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 Grant Blunt, vice president of construction for LGE Design Build.

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Highlights of Grant Blunt interview

Blunt brings more than a decade of experience in creative problem-solving, innovative thinking and a thoughtful approach to client relationships. Blunt’s dedication to collaboration and communication make him an exemplary leader for LGE Design Build.

IMPACT OF SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES: “It’s very difficult and it changes daily. Things that used to not be a consideration as a long lead item are now, and it changes regularly. We’re doing everything we can and we’re having to be creative. We’ve got storage yards that we’ve sourced ourselves. We’re working with our suppliers to house materials that come in. A lot of people are on allocations from their manufacturers, so we have to be ahead of it and bring in maybe three or four subcontractors on a project to be able to actually source enough materials. But there are a lot of good conversations and a lot of openness in the industry right now to work through these things, which has been fantastic.”

DIFFERENTIATOR FOR LGE: “Our process is a big part. Being design-build has allowed us to engage with the client and designers from Day 1. So we can help guide what materials we want to select, which are available, or maybe which we order earlier. So we have a great advantage over someone that’s coming in and just bidding a project off the street. We can start sourcing joists, which are a huge issue right now, much earlier on. We can help our design team design toward what’s available. So that alone has set us completely apart and helped us be successful during this time.”

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: “If you look at the data that’s out there, it looks like the positive trajectory of the construction industry in Arizona is absolutely continuing. We’ve been fortunate in that the sectors in which we build have continued to grow. There were some sectors — like office and retail— that were impacted pretty hard by the pandemic, but indicators are showing 2022 will rebound a bit for those sectors. At LGE, we are looking at 2021 as one of our best years ever, and 2022 is going to far exceed that. I don’t see an end in sight as far as I can project out for our current pipeline. So we’re a good couple years into construction on our side.”