The Leadership Paradox
Most executives won’t admit to spectacular career failures in public. Deborah Nutt, Senior Director at Arcadis, doesn’t just admit them—she credits them with shaping her entire leadership philosophy.
“I failed my chartership first time around. My civil’s chartership. That was a catastrophe. How dare they?” Nutt recalls with refreshing honesty. “But on reflection, it’s like actually they had a point.
This isn’t the sanitised success narrative you’d expect from someone who’s spent two decades climbing the ranks at one of the world’s largest design consultancies. It’s something far more valuable for C-suite executives grappling with authentic leadership in increasingly complex business environments.
When Followership Matters More Than Leadership
Twenty years in the construction and engineering sector have taught Nutt something most leadership development programmes miss entirely. “What makes a great leader is their followship,” she explains. “If you’ve got a team of people who don’t want to follow you, you may consider yourself to be the greatest leader, but you’re not leading anyone.”
The insight cuts through decades of leadership theory focused on traits, styles, and techniques. In practical terms, it means your self-perception as a leader is irrelevant if your team isn’t buying in.
This becomes particularly crucial in male-dominated industries like construction, where traditional command-and-control approaches are being challenged by changing workforce expectations. Nutt’s approach centres on authenticity and leading by example—but not in the way most executives interpret these concepts.
“It’s about being authentic. It’s wearing your heart on your sleeve. You have to make sure that you’re wearing the right sleeve, so to speak. But it is about being true to yourself and challenging things when you think that they’re not right.”
The Accidental Career That Wasn’t Accidental
Nutt’s path to senior leadership began with what she calls a “random” suggestion from someone she was babysitting for. Uncertain about her career direction despite strong academic performance, she enrolled in an “Insight for Girls” engineering course during school holidays.
“I had no idea what civil engineering was. But it was really insightful and it made me realise I didn’t want to do electrical engineering, but I quite like the fact I could see it. If it’s civil engineering, building things out the ground, you can see it. It’s tangible. It means something.”
The experience highlights something crucial for executive development—the importance of experiential learning over theoretical preparation. Yet these opportunities are increasingly rare in corporate environments focused on predetermined career tracks.
What followed wasn’t a smooth ascent. Nutt failed her professional chartership exam, then later failed a partner-level interview. The difference was in how she processed these setbacks.
“I came home, I cried, I kicked the wall. But then again, on reflection, thought, do you know what? Some of the things that they’re giving me in the feedback are correct. So again, regrouped, wouldn’t wait too long, six months. And then when I retook it, the feedback that I then had was it was one of the strongest interviews they’d had in that session.”
The Diversity-Inclusion Gap That’s Costing You Talent
As Global Gender Affinity Group Chair, Nutt has a front-row seat to the challenges facing traditional industries attempting meaningful change. Her assessment of most corporate diversity efforts is blunt: they’re missing the point entirely.
“We’re diverse. Are we inclusive? There’s a difference. And it’s the inclusive bit for me that prompts the conversation.”
Arcadis has committed to 40% women representation across their global workforce—a target that sounds like typical corporate box-ticking until you understand their approach. Rather than focusing solely on recruitment numbers, they’re addressing the systemic issues that prevent retention and advancement.
The initiatives include mandatory bystander training, global sponsorship programmes targeting areas where organic mentoring relationships don’t naturally develop, and specific support for women of colour recognising the impact of intersectionality.
“The goal is to not need them [affinity groups]. The goal is that it’s embedded in our culture. That it is just part of our way of life. We don’t have to think about it, it’s just what we do.”
This long-term vision challenges the sustainability of most diversity programmes, which rely on continuous intervention rather than cultural transformation.
The Good Intent Philosophy in Practice
Perhaps the most practically applicable insight from Nutt’s experience centres on her approach to workplace conflict and cultural change. “I am a firm believer that people generally do not get out of bed in the morning to upset somebody. That’s not what they want to do.”
This philosophy isn’t naive optimism—it’s strategic pragmatism. By assuming good intent first, leaders can address inappropriate behaviour without immediately escalating to adversarial dynamics.
The approach becomes particularly powerful when combined with clear expectations and consequences. “If somebody says to you, you make me feel uncomfortable by doing that, well, there’s two things. You either apologise because you didn’t mean to do it in the first place and you never do it again, or you’re of the type of person that goes, well, I don’t care, it’s not my problem, it’s your problem. At least you know where you are.”
For executives managing cultural transformation, this creates a practical framework for addressing resistance while maintaining team cohesion.
Making Flexibility Work in Rigid Industries
Construction and engineering present unique challenges for workplace flexibility. You can’t manage a building site remotely or adjust physical project timelines for personal convenience. Yet Nutt argues that equity—giving people what they need to succeed—is more important than equality.
“We’ve got to make workplaces so that they have agile working, which is very difficult if you’re working out on a construction building site. But to attract the diversity, make it so that people don’t have to work 7am till 6pm because they might have childcare.”
The practical applications extend beyond obvious solutions like flexible hours. It involves fundamental questions about how work is structured, how teams are managed, and what outcomes are prioritised over processes.
“As leaders, we should be advocating for people and trying to build their confidence and help them to thrive. Because if they can do that, then they’re going to thrive in their career and then we can stop having some of these conversations.”
This shifts the responsibility from individuals to advocate for themselves—particularly challenging for those early in their careers or from underrepresented groups—to leaders actively creating conditions for success.
The 20-Year Perspective on Organisational Change
Nutt’s tenure at Arcadis offers a unique perspective on sustainable change management. Rather than job-hopping for advancement, she’s witnessed and driven transformation from within a single organisation.
“I could probably count on one hand the days that I thought, I don’t want to go to work today,” she reflects on her career satisfaction.
This longevity provides insights that short-term leadership appointments often miss—the importance of persistence, the value of deep institutional knowledge, and the compound effect of consistent advocacy for cultural change.
The construction industry’s future competitiveness depends on leaders who can navigate this transformation while maintaining operational excellence. Those who can’t adapt to changing workforce expectations will find themselves struggling to attract and retain the talent necessary for complex infrastructure projects.
Nutt’s approach offers a practical template: acknowledge failures honestly, focus on followership over leadership ego, create genuinely inclusive environments rather than diverse headcounts, and assume good intent while maintaining clear standards.
The question for C-suite executives isn’t whether these changes are necessary—the talent market has already decided that. It’s whether you’ll lead them or be left behind by them.
Join the Conversation
GSC Executives offers bespoke executive search solutions tailored to the built environment. Contact us today to explore how we can help you build a diverse, innovative team that’s ready for the future of property.
Listen to the full interview with Deborah Nutt on the GSC Executives podcast, via the player below or subscribe on Spotify, Apple, Youtube or anywhere else you get your podcasts:
This blog post is based on the GSC Executives Podcast episode “”What Makes a Great Leader is Their Followship” – Deborah Nutt on Construction Leadership”.
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