#125 Owned to Deliver: Employee Ownership and the Race to Power the Data Center Boom

Welcome to the Proteus Leader Show, a podcast for forward-looking leaders driving transformation in their organizations, within their teams, or for themselves. Your host today is a senior leader at Proteus International, a firm that partners with companies around the world to make true transformation easier through change consulting, leadership development, and executive coaching. If you're looking for fresh perspectives and practical insights, can take back to work today, you're in the right place. Enjoy the episode.

The pressure to build what's next has never been greater. Demand for digital infrastructure is surging. Data centers are expanding at extraordinary speed, and leaders are facing a difficult question: How do you move fast enough to meet the moment without breaking the systems people depend on most? That tension is playing out clearly in energy and infrastructure, where growth, reliability, safety, and trust all have to move together. Welcome to the Proteus Leaders Show. I'm Marie-Holive, CEO of Proteus International. I'm joined by Mario Azar, Chairman and CEO of Black& Veatch. Black& Veatch is a global engineering, procurement, consulting, and construction company. that helps clients deliver critical infrastructure across energy, water, telecommunications, and industrial sectors. It's also 100% employee-owned, which makes Mario's perspective especially interesting because leadership, accountability, culture, and execution are deeply intertwined. In today's conversation, We'll talk about what employee ownership changes in leadership, how to meet the data center growth moment without overwhelming the grid, and how leaders make smart trade-offs in high-stakes environments while keeping people and purpose at the center. Mario, I'm glad you're here.

Happy to be here, Marie. Thanks for inviting me.

So for listeners, Mario, who may not know Black& Veatch, how do you describe what the company does and what critical infrastructure means in real terms?

So we define the critical infrastructure we focus on as human critical infrastructure. And to put it simply, that is infrastructure that humans need.

Yes.

They're not necessarily luxuries. They're things people need. So think water, clean water, right? Healthy water. Think power. Think information, think connectivity.

All the things we take for granted, and only when it doesn't work that you kind of—

You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. And we should not forget that there are populations that don't take these things for granted. We maybe take them for granted in the more advanced countries, but there are people on the planet that don't necessarily have access to clean water every day. They don't have access to reliable power every minute of the day, and so on. So those are critical, and that's what we do. And it takes me, Marie, to our purpose as a company. Our purpose is building a world of difference. That's our purpose. And so when our people show up to work, they know that they're doing something meaningful for humanity. And that goes back to our purpose. So human critical infrastructure, we're a company of over 13,000 employee owners. Employee ownership is very important to us. So that's our identity as an employee-owned company. And we are a company founded in 1915. So a company that has gone through a lot of generations.

Many companies of more than 100 years.

We're very proud of that, yes.

And you said, Mario, you are employee-owned, but not just employee-owned, 100% employee-owned. So what does that actually change inside the organization?

Yes, so thank you for bringing up that distinction because there are many companies that are employee-owned, but that doesn't mean they're 100% employee-owned. That's a process that takes time to transfer ownership from whether it's private or partnership, to every employee in the company. So the company could then be 100% employee-owned. We are at that stage in our employee ownership journey. Our shares are only available to our employee owners, and they're part of the reward and compensation for all of our employees. What does it mean?

Mm-hmm.

It means that you show up and you really understand that you are an owner of the company. You are not an employee, you are an owner. So the emphasis is on owned more than employee.

Yes.

And how does it manifest itself? It manifests itself in how you think about the work you do and how you deliver what you deliver. It's very different when you're doing something and you own it, because then you own the outcome, you own the integrity of the outcome, you own the quality. And our clients see it when our people show up on our project sites, for example. Our clients, they see owners, people who are there with a purpose and who really have accountability. They hold themselves accountable for the outcome.

That makes me think about when you own a home versus renting it, you're much more careful. You have a completely different set of behaviors.

Very nice comparison. Absolutely. Absolutely.

You're going to improve things and take initiatives. Yeah.

And sometimes we use the metaphor with also our employee owners as if you're an entrepreneur. So if you're a sole owner of a coffee shop, take it as an example, versus an employee who's clocking in and doing the work and clocking out. What do you do differently?

