As the promise of 2022 looms on the horizon, most people are anxious to close the books on what is likely the most unsettling year — from the pandemic to politics to supply chain shortages — we will ever experience. Strong leadership has never been more essential than it is today. To share their best leadership practices, Az Business magazine sat down with Arizona business leaders to watch in 2022, including Grenee Martacho, CEO of Concord General Contracting.
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Highlights of Grenee Martacho interview
LEADERSHIP STRENGTHS: “For me, personally, it’s connecting with our people. I have a marketing background. I don’t necessarily come from the technical construction world, and we connect with our people in a different way. For me, what’s most important is really connecting with our people and having a vision for the company, too. When I took over as CEO last year, one of the main reasons I got into that position was because I had a vision for the company that was beyond the technical vision. For me, it’s getting people on board, seeing how they make a difference in the company, and how they push it forward every day.”
INDUSTRY CHALLENGES: “More than ever, it’s super important to work closely with your owners, with your architects, and with your contractors to understand that we can’t build as fast as we could. Yes, obviously, workforce is a huge impact, but just getting the materials on our sites right now is the biggest impact. Even if we did have the workforce, we can’t get the materials. It’s an education piece where a lot of people don’t understand. It’s just educating them that we can’t build as fast as we used to because of everything that we’re up against. I always say, ‘Get us on early, get the contractor on early, get that architect on early, and get the owner on early and work together.’ That’s what’s going to make a successful project at this point.”
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: “Commercial construction follows the rooftops and you see new rooftops going up everywhere. For the state of our industry, it’s going to be phenomenal. The biggest hurdle that we’re up against is material shortages, which I think will work themselves out over time. But right now, it’s getting people into the trades, getting people into construction. You have a lot of people that are retiring from construction and we don’t have people coming into the industry to take their place. For us at Concord, one of our biggest focuses is how do we raise awareness out there that there are great careers in construction and that people can make a great living in construction? For the outlook of our industry, I think we all need to get together and figure out how we are going to push the trades. How are we going to get more people to come into our industry?”
