Ep. 28: AEC & AI: Curiosity Shapes Your Career Path

Join us for a dynamic conversation with Kristin Kautz, Partner at Jam Idea Agency and a leading AI Strategist for the AEC industry. Kristin shares her inspiring journey, revealing how genuine curiosity and a willingness to embrace change have continuously shaped her career path—from marketing leadership to guiding firms through the AI revolution. 

Discover why AI is more than just IT, impacting every aspect of your firm from operations to new roles. Kristin, a "guide from the side," provides insights on navigating this transformation with a strategic mindset. Learn how to foster the curiosity and adaptability needed to redefine your professional journey and empower your teams in the evolving AEC landscape. 

This episode is packed with inspiration and actionable takeaways for AEC emerging leaders ready to innovate, challenge the status quo, and forge a dynamic future. 

🔔 Don't miss out! Subscribe to Groundbreaking Growth on your favorite podcast platform. Let's ignite growth, shape the future of the AEC industry, and redefine what's possible. Are you ready for some groundbreaking growth? Let's dive in! 🚀💼

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Groundbreaking Growth
• 0:52 Curiosity and Career Paths: Kristin's Story
• 8:09 The Role of Curiosity in Leadership
• 11:49 A Curious Pivot: The Birth of a New Service
• 18:15 Your Purpose, Your Career
• 19:31 AI and the Curious Leader
• 22:19 Final Advice: Lead with Curiosity
• 24:13 Outro & Part 2 Teaser

Transcript

[00:00:25] Emily Lawrence: Hi everyone, and welcome back to the AEC Groundbreaking Growth Podcast where we talk about leaders and change makers who are shaping the future of the AEC industry. I'm your host, Emily Lawrence, and today we are kicking off with a special two-part conversation with someone who has not only been ahead of the curve, but is helping define where the curve goes next in the industry.

[00:00:52] Jen Knox: That's right. Today we are joined by Kristin Kautz partner at Jam Idea Agency, AI strategist, longtime AEC marketing leader. Kristin's really worn a lot of hats in the industry from working at large architecture and engineering firms, to directing marketing for Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. So very varied experience, to now advising teams on how to navigate the fast changing world of technology and AI within AEC. So, Kristin welcome.

[00:01:23] Kristin Kautz: Thank you. Thanks for having me. This is, I was telling you earlier, this is weird to talk about yourself, but I'm excited.

We'll see what happens.

[00:01:31] Emily Lawrence: Well, we're so excited to have you with us. And just to get us started, can you tell us a little bit about your story?

How'd you get to where you are in the AEC industry?

[00:01:42] Kristin Kautz: So, I don't know if any of us really plan to be in architecture, engineering, and construction, especially as marketers, right. So I've always, you know, always was interested in marketing my mom and the grocery store when I was a baby. Y'all are too young for this, but there used to be.

Maybe and she would like, you know, stroll me around in the, in the grocery store and I would see something on the shelf and I would sing the jingle. And so maybe something about marketing was in my blood really early on. And I'm an artist by nature as well. I. And so, when I went to college, I do have an art degree, but when I got out of college, I went to go work for a female owned real estate agency here in Houston.

Really powerful women. It was awesome. I'm gonna date myself the little Apple max, you know, and she, my marketing director taught me everything that I know and, That's how I got into marketing. And then, so obviously really early programs. I'm gonna again, date myself again, PageMaker, and I went to go interview for a marketing professional coordinator position at HOK, Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, here in Houston.

It was the largest architecture firm in the world at the time. Houston had a really robust, large office. They still do. And I was interviewed for that position and the director. God bless him. Asked me, do you know about PageMaker? And I screamed with enthusiasm. I love PageMaker. And he was like, you're hired.

And so into, AEC. And I will also tell you my sister is an architect. So somewhere also that was in my blood, but that's what really got me into AEC and, never left until I took that little sabbatical for the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.

[00:03:30] Jen Knox: That's amazing. I love, your connections to AEC. I feel like so many people in AEC when you talk to them, there's like some family tie somewhere, oh, my aunt, my uncle, my sister is an architect.

That's so awesome. I love it.

[00:03:45] Kristin Kautz: And I also, think when you have discussions about yourself, I think I'm self-aware. I start to learn things about me as well. Right. And what I just realized was, oh my gosh, my foray into AEC had to do with technology.

