Beyond the Silicon Valley worship of disruption, engineering has a deeper, more profound purpose. Guru Madhavan, a systems engineer, invites us to rethink what courage means in the world of building and sustaining. This talk surveys the unsung heroism of maintenance engineers who strategically care for, protect, and evolve the systems that quietly underpin our civilization — and the costs of failing to recognize their importance. Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering, where he also founded the Forum on Complex Unifiable Systems (FOCUS). A systems engineer with a background in biomedical engineering and an MBA, he has advised the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the European Union Malaria Fund. His prior work in the medical device industry included contributing to the research and development of surgical catheters and neuromuscular stimulators. Dr. Madhavan is an elected fellow of multiple prestigious organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is also the author of the popular non-fiction books “Applied Minds: How Engineers Think” and "Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World." This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx