IAM2495 – Senior Vice-President Helps Clients in Driving Innovation in High-Performance Buildings and Sustainable Design

Susan Heinking is the Senior Vice President of High Performance and Sustainable Construction at Pepper Construction Group, one of the largest contractors in the Midwest and a national leader in sustainable building practices.

Susan explains how she helps bridge the gap between design intent and construction execution, making sure sustainable choices, such as energy-efficient systems and healthier building materials, are both practical and aligned with the client’s goals.

She emphasizes the importance of collaboration, noting that successful building projects require constant communication among architects, contractors, and tradespeople, as well as shared responsibility for long-term outcomes.

Moreover, her approach blends thoughtful preparation with flexibility, always focused on building a better, more sustainable future.

Website: Pepper Construction
LinkedIn: Susan Heinking

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Transcription:

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Susan Heinking Teaser 00:00 

Figure out what's the vision, what's the goals of the client, what's the concept of what this building is going to represent? Is it an individual? Is it a company? Is it a brand?

Who is the audience that the building is going to be serving? And then how can we do that in a more sustainable way?

Like, whether it be, are we introducing more daylight? Are we looking at energy efficiency in our mechanical systems?

Are we trying to save water? So kind of what is important to the client? What is important to the community that that building is going to be set in.

Intro 00:33

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 01:00

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have an awesome guest on the show today. I have Susan Heinking. Susan, excited to have you on the show.

Susan Heinking 01:07

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:09

Yes, I'm super excited to have you on as well too. Susan is doing so many awesome things that I can't wait to kind of dive into a phenomenal conversation.

But of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Susan so you can hear about some of those awesome things.

And Susan is the Senior VP of High Performance and Sustainable Construction at Pepper Construction Group, a general contractor and construction management firm ranked as the sixth largest contractor in the Midwest and 64th largest in the United States.

They've been in business for almost 100 years, serving clients nationwide in a broad range of market sectors, including healthcare, higher education, mission-critical, K through 12 manufacturing, science plus technology, workplace, government, and even hospitality.

In fiscal year 23, the company put in place more than 1.8 billion in construction projects.

And one of the really cool things I learned about Susan before I was preparing for this interview is that she says her passion lies in creating high-performing buildings and positively impacting people's lives in the built world.

And her work enables her to put design into action. And one of the really cool things I was listening to her hearing her story about how she got started, it was a teacher that said she was great at creating space that I think put her on the path towards all the awesome things that she's doing now.

So Susan, excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Susan Heinking 02:26

I am. Let's do this.

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Gresham Harkless 02:28

Let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, I know I touched on it a little bit.

Let's rewind the clock here a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your story.

Susan Heinking 02:35

Sure. So I really did start back in college. So even though I am working for a general construction firm, I'm a licensed architect.

So my story really actually started on the architecture side of things. And so just creating space for people to gather, live, work, learn, and play is my passion.

I love creating buildings for people that inspire. But one really cool thing is that, what I learned in one of my architectural studios is that you could actually create and design buildings that not only inspire people, but also have a positive impact on the environment.

So that's where the kind of sustainability shift came in for me. And I decided that that's what I wanted my career to focus on creating healthy buildings, for people that occupy them, but also respect Mother Earth and her resources as well.

Gresham Harkless 03:39

Yeah, I absolutely love that. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more here, a little bit more on how you're working with how you're serving clients.

Could you take us through a little bit more of what that looks like, what that process is so you're able to make that impact?

Susan Heinking 03:51

Sure. So when I was on the architecture side of things, I would go in and be with the design team and figure out what's the vision?

What's the goals of the client? What's the concept of what this building is going to represent?

Is it an individual? Is it a company? Is it a brand? Who is the audience that the building is going to be serving?

And then how can we do that in a more sustainable way? Like, whether it be, are we introducing more day-lighting?

Are we looking at energy efficiency in our mechanical systems? Are we trying to save water?

So what is important to the client? What is important to the community that the building is going to be set in?

And so that was my job to kind of marry those things and make sure that it actually goes into that building telling its story for that owner.