[00:03:57] Emily Lawrence: Yeah. I was thinking that.

Yeah. As you were saying it, like your first.

[00:04:02] Kristin Kautz: So there you go. Come full circle somehow. Yeah.

[00:04:06] Jen Knox: Love it. Love it. So definitely you've got that, creative foundation, that art background, that early marketing experience at HOK, and you said you marketed yourself into Georgia O'Keefe Museum at one point.

Can you tell us a little bit about that experience of marketing yourself and how that role changed your career progression a little bit.

[00:04:30] Kristin Kautz: Oh, absolutely. So, well, first of all, going back to the bigger picture of it, I guess, and what I always knew about myself was that you can create your own path.

I'm just gonna say that out loud to everybody out there. You can create your, a new path. You can create a brand new, job ahead of you. Do not think you're stuck. You don't have to think. And going back to AI, you don't have to think that AI is gonna take your job. Like there are new roles, new explorations, new adventures to be had.

Okay, so, I wanted to move to Santa Fe, and, uh, not a lot of corporate work there. But I did have an art background and the George O'Keefe Museum at the time was hiring a director of marketing. And I was like, I'm gonna go for it. And I used every tool in my toolkit as a marketer, especially for AEC.

We're visual, right? We build things, we take pictures of the stuff that we do, and, I created a 11 by 17 booklet, if you will, of why me, like, pick me, right? Mm-hmm. And so, um, I don't actually watch the TV show Grey's Anatomy, but it's like, pick me. So it would be pictures and I had why my experience would translate into a museum, not just my background in art and art history from my education or college, but because we were visual, how do you convey something, visual that people love and can see and a legacy and get them to a place? And I really went in with that type of attitude. And one of the very first questions that the director asked me was, how would you build a network here?

And I was like, just like I build a network anywhere we start with X, Y and Z, and these people, and this kind of thing, and business development. And so I got the job. Um, I was surprised, but I was not surprised at the same time, if you know what I mean. It was like it was a job of a lifetime.

I had to come back to Texas for personal and family reasons, but it was really an experience that I can not only talk about as successful for being able to translate what we do, anywhere. Not that I want anyone to leave AEC let me say that for the record, but if you are, in your career path, you translate your experience to something else.

I think a lot of marketers get stuck and they don't, they're like, oh, I do proposals and so I have to go find another proposal job. No, you curate information for people in ways that are easily to die, you know? Easible. Easible. I just made that word up easily digestible chunks.

So how does that look for a different role? And like I said before, in AI upskilling and reskilling and looking for those career paths and those new, titles, crucial. Crucial.

[00:07:16] Jen Knox: Yeah.

And I even think about, right, like Emily, there are so many AEC adjacent positions, like we are consulting to the AEC industry.

So even thinking of pathways that are adjacent to AEC and not directly in them.

[00:07:30] Kristin Kautz: Yeah.

[00:07:31] Emily Lawrence: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. You don't have to sit in an internal seat. You can decide what fits. I think too, like you said, what would fit me, and how do does my skillset play into a different type of career path, and still stay in the same industry. And that's something that we've actually found a lot talking to leaders in the AEC industry, find these different pathways and stuff.

[00:07:54] Kristin Kautz: I don't think anybody should be put in a box. I don't even think AI should be put in a box. And so, you know, just, yeah, you have the power to be what you wanna be.

I know that sounds. Two. Woo woo. But it's true. It's 100% true. Mm-hmm. Yeah,

[00:08:09] Emily Lawrence: I think that's a powerful statement right there. Um, and I, I kind of wanna transition into that. So leading. You've held leadership roles across all kinds of organizations, engineering firms, architecture studios, a museum. How did these experiences help you develop your leadership style?

And what did you learn from building these teams and like you were saying, challenging that status quo.

[00:08:33] Kristin Kautz: So the, okay. Without sitting here and like really trying to deep dive, the first thing that comes to my mind is, um, well first of all, you should ask my teams that. There are probably some who love me and there are probably some who don't love me, right?

But, I think I build teams that have people who all do what they're supposed to be doing. And by that I mean when I hired people, I would always say hire for personality, train for skill. So it would be awesome if they had, let's just say a proposal person. It would be awesome if they had proposal experience, but truly fitting a person into the team that had the personality to deal with the team because, one person can ruin everything, and one person can also bring a team up.

