Greatness Podcast

Construction industry icon and good friend Jan Tuchman, Editor in Chief of ENR Enterprises. joined the Greatness podcast to discuss her perspective on today's top industry topics, including technology, transformative change and diversity. We also had a chance to discuss our passion for Bridges to Prosperity as I pass the baton September 1 to Jan as the next Chairperson of the Board. 

How do you find your dream job? How do you ensure that your personal brand aligns with your aspirations? What does it take to live to your full potential? These are some of the important questions that Sarah Makris, personal branding expert and coach, discussed during a visit to the Greatness podcast. Sarah's advice really resonated with me, and gave me an opportunity to reflect back upon my own personal career choices and changes.

Every once in a while we stumble across someone whose ideas are so compelling you simply must spend time with them. Dr. Alyssa Westring, co-author of Parents Who Lead is that person for me. She has studied the challenge of working parents for decades, but with a unique spin of applying leadership strategies to parenting. An example - in my book 8 Steps to Being a Great Working Mom, I talk about how we set unbelievably high expectations for ourselves as parents. Alyssa's thoughts on this - borrow from entrepreneurism and think "what's the minimal viable product" - genius. She and I also agree on the need to be vulnerable as both a leader and a parent. 

Every once in a while you meet someone that is such a tremendous leader, so incredibly gifted and respected that you really sit up and take notice. That was the case when I met Gabrielle Trainor, Chair of the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce among many additional positions of leadership. Gabrielle joined the Greatness podcast to discuss the critical work of the Taskforce in reshaping the construction industry here in Australia to improve the wellbeing of our employees. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to serve on this taskforce with Gabrielle. I share her passion for the need for changes in our industry, globally, to make this industry even better than it is today.

I was listening to the radio here in Australia just after the last US presidential election, and the radio announcer asked "How do 70 million Americans think four more years of Trump is a good idea?". Regardless of your political viewpoint, Zoe Daniels' new book, Greetings from Trumpland: How an Unprecedented Presidency Changed Everything, gives incredible insight into answering this question given her time living in the US and covering the prior election and three years of the Trump administration for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Zoe visited the Greatness podcast to share some of the highlights of what is a wonderful read. Her years of experience in Africa, Asia, Australia and the US traveling to remote locations and telling the stories of people's challenges give Zoe a unique perspective. While I work hard not to stray into politics, I felt her message should be heard. The inability to have civil discourse is not just a US challenge, it is a global challenge. 

How does a US general contractor achieve 35 female craft workers on their 140-person project team? Maja Rosenquist, Sr. VP with Mortenson, joined the Greatness podcast to talk about her company's "intentional strategy" to embrace diversity and inclusion in the construction industry and the successes they are experiencing as a result. I admire Maja as an incredible leader in our industry, and she discussed her vision of authentic leadership, grounded in "do the right thing".

I've loved spending most of my career in the engineer/construction/energy industry, and I had the good fortune of passing the Presidency of Continuum Advisory Group on to Kelcey Henderson, another woman in our industry that I greatly admire. Kelcey and I connected on the Greatness Podcast to reflect on the history of women in the industry, discuss where we are today (about 10% of the industry globally), and explore the bold moves being taken across the globe to attract more women to the industry.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of moving to Australia has been the exciting journey of meeting fabulous people who share my passion for making the world a better place. Karen Gately, Founder of Corporate Dojo and acclaimed author, shares that passion. Karen draws upon her marshal arts experience to help leaders on their journey of self-mastery and personal accountability. Karen joined the Greatness podcast to share insightful, practical tips for how leaders use the "mirror of truth" and personal courage to empower the human spirit of their follows. The results - outstanding business success.

For 35 years I've been a pioneering woman in manufacturing and construction, starting in 1986 as the first female operations manager in the US for Ralston Purina and later as one of the first female shareholders/managing directors for FMI. It's time for us to fix the diversity issue in construction, and I applaud NAWIC Australia - the National Association of Women in Construction - for their work in progressing their vision, "an equitable construction industry where women fully participate". The Chair of the Board, Kristine Scheul, joined the Greatness podcast to talk about the innovative strategies they are implementing to make this vision a reality. 

Creating transformational change in an industry is a massive undertaking, and I applaud the Construction Industry Institute, CII, and its leader, Stephen Mulva, for the role they have played in driving change in capital program delivery. We are the industry that "builds the world" but research shows that 41% of the cost of any construction project is waste. I had the great pleasure of working with Stephen back in 2017 to help create a Manifest for Change for the industry which provides the overarching vision for OS2, a research initiative to drive sweeping change.