Now on the construction side, I don't get to do design work anymore. That's not my job, but my job is kind of bridging that gap between the design intent and figuring out how we can build better, how we can build healthier, looking at different types of products.

Where do they come from? What are they made of? Are there healthier alternatives to that flooring or that drywall?

But then also, if there is a sustainability goal that the client wants to achieve or the design team feels is important, it is my job to work on the construction side to figure out, okay, how much is that gonna cost?

What's the longevity of that mechanical system or that building wall system?

What's that return on investment? So that we are breaking down those decisions for those clients to make very informed decision-making opportunities.

So that they can feel very secure in kind of what they're purchasing and the decisions that they're making for this building.

Because if you think about it, we're now getting asked to build buildings that are gonna be around for a hundred years or more.

And so these buildings that we design and that we build are gonna be here longer than we're gonna be around.

So we wanna make sure that we're making the right decisions today because that is going to impact tomorrow and years to come.

Gresham Harkless 06:20

Yeah, that's such a huge thing to really kind of, again, go back to that word responsibility and understand the gravity of everything that you're doing.

But I love how you bring together that the kind of the construction and the design.

And again, not that either or, but both and better because I don't, I was listening or I was watching something, I think it was like a webinar or something years ago where.

It was talking around sometimes design gets stuck in siloed in this section, like, okay, let's do whatever we need to build and then let's do the design or let's design it and then let's build it.

But it's rare, I feel like, and I don't know, you probably know better, where those two things are not either or. They're very simultaneously kind of orchestrated.

So to understand that and take those two things in account, I think it helps out so that 100 years from now, we do have more sustainable, better, and more impactful buildings that are being built, it sounds.

Susan Heinking 07:11 

Order to make a building successful, a lot of communication has to happen down that line.

And so that's where a lot of data comes into play to make sure that we have the right data and that everything is kind of broken down.

So everybody's on the same page. Everybody's communicating in the same way the client's getting what they get or what they want. And so that's just to come up with a budget.

Now, once the design team, the owner and the contractor are all on the same page of this is what the building is going to be, here's what it's going to cost, that contractor then has to communicate that to all of the trades that actually make up the actual reality of that building getting built.

And so you can like, you look at this marvelous building and there could be anywhere from like 200 people involved to like 300 people involved and it takes months to build.

And so you're almost like every building that's getting built is its own little ecosystem of a company with looking at budgeting, revenue, communication, Right.

And so and just collaborative working space. And a lot when you look at a job site, which is just a phenomenal thing to observe, is that these trades come together.

They don't work with the same people every day. Each day is different.

And they've got to learn how to work within their own boundaries, within their own trades and communicate with each other to get the building up, but then also build in a very safe environment.

And so construction and architecture, it can't be siloed. It has to be one big community, one big collaborative space that people feel safe and that they can communicate with each other.

Gresham Harkless 09:02

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you so much in breaking that down.

So I wonder if that's part of what you feel like for you and in the organization, a combination of both is part of that secret sauce that sets you apart and makes you unique.

Susan Heinking 09:14

I think, I think so. I think everybody has their own leadership style. I don't think there's like a one-size-fits-all, you're a great leader, go forth. Right.

And I think that we recently did the Gallup StrengthsFinder. And that was my first time doing it.

And I found it really interesting, like, One, it just nails you, right? You're like, yep, that's me.

But then when you go and we met as a group and we talked about our different strengths and how those strengths actually support others.

What it did for me personally was I now know a different way to how to talk to somebody what they're going to respond to, what they're not, what they're comfortable with, what they're not comfortable with.

And I think that's just helping the organization even more, because we're able to be a lot more efficient with meetings, or with how we're communicating with each other, how we're going to tackle big projects, since doing that exercise.<

So I would I would really recommend it. It's been helpful for me.

Gresham Harkless 10:24

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack.

So you might have already touched on this, but it could be like an Apple book or even a habit that you have. What's something you lean on that makes you more effective and efficient?

Susan Heinking 10:41

I read a lot. I read a lot of leadership books. I read a lot of like, if there's a topic that we want to dive into to explore for the industry.