So, hiring for that personality, training for skill, and letting everybody on your team. Um, I'm not a micromanager at all, so having that ability for them tohave the right resources, know what they need to do during their day, um, but have the right equipment, the right training, the right mentorship, the right peers around them for advice.

SMPS, you know, joining those kind of organizations or whatever organization you wanna join, if we wanna expand from marketing. But having those, that comradery around you, I think that's probably, I'm a reluctant leader for sure. I am reluctant leader.

[00:09:54] Jen Knox: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:56] Kristin Kautz: I love, I do love being, I'm bossy, I guess, you know?

Uh, and we can edit that out Because women aren't supposed to say we're bossy, but, um, I mean, I do know what I want. I get it. I have firm opinions on things. But, I really don't like the word boss and I really, but I do like teams.

[00:10:13] Jen Knox: Yeah. And I think, I, your point to women aren't supposed to be bossy, right?

It's only a term that often is tagged to a style women have. But men have that same style. It's just not called bossy. Right. It's a leader.

[00:10:27] Kristin Kautz: They are, they're very bossy.

[00:10:28] Jen Knox: But, I love your point to, um, you're not a micromanager, but you know what you want, you know what you want your teams to do.

You hire for the specific kind of personality traits or strengths from a personality standpoint that blend together and you upscale or train for the skill sets you need?

[00:10:48] Kristin Kautz: We know it needs to be done and I will say, recently since, this is one of the things, is that, three years ago, Lori Grubbs and I started Jam Idea Agency and we've learned, I've worked with Lori for a long time now.

And, what we have learned about each other, which we already knew, but we've articulated into, somebody recently asked me, again, this goes back to not just leadership, but your working style. I am, um, I am a compass, so I like strategy and I like, think I need time to think and I have big ideas.

And then Lori is actually a map. She is a detail oriented person that gets stuff done, and we keep each other in check for sure. I have some really weird ideas. And then she is like, mm, no. Nerf truck isn't gonna work. Kristin, you can ask me about that later. But, knowing also the style of your team or who you're actually leading, I think is important too.

Like, having people around you that keep you in check, but also help you get things done.

[00:11:48] Emily Lawrence: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:49] Jen Knox: Yeah. Yeah.

You, you kind of brought up Jam Idea Agency, which is where we wanted to go next, so that's perfect. Um, so eventually you kind of. I guess take me through the process of starting JAM, right?

Because you were in AEC, maybe you saw some kind of trends within the industry and said, Hey, I think we wanna break out here. And I know there was one specific presentation that you gave that sparked this for you and was like, gosh, there's such a demand, there's such an opportunity, and you created Jam Idea Agency. So walk us through that story a little bit.

[00:12:23] Kristin Kautz: So, okay, let's just go back to the JAM part. First of all, um, I have started my own companies before just a longer conversation, but to get through middle parts, like when I said I moved back from Santa Fe to be here for my family, I was working for myself, right?

So we all do these things to work for ourself and figure things out. So when Lori and I, almost three years ago, no, three years ago, not almost, a little bit past three years, started JAM it was just time. It was just time for us to start seeing if we could do this stuff on our own.

Right? So marketing obviously is how we started out. I did like digital marketing and, and using technology and marketing. So figuring out how we could do that, and we're just like, let's go do something different. We wanna do something. We wanna do something different for people who want to market themselves differently.

Our industry is, uh, very. Firms are different on the inside, but they don't wanna be too bleeding. I mean, I've had so many clients say, we're not bleeding edge. You know, like, bring us back from that. So it's a little bit vanilla, a little bit stodgy, and we're like, let's see if we can find people who wanna just do something really interesting.

So that's how it started. Okay. That's how JAM started, which was awesome. And then, like you mentioned, so that summer, um, in 2022, I was getting ready to submit for an SMPS regional conference and instead of doing business development 101 or how to be a proactive marketer or, you know, things like that, that lots of people can cover.

I said to myself, what do I find really interesting? What gets me up in the morning? And it was technology. And so I was going to start to put together a presentation. I had about 300 programs, Chrome extensions, apps, platforms that I found to be really neat. And I submitted this topic, I got selected, and so now I had to narrow these 300 down into an hour long presentation.

