Inefficiency.

It’s a word that can lead a person down a rabbit hole, personally and professionally. If you self-evaluate, wipe the condensation off the mirror and take a real hard look at what you see, all the spaces in your life past and present, and what that can mean for your future, it can be a scary thing.

Take that evaluation to your workplace. Where are the potholes in the road, where money falls and settles into the wrong places, where work is delayed or information isn’t used properly. Inefficiency may not kill a business, at least in the short term, but it can severely hinder it and slow its progress.

Chad Knutson isn’t really comfortable with either type of wastefulness.

At least not anymore.

He grew up middle class in Wauwatosa and attended Wauwatosa West. He played football, and skated by – "just kind of good enough, smart enough." He went to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, settled on getting a psychology degree, but admits his focus wasn't on school or a career.

Then, as he was about to graduate in 1999, he self-assessed. He had regret. What if he tried harder? What he if applied himself? He read Mark Bowden’s "Black Hawk Down." He wondered if he could ever be that type of person. Could he fill his gaps?

He came to a realization. Those self-induced inefficiencies had led to a mediocre life. He saw where that was going.

So he enlisted in the Army.

He opted against going right into the officer track. No, that wouldn’t do it. He knew if he had a way out, he would take it. He needed the structure, the pressure. It had to be special operations, too. The Rangers. Airborne school. Hell week. All of it.

The plan was to go through it all, do his time, and then take the path toward being an officer. He wanted to be a better leader, to understand what that meant.

Despite all that, though, it was still sort of a fantasy-land. The boyhood dream, he called it, of crawling in the mud as an Army guy.

"Then, two weeks after I got to Ranger battalion, that’s when September 11th happened," he said, his eyes glancing out the window of a softly lit conference room in Walkers Point.

"So instead of playing badass boy scout for four years, I was like, oh, shit."

Knutson did five combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next four years. It was more than enough.

"Those all kind of sucked," he said.

He came home, but he wasn’t … out.

Everything had changed. There would be no officer track now. But, he had begun to fill in the gaps, at least personally.

"Really, that kind of did – one put the taste of success in my mouth," Knutson said. "Just because I had to push myself for the first time and really challenge myself. I really kind of liked that feeling, challenging myself. And also, then, everything they say about the military making a man out of you type of thing, totally made me grow up and mature and everything like that."

Knutson met and served with people who couldn’t go to college after high school like he did, who had nothing before they enlisted, and had nothing waiting for them. It was the ultimate melting pot, with the heat turned up to hellish levels.

"It was very emotionally educational as well," Knutson admits. "I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone or I would not want to do it all over again. But, I would not go back and do it differently."

But Knutson wasn’t quite full, completely rounded out. What was he going to do, now that his initial plan of becoming an officer was wiped away? He didn’t know.

"I pretty much got out when I could and them moved back and that’s when I went back and was like, oh, great, I have a degree in psychology and I’m good at shooting things," he said.

He settled on construction, largely because he had heard it required quick thinking, problem solving and had a chain of command. He worked his way up from sweeping floors to carpentry, and realized a psych degree wasn’t going to help him get into management, so he began work on his second undergraduate degree at UW-Platteville for construction management.

An job at CG Schmidt introduced him to the newer, software-based elements of the business. That led to him seeking out a Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

All of this converged for Knutson in Madison. New software was being introduced to the marketplace, and he was put on a construction project on campus. He saw up close how this technology was being used, properly and improperly, resulting in the wasting of dollars and time.

That also coincided with the start of a state program that helped disabled veterans start their own businesses.

"So, there was kind of a convergence of me getting my MBA in Madison and seeing a market opportunity where I could provide services to small and medium sized construction companies so they could compete with larger construction companies using this technology," Knutson said. "All three of those kind of made me take the leap into starting my own thing."

In February 2011, ScopeBridge, LLC was born.

"That’s kind of where the name of the company came from, to bridge all the different scopes that people were kind of taking advantage of the software and kind of focus more on the owner," Knutson said.

Knutson said he had to essentially work for free for a while, to prove that his ideas about using new software and business models could, indeed, solve those market inefficiencies in the marketplace, and make money for all involved.

