My first toy was a hammer. That's only barely a joke. My dad built and remodeled custom homes, and I grew up on his job sites watching a perfectionist work. I still look at a house the way he taught me to, which means I notice whether the doors close square, whether that nice addition off the back ever saw a permit, and whether there's a gorgeous new kitchen sitting in front of a 1962 electrical panel.

That's not a party trick. It's the reason I...