Water treatment expertise matters most when a convincing answer conflicts with field conditions. Connor Hanrahan, Technical Director of Industrial Water Engineering and author of The Blueprint of Water, returns with Trace Blackmore, CWT, to examine how AI, technical writing, and accountability shape professional judgment.
Evaluate AI against the actual system
Connor describes a customer’s AI-generated recommendation that discussed calcium targets for a cooling tower operating on soft water. The advice did not fit the system, leaving him to explain the mismatch. Trace shares a separate formulation exercise in which a polished AI response failed his checks on ingredient compatibility and order of addition.
However, both describe useful applications: generating ideas, overcoming a blank page, and screening service reports for issues that deserve attention. Their distinction is practical: use those outputs as material to evaluate, then apply your own knowledge of the system before making recommendations.
Write to explain, and teach to understand
Technical communication requires more than correct grammar. Customers need explanations they can understand, and both speakers describe AI edits that stripped their writing of its individual voice.
Connor also explains why his book emphasizes conceptual understanding rather than instructions for every possible situation. Trace connects that challenge to setting boundaries for AWT’s Fundamentals and Applications training. He recommends preparing questions before technical training and teaching colleagues something afterward, extending the value beyond the person attending.
Give important work a next step
Ikigai gives Connor a way to connect what he enjoys, what he does well, what earns a living, and what the world needs. Memento mori adds urgency by reminding listeners that their time is limited.
Accountability turns those reflections into action. Connor describes telling people about his book; Trace’s closing recap explains how Rising Tide Mastermind members tracked his commitment to writing chapters. The emphasis stays on completing the next piece of work and asking for help when needed.
Make water savings visible
Connor describes IWE’s water-saving goal and work involving overflowing cooling towers, leaking closed loops, condensate losses, and cycles of concentration. He explains that customers verify the savings associated with projects.
Lost condensate also carries heat, connecting water losses to fuel savings. That example brings the conversation back to customer communication: explain what is happening, why it matters, and how the work addresses the customer’s actual problem.
For technical leaders, the conversation connects sound judgment with clear explanations and follow-through. Expertise becomes more useful when teams can share it and customers can see its value.
Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps
Approximate times from the start of the supplied recording, including sponsor messages.
01:50 — Trace challenges listeners to take the next learning step and consider how their work improves the industry.
08:10 — Trace explains how reviewing training slides, preparing questions, and teaching colleagues can extend the value of technical training.
14:00 — Connor explains why clear writing matters when customers need to understand complex water treatment information.
16:20 — Trace recounts an AI editing experience that changed his voice and created additional revision work.
19:20 — Connor describes incorrect AI diagnoses and the need to evaluate suggestions against actual field conditions.
24:50 — A cooling tower operating on soft water illustrates how an AI-generated recommendation can miss essential system context.
26:00 — Trace and Connor describe using AI to screen service reports and identify items for closer review.
27:00 — A formulation exercise shows why a polished response still needs checks on compatibility, actives, and order of addition.
32:40 — Connor explains how choosing what to leave out helps a technical book retain its purpose and focus.
36:30 — Connor distinguishes a conceptual model from prescriptive instructions, leaving room for system-specific experience and troubleshooting.
38:20 — Ikigai provides a framework for connecting professional strengths, personal interests, and the needs served by water treatment.
44:10 — Connor describes telling others about his book as a way to create pressure to finish it.
45:20 — IWE’s water-saving goal connects a long-term company purpose with field projects and measurable progress.
47:40 — Connor explains how lost condensate connects water savings with heat and fuel savings that customers may overlook.
50:00 — Connor reflects on learning chemistry through its applications to water, offering a lesson for technical educators.
53:20 — Trace revisits memento mori and the chapter-by-chapter accountability that helped Connor complete his book.
55:20 — Trace introduces the book’s availability and explains how he sees it supporting a water treater’s reference material.
66:00 — Trace closes with networking encouragement and identifies November 13 as the following Friday’s World Kindness Day.
Quotes
“But the ability to put complex information into an understandable format, especially for our customers that aren’t water treaters, I just think that skill is such an important one and so underappreciated.”
“If you want to use it for research, by all means do that. But your customers hire you for your knowledge, for your experience, for your expertise.”
“The last thing on the book, the other best thing that I did to make sure the book got finished is I started telling people.”
“I would like to think that my superpower is making unfun things fun.”
“Those projects get finished because we care enough about the outcome to work through all the difficult parts.”
Connect with Connor Hanrahan
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/industrial-water-engineering-inc./
Industrial & Commercial Water Treatment Systems | IWE | Industrial Water Engineering
LinkedIn: Connor Hanrahan | LinkedIn
Guest Resources Mentioned
The Blueprint of Water – website
Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
308 The 12-Week Strategy For Taking the CWT Exam
2026 Events for Water Professionals
Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we’ve listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.
This episode made possible through our valued partners at