But, ScopeBridge is far more than just that. It’s a way for Knutson to continue to fill the gaps, professionally and personally.

"He served our country in such an intense manner for many years of his life and that service
certainly came with a price," said Peter Schneider, an architect and partner at ScopeBridge. "War has taken things from Chad's life that he can never get back. His ambition to continue to be a positive force in this world, in light of the costs he has paid and the things he has seen, is remarkable to me. He certainly could have taken an easier path once leaving the Army. He chose not to."

Knutson once again looks out the window of the conference room, grey skies hovering over the snowy streets.

"I qualify as a disabled vet for trauma – or kind of getting blown up too much – and then two, is, it’s a different form of PTSD," he said, the corners of his mouth rising and falling quickly as he speaks.

"It’s more of a, they call it a moral injury. So, I mean, there are things that my fundamental belief system I had to go kind of against over there. It was kind of … that’s the stuff that my nightmares are made of. And uh, I mean … I’m not very proud of some of the stuff that happened, but I can see where like it was necessary for the mission and to kind of go after intelligence and try to unravel the bigger picture of things. But, yeah, I mean … yeah."

His eyes settle.

Knutson says he has been able to succeed after his time in the Army by taking advantage of the services offered because of his service. The GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill allowed him to get back into school. His disabilities allowed him the opportunity to start a business. His history has allowed ScopeBridge to qualify for work through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, such as helping construct a large VA facility in Texas.

So, he makes it a point to seek out employees who are veterans. He’s working to help promote the Fisher House Wisconsin, which will act as a home for veterans and their families while receiving treatment at the Milwaukee VA.

"I felt kind of guilty once I started my own business, kind of like I'm getting a leg up so I feel I should try and help as many people in my situation as I can," Knutson said. "I don’t want to just take advantage of the system."

"Despite seeing the worst this world has to offer, he continues to strive to do things the right way and be a positive force," added Schneider, who is not a veteran. "He not only wants ScopeBridge to be the best at what it does, but he also wants to continue to help his fellow veterans in the process. He has made a commitment to hiring and mentoring fellow veterans at ScopeBridge. Fifty percent of his hires to date have been veterans, which requires a lot of additional effort in the architecture and construction professional services industry."

But this isn’t just a feel-good operation. ScopeBridge is growing. In four short years it has expanded beyond what even Knutson could’ve imagined, starting from a local renovation project to national VA contracts to assisting on the Northwestern Mutual project.

ScopeBridge is also the in-house architect for the Daniel Burnham-designed building at 735 N. Water St., more commonly known as CityCenter. The building also houses OnMilwaukee.com.

"We’re kind of helping them with all their build outs, which is pretty cool (because) it’s a very architecturally significant building in Milwaukee," Knutson said.

Knutson smiles. Well, at least it looks like a smile. More of a grin, maybe. It’s not all serious business, this correcting of inefficiencies. He possesses a dry humor -- you’ll miss it if you’re not paying attention.

But, it’s part of what makes ScopeBridge a family, even for those who do not have a military background. It’s a professional setting, but light. The offices are small, and shared. People work close together, and are allowed to spread their wings.

"It’s a place where we laugh a lot, execute everything to the best of our abilities, and strive for continuous improvement," Schneider said. "I believe that atmosphere to be a direct reflection of our founder and the people he has decided to be his teammates in this next mission in life."

As for that plan? It may change, as Knutson has experienced so often. But in his now nearly two-decade old quest to fill the gaps, to smooth out the inefficiencies, he’s found that it's happening in ways he never thought possible.

"It’s completely different than what I even would have imagined – the furthest place than I thought I would be if you would’ve asked me four years ago," Knutson said. "So I have no idea even where (we’re going). It’s definitely a wild ride. I don't know. I’m not really looking to – I’m not looking at the end goal, I’m looking just to enjoy the ride.

"It probably sounds a little goody two shoes, but I just want to do as much as I can on that journey. A lot of people I’ve hired, they’re kind of like my family now, and seeing them grow and encourage them to branch off into other endeavors is almost as great as getting a big contract. Seeing people grow and flourish, it sounds cheesy, but being able to have that kind of impact on a person’s life is pretty cool."