, teams, and behaviour
14:00 – Why organizational success depends on human fit
22:10 – How early research became the groundwork for TRAITS
32:45 – The shift from process-driven management to people-driven leadership
42:20 – Reflection: what self-awareness means for leaders today

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