I read all about that topic from different avenues so that I can understand it better.

And so that way, when I'm talking to teams, I can kind of explain what we're trying to achieve, why it's important, kind of the science behind it. So reading, I guess, would be my CEO hack.

Gresham Harkless 11:10

Nice. I love that. You might've already touched on this as well, too. This is a little bit more of what I like to call CEO nuggets. So this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice.

Susan Heinking 11:18

I like to say it might be something if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Well, one thing I always say and my team can attest is that I say, over-prepare and then go with the flow.

And so that's kind of been my little nugget of wisdom throughout my career. It's actually served me really well.

I'm able to be confident and what I'm bringing to the table, but I'm not at the table to take it over. I'm at the table to collaborate and just share my own knowledge.

And depending on where the conversation is going, is going to determine like what is applicable for what I'm going to share and how I can kind of bounce in and bounce out of the conversation.

So, you think maybe a meeting is about topic A, but then it turns into topic B.

You don't want to just go in and try to take over with topic A because that's all you prepared for.

That's all you're ready for. You really need to understand that flexibility and that pivot.

I think I learned that from architecture because meeting with clients, trying to understand what they want to build, even if they don't know what they want to build.

The conversation can really pivot to different things of the real ones, like the subconscious ones of to be included into that out.

And so if you don't like those little things and they're important to kind of discover.

Gresham Harkless 13:01

Yeah, it's such a huge thing though. Now I wanted to ask you one of my absolute favorite questions, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.

And our goals have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Susan, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Susan Heinking 13:12

I think being a CEO is almost being like a team captain or a team coach. Maybe more of a coach than a captain because you're trying to teach your team, right?

The different positions on the field, how to communicate with one another, how to go and win the game or win projects, but you're not actually out there on the field playing the game, right? You've already played the game.

You've kind of gone through your career and you're doing stage and you're really just passing on knowledge to the next team coming up.

So just really just being a really good coach is what a CEO is to me.

Gresham Harkless 13:57

Yeah, I absolutely love that. And a lot of times you find that some of the best coaches have had some doing, as we talked about before.

But they let go of that doing so that they can kind of help to empower and prepare others.

Susan Heinking 14:10

Yeah, and I think understanding what people are doing, where their strengths lie, where they don't, and then what do they want to do? I think that's really important.

And sometimes people don't know what they want to do. Right.

But understanding that, like the hedgehog concept is something that you're passionate about, something that you're good at and something that you can make money at, right?

It's like kind of that trifecta and getting people to understand, to like kind of lean in to a, not only what you're passionate about.

But also what you're good at, but giving them that those opportunities to find, find what they're good at is, is key.

Gresham Harkless 14:48

Yeah, absolutely. It ends up being such a great thing. You could definitely see the impact when you do have a phenomenal leader and being able to kind of submit that impact on the team and of course in the projects and everything that you're doing.

So Susan, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more.

So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know.

And of course, how best people can get a hold of you, find out about all the awesome things you and the team are working on.

Susan Heinking 15:14

Sure. Well, I am on LinkedIn, so you can always find me on LinkedIn at Susan Heinking.

I also have a little profile page on pepperconstruction.com. If you want to read about kind of what high performance in green building Pepper's doing.

But also a little bit about myself and my story and how a little bit more about how I got to where I am at Pepper, you can find me there as well.

Gresham Harkless 15:40

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And of course, to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes as well, too, that everybody can follow up with you.

But Susan, truly appreciate you for taking some time out and talking with us. I love, love, love everything that you're doing.

I think that collaboration word really kind of resonates so strongly with me because I think so many times that we sometimes feel like a cliche, like in order to go further, we go together.

If you want to go faster, go alone. In order to go further, we go together.

And I think when you're able to kind of encapsulate that and start to see that happen, like you said so well, not only can you see it today, but hundreds of years in the future, you can see it as well too.

So thank you so much for giving us that spirit and sharing that with us today. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Susan Heinking 16:20

Well, thank you so much. This has been fun.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

Check out the latest and greatest apps, books, and habits to level up your business at CEOhacks.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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