Sustainability, Inclusion and Purpose‑Driven Leadership
Barbra Carlisle • January 29, 2026
How Construction Leaders Shape Society: Sustainability, Inclusion and Purpose‑Driven Leadership : Insights from Kathleen Abbott
When Kathleen Abbott joined Shawmut as Chief Growth Officer, she made a deliberate choice: work in a role where her commercial leadership could create real societal value.
Her perspective matters for UK construction leaders because the pressures she talks about around sustainability, workforce change, inclusion, and purposeful leadership are more and more shaping commercial advantage in the UK market.
Somethings to think about around sustainability that Kathleen talked about with Barbra Carlisle on The Unlikely Executive Podcast include:
The Built Environment Is Responsible for 25% of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Kathleen highlights how the built environment drives global emissions. In the UK, this is even more stark: 25% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions come from the built environment.
And construction itself is heading in the wrong direction: UK construction‑sector emissions in 2024 were 30.3% higher than in 1994, according to ONS data.
For UK business owners, this isn’t an abstract environmental issue. It’s fast becoming a commercial risk:
Clients have been tightening sustainability requirements for some time now and if you don't have a handle on it you are at great risk of being left behind.
Public‑sector frameworks increasingly demand carbon reporting.
Embodied carbon regulation is coming - the only question is when.
If your business depends on tenders, reputation, or supply‑chain positioning, decarbonisation is no longer optional. Leaders who understand energy efficiency, retrofit opportunities, material optimisation and whole‑life carbon will win contracts and protect margins.
Diversity Isn’t a Tick‑Box, It’s a Competitive Advantage for Modern Construction Firms
Kathleen celebrates Shawmut’s 32% female workforce, which is unusually high globally.
By contrast, UK construction continues to lag: women represent only around 15% of the UK construction workforce, including professional and managerial roles.
On site, it’s even starker: women make up only around 1% of manual site‑based roles.
For your business, this matters both from a PR but more importantly from an innovation and performance perspective:
- Mixed leadership teams make better operational decisions.
- Clients are increasingly evaluating suppliers on inclusion.
- A broader talent pipeline is critical as the UK faces a shortfall of 250,000 construction workers by 2028.
If you want a team that takes initiative, problem‑solves and sticks around, you need a culture that people want to stay in. Inclusion needs to be business as usual.
Leadership Lessons
A. Listen harder than you speak
In her first 90 days, Kathleen focuses on listening. In UK firms, especially those with long‑serving teams, leaders often assume their people won’t speak openly. They will … but only if they feel heard.
B. Build a network you actually use
Kathleen emphasises mentors and peer support. In UK owner‑managed construction companies, isolation is one of the biggest causes of poor decision‑making. Peer networks reduce reactivity and increase confidence.
C. Protect boundaries or risk burnout
The UK industry is infamous for long hours, cost pressure and firefighting. Kathleen’s message is simple: sustainable leadership requires sustainable personal energy. Without boundaries, decision‑making deteriorates.
D. Lead with purpose because your team can feel it
When the owner is clear about why their business exists (beyond winning tenders), teams behave differently: more accountable, more proactive, more loyal. Purpose is not soft it's stabilising.
What This Means for UK Construction and Engineering Business Owners
Kathleen’s message aligns with what I see every day in my coaching work with leaders:
- Teams follow leaders who are decisive and fair.
- Businesses grow when the owner stops firefighting and starts leading strategically.
- Culture isn’t a vanity project, it directly affects quality, safety, retention and margin.
- The next decade will reward leaders who align commercial success with sustainability, inclusion and clarity of purpose.
Kathleen Abbott’s story shows that curiosity, resilience and purpose-driven leadership aren’t abstract ideals they are practical tools for building stronger, more profitable, more future‑ready construction businesses.
If you want your team to step up, take initiative and back your decisions the starting point is leadership identity and clarity.
Want support to develop this in your own business?
