Resilient Leadership in AEC: Calm, Strength & Humanity in Uncertain Times
By Jill Barrett, Founder & Managing Partner, Evolve Impact
The Bullitt Center, a six-story, 50,000 square foot green office building in Seattle. Photo: Nic Lehoux / Bullitt Center
In moments of uncertainty, leadership can feel like standing in the eye of a storm. Around you: client demands, supply chain disruptions, talent shortages and cultural pressures that seem to intensify by the day. Many leaders in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) tell us they wake up already bracing for impact—before the day has even begun.
And yet, there is another way to lead.
The Nervous System of Leadership
In my recent conversation on The Forecast Podcast, I explored how leadership is a nervous system event. When leaders are regulated, their teams feel it. A leader’s physiological state can influence how others experience and respond to them. Calm, presence and regulation can change the quality of interaction around a leader. A leader who shows up grounded—breathing steadily, present in the room—helps stabilize everyone else.
But here’s the challenge: our industry often rewards speed and output at the expense of well-being. Behind the statistics are real people—colleagues, friends and family members we’ve lost. In 2016, the U.S. construction industry saw an estimated 5,200 worker suicides—more than five times the roughly 1,000 jobsite fatalities that same year (blogs.cdc.gov).
This number is sobering not because it’s a data point, but because it represents lives cut short and communities changed forever. It reminds us that our industry’s greatest resource is its people—and that caring for them must be a priority.
Middle managers are particularly vulnerable. They stand between executives and frontline teams, translating big-picture strategy into daily action while managing constant pressures from both directions—often without the resources or support to protect their own mental health.
Strength, Reimagined
Leadership in times like these isn’t about pushing harder; it’s about learning to pause. One client—a senior project manager responsible for multiple high-pressure builds—began starting his day with a two-minute breathing exercise followed by a short visualization. As he practiced, he noticed his mind became clearer, his priorities sharper and his energy steadier throughout the day. He had primed his brain for focus and presence before stepping into the whirlwind.
Over time, this intentional start began to ripple outward. His team’s tone shifted. Meetings became calmer. People spoke up more. They trusted that space existed for honest dialogue. The simple act of regulating himself each morning created a culture of steadiness and openness around him.
We can learn to pause and listen to our emotions—asking what they have to tell us and allowing them to transform. That is emotional intelligence. For instance, sitting with anger without rushing to act on it can ultimately open into a vast strength. When leaders do this inner work, they not only navigate their own challenges with clarity, they give permission for others to do the same. And these skills are deeply needed now, especially when 93% of AEC leaders believe mental health support is good for business but only 77% actively prioritize it (APA Foundation Pulse Survey).
Building Cultures That Thrive
At Evolve Impact, we work with leaders, teams and organizations to build the human and organizational capacity required for consequential periods of growth, transition and change. Regulation, emotional intelligence and relational capacity are part of that work because how leaders show up shapes what becomes possible around them.
I continue exploring these themes on the Shaping Work podcast because I believe the AEC industry has an extraordinary opportunity: to lead not only through what we build, but through how we lead while building it.