As I was working on the presentation is when OpenAI and Chat GPT was launched onto the world November 22nd of 2022. I can't believe it's been that long ago. And, so I put it in my presentation just a little bit like I started out with Chrome extension. So I put, Chat GPT into it. And by early January of 2023 when I gave the presentation, I...

First of all, I was like, well, they're all gonna know what this is. Right? We've got really smart, energetic people in marketing, especially at SMPS, and they're gonna know, they're gonna be like, I already know what that is. I already know what that is. And the first Chrome extension that I showed them, which is not AI, was just a website scraper for emails, and the blood like, just drained from their face, and I could see them just go like, what did she just say? What did she just do? It was the first slide, and then I thought, oh, okay, this is really interesting. And because I'm a visual thinker and a visual learner, I really like feedback from people's faces. So I'm very engaged on their faces. And it wasn't just one person, it was like the whole room.

And so just the farther along I got, I was like, are y'all okay? What's happening here? And so, the buzz after I finished was just, I don't know, it wasn't like nothing I've ever received feedback. I've just never, ever had that kind of attention. Or like, what did you do and where did you get this from?

And I gave it the next day. And it was again, a lot of the same people in the room. because they wanted to hear it again. And then big standing room only. And so that was in New Orleans. And Lori and I were driving back and I was like, Lori, this is what I wanna do for the rest of my, this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life.

And she's like, what does that mean? What does that mean for marketing and JAM? And I was like, I just wanna pivot. I wanna add a service. I wanna still do marketing. So our company does marketing. We do. All types of marketing for people, and I am focused on AI, I'm focused on, because I've sat in those rooms before in leadership.

I have watched leadership and AI is not IT. That's a whole different discussion, but they don't include IT even in the room. They have no idea what's coming. They have no idea what's already here, already possible. And because we're marketers, we're storytellers, we can take really complex information and, filter it into a story that they can actually understand. Because there's a lot of noise out there and how do we filter it? And I just thought, oh my gosh, for the first time in my life I have found something truly that I am really passionate about, gets me up in the morning, my industry needs, and they'll probably pay me for it.

So that trifecta of, you know, the circle and when you find that thing. But I was coming back to leadership, et cetera, and my career. I didn't invent AI, so I, I mean, I didn't cause this. I was 100% ready for it though, and I was ready for when I saw that I, I could do this. And going back to that, you can change your career anytime.

Uh, no fear, I mean, that drive back from New Orleans, I was like, I'm not gonna do anything else ever again. So, yeah. Yeah. So it kind of ties all of that in like fAIth in your confidence in yourself, like real confidence in your, you don't have to make it up or spin it. The confidence in what you already know you can do.

And deliver and the opportunity to be able to say, yep, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take that step forward. And that's really what happened with AI. And from that one presentation, I started to get more calls to present. And from then those calls and those presentations I got, leads for consulting and built a practice around that.

Yeah.

[00:18:15] Emily Lawrence: Yeah. I wanna circle really quick, because I think that this is a really important thing. So talking about finding your purpose and this is what I wanna do and that trifecta, so it's can I get paid for it? and then, am I passionate about it?

[00:18:31] Kristin Kautz: What are you passionate about. Right?

What does the world need? And for world, I said my industry, like my industry, there's just, there was just no one talking about this already. And so what are you passionate about? What is the world or your industry or what does your people need? What does your audience need?

And can you get paid for it? Right? So those circles, I didn't invent that graph. Let's have the asterisk that did not invent this graph. But that is the pinpoint of what you should be doing.

[00:18:59] Jen Knox: Yeah.

[00:19:00] Kristin Kautz: Yeah, and I, again, I did not create AI, so I think in the marketing aspect of the world, I could have also turned to just technology and marketing. We do geofencing, we do geo framing, like we do digital, some really interesting digital stuff that's not happening in our AEC space at all. So that was interesting to me already and I think I probably, I mean, we still provide that, so I could have gone on that road for a while.

But AI has just changed everything. For me.

[00:19:31] Jen Knox: Yeah. And I was gonna say, we're gonna tease maybe a second episode here. But really to your point, you're focused on AI and technology beyond just marketing in AEC. You're talking tools, Chrome extension, patents, et cetera, for workflows and optimizing the way you work on a daily basis.