Join my programme which is designed specifically for housing, construction and engineering leaders who want to lead decisively, build high‑performing teams, and grow a business people are proud to be part of.
Or, if you’re exploring whether leadership development is right for you, you can book a clarity call with me.
Ideas and thoughts on how to lead well through complexity and change
The Intergenerational Advantage: Why Construction Firms Who Blend Ages Will Outperform Everyone Else
If you’re worried about not having enough young people, including women coming into construction, you’re asking the wrong question. The real risk is what happens when you don’t use the people you already have properly. The Crisis No One Is Solving Properly Across the UK, the construction workforce is ageing faster than it’s being replenished. There are 20% more workers aged 55+ than under 25. And it gets worse: 35% of the workforce is now over 50, and only 20% is under 30. Yes this presents an industry risk, but closer to home we see organisational risk. Leaders worry about recruitment, apprenticeships, T levels, Skills Bootcamps all useful, but none of them address the real issue: Experience is walking out of the door every single day, and new capability isn’t being integrated fast enough. This is exactly what my conversation with Colin McEllin MCIOB of Clan Contracting highlighted. When a 21 year old commercial graduate joined Clan Contracting, Colin didn’t roll his eyes or think, “another kid who’s never been on a site.” He leaned into it and welcomes thoughts, ideas and advice from 'young Aaron'. Massive benefits for him, and Aaron, and the wider team. Why Intergenerational Leadership Is Now a Strategic Priority The construction sector is staring at a workforce cliff edge: • 140,000+ vacancies lie unfilled. • By 2036, 750,000 skilled workers will retire, stripping the industry of vital capability. • The UK will need nearly 1 million additional construction workers by 2032. Yet recruitment alone isn’t enough. You cannot hire your way out of this crisis. We must integrate generations on purpose, not by accident. What Younger Workers Bring (That Leaders Ignore at Their Peril) Younger talent offers: • Modern thinking around sustainability and digital tooling • Analytical approaches and better documentation habits • A willingness to question processes that haven't been updated since the 90s • A commercial lens shaped by newer training systems In Colin’s words, their thinking “took him right back to when he was 21” eager, energetic, ideas driven. You want that energy before they lose it. What Older Workers Bring (That You Can’t Replace) Your experienced people have: • 30+ years of instinct • Pattern recognition that no textbook teaches • Quiet influence that stabilises teams • Technical fluency on heritage, concrete, structure, sequencing, conservation, problem solving These people are your institutional memory. Once they go, they’re gone. And currently, UK engineering employers admit they only retain knowledge effectively from 57% of retiring staff. That is a crisis hiding in plain sight. Leadership Actions That Works 1. Create deliberate two way mentoring (not hierarchical mentoring). Younger staff teach digital skills, new processes, sustainability thinking. Older staff teach technical judgment, site sense, risk spotting. Both feel valued. 2. Give young people actual responsibility, not token tasks. The CITB plans 40,000+ industry placements a year. It means nothing if leaders hide young people in the corner. Let them make decisions, with support. 3. Systemise knowledge transfer. You cannot afford to rely on “ask Dave if you need help.” You need processes, templates, technical walkthroughs, shared documentation. 4. Remove the “that’s not how we do it here” reflex. 76% of construction workers say current training doesn’t adequately prepare people for the job. So your way probably isn’t the best way anymore. Your Competitive Advantage Is Sitting Right Under Your Nose When generations work in isolation, capability leaks. When generations work together, capability compounds. The firms who win over the next decade won’t be the ones who grab the talent, it will be the ones who blend talent. Listen to the full episode of the podcast here or watch on You Tube here About me I write about topics that my podcast guests bring to the podcast. They have years of experience with challenges and opportunities along the way, highs and lows and are in the thick of leading with purpose and passion, faults an'all. As a coach and trainer I work with leaders and their times to help them thrive, laugh, enjoy their work, be productive and to build teams of all ages.
We love what we do so we grow in that role, we end up as leader with people around us but we want to stay doing the thing we love doing. Balancing leadership is hard.