[00:19:50] Kristin Kautz: Yeah. It's how firms start, right? So the noise is too overwhelming and I present and they're like, how do we start? And so we start with this consulting and I'm moving firms forward. When we talk about AI, it's not just a particular tool, it's not just technology, it's this greater discussion and the possibility.

But when you talk about AI, firms need to think about contracts, insurance, their own marketing differentiators. It affects BD, how they charge for their fees. We need to go to value added, not hourly rate anymore. Um, that's gonna freak people out. Um, so I mean all of it. Leadership, it does have to include IT and technology, but it's a lot of bigger operational issues that everyone starts to think about.

You're gonna have new roles, new titles. You're going to get rid of some roles and skills. I'm not recommending you just like fire people. That is, we are a relationship based industry, so like that's not it. But people, we can't find people to even do the work that we have. And so if an administrative role goes away or um, you know, people need help with time sheets and receipts and writing emails and managing email, and if they can get their time back for that, our whole industry is just transforming. And it's on the design side, it's on the business side, it's on the infrastructure technology side. So it's, I, again, it's this whirlwind of everything and I try to help firms have a roadmap so that they can come back to a process every time you feel, um,chaotic, even in your personal life or your professional life, when you feel chaotic. I do believe in process. I believe in like grounding. Where are you, taking the step back. And I teach that in the AI world too. Don't feel overwhelmed. You take the step back. And you think what do I need right now?

And so I try to really help. That's what I help firms do. So I have, yes, I have a marketing, I'm up to my eyeballs in marketing. That's a huge part of my experience. But I've been in this industry for 25 years. I've sat at leadership tables. I know the language, I know the problems, I know the challenges. I know what y'all use for metrics.

So yeah.

[00:22:01] Jen Knox: And oftentimes it's that, you're a guide from the side. Right? A third party saying the same things oftentimes that sometimes industry leaders know they need to do, but having that backbone and support and person hold them accountable. So that's great.

[00:22:16] Kristin Kautz: That's, it's so different. It's a whole different podcast.

[00:22:19] Jen Knox: Yes., And we're excited for the next one. But to kind of wrap here a little bit, I know you talked about the Venn diagram and finding that sweet spot. Just kind of one last statement, if you were gonna give some advice to, up and coming AEC leaders that wanna be innovative and take bold steps in their career, what's one piece of advice you would give them?

[00:22:42] Kristin Kautz: Okay, again, I'm just going right at the top of my head. We go with the first answer. Leaders in AEC right now, this is gonna be very specific, cannot stop their firm from using AI. So I've had people who have said, oh,AI doesn't really have an older, younger thing either. Um, I've seen people who are older embrace it and younger people who are scared to death of it.

So there's no age weird age discrimination at the moment with AI. If you are an AEC leader, I want you to think about even if you personally don't wanna use AI, or, and that's just because you haven't been shown it. So let me just, you know, let me say that out loud. If I, I'll show it to you and you wanna use it, you just don't know what you don't know, but you can't stop your firm or other people from using it.

So I think for leaders, what I would say is, especially in the world of AI, the most successful leaders I have seen so far. Have a real genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for their team to learn and grow.

[00:23:49] Jen Knox: Mm-hmm. Love that.

[00:23:51] Kristin Kautz: So it's not, not specifically about technology.

[00:23:54] Jen Knox: No.

[00:23:54] Kristin Kautz: But it's healthy curiosity and letting people rise.

[00:24:01] Jen Knox: Yeah. Explore, learn, grow, upscale.

[00:24:04] Kristin Kautz: Really a curiosity. I would almost even say an enthusiasm, but I could work with someone who wasn't enthusiastic as long as they were still curious. Yeah,

[00:24:13] Emily Lawrence: yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, Kristin, thank you so much for coming on, sharing your story with us today. I know you mentioned at the beginning that it's harder to talk about yourself and share your story than it is to talk about AI. But thank you for coming on, because I think it's a story that everyone needs to hear and can be inspired by. We are just getting started here, so if you're listening, keep an eye out for part two as we've mentioned throughout this. Our next conversation, we're gonna be diving into the AI tool strategies and how AEC leaders can use AI in a practical way.

We're very excited for that, Kristin. So, yeah. More to come with Kristin.

Thank you all for listening and, tune in next time to AEC Groundbreaking Growth.