Yes.

You take care of your shop. You want to make sure that you are competitive. You want to make sure that you're watching your costs so you could pay your bills at the end of the day if you're an entrepreneur, right?

Yes.

So there's a lot to it in business to be an owner. There's far more accountability. There's far more responsibility for the company itself and for the outcomes.

Of that. Now, let's talk about the data surge. From your vantage point, what is driving this acceleration of data centers? What are the big leadership implications as demand for power rises so quickly?

Yeah, so let me ask you this, Marie. Do you have a smartphone? Yes, I do. Do you use AI already, whether it's ChatGPT or whether it's Claude or whatever application you like, right? And that's the reality. In addition to social media, right? In addition to all the other applications that we use every day. When was the last time you held a paper boarding pass?

I just flew here and yes, no paper.

And there's a generation, unfortunately I'm not part of that generation, that never had paper airline tickets, right? You probably don't know those tickets that you held, your airline ticket. The point I'm trying to make is everything is either already digital in terms of the things we rely on to process our information and to get us where we need to go. That data needs to reside somewhere.

Yeah.

So as humanity's utilization of data is expanding, and it's expanding exponentially, so is the need for space for that data to live and reside. And that's what data centers are. They're gigantic, now truly gigantic warehouses full of servers that are storing and processing information. Every time you send an inquiry on your AI app, it's going to a server being processed. There's a lot of calculations happening to give you a response that happening within fractions of a second. And so that's one component of the demand, and that's the one you're zeroing on today in the conversation, but it's not the only driver for energy demand. There's the natural Growth in populations. There's a natural advancement of more parts of countries and nations that need more power.

Mm-hmm.

There's the industrial need for manufacturing. More people means more goods and more services needed that they need to be manufactured somewhere. So all of these things come together to increase rise in demand for energy. But really the most acute today is data-driven energy demand. That has the sharpest curve and exponential growth.

Yes. And I think we're not aware of how big the energy use is when we do a query on AI compared to a Google query. I think it's 10 times more. And so there's also a lack of awareness around that. And I think that we're getting used to using AI all the time, that's not going to disappear.

No, you're absolutely right. I'm going to venture to say we are barely scratching the surface on the true use of AI because already a lot of people use it daily. Instead of Googling, they ask AI bot for answers. It's moving deeper now into the business domain, right? And the adoption of AI in business is still fairly in its infancy. Some companies have advanced more than others, but nobody has gone yet to a degree where AI could potentially go and will, I believe, eventually inevitably go.

Now, as we're talking about AI, there's so much anxiety. about impact of AI on jobs. I'm sure that's the same at Black& Veatch. So how are you dealing with the human elements of this impact?

It's complicated, Maria, I have to say. There's different ways to look at it. First, I don't believe we truly understand the true impact. I don't believe we truly understand it yet. What I believe is certain is that AI will have a bigger and bigger role in everyday life, including in business. And inevitably, it will do things that today people do. There's no way around it. And it will not be the first time humanity faces that. Remember industrialization, right?

Yes.

When machines were doing things that people did manually with hands, and there was that fear. Yet today we're still in shortage of people to do things, right? I personally believe that AI augments people.

Mm-hmm.

I believe it's really a function of demand and supply. And so when you're looking at the need, the demand, and let's start with what we do, infrastructure, right? There's far more demand today for all kinds of infrastructure, including human-critical infrastructure, than available supply. And that's available supply both in, in engineering and in construction.

Mhm.

And so when you look at the labor markets, when you look even at the intellectual labor market, engineering and so on, there just isn't enough supply to meet the demand. And the demand is growing and growing. So AI, one way to look at it, will help us meet the demand. Or close even some of that gap, not even fully close the gap between demand and supply. So when I look at it today, I see it more as a tool that could help us do more, do it faster, and be able to fulfill more needs and demand is the way I look at it.

I really like this framing, looking at it as an opportunity and also maybe not eliminating jobs, but evolving jobs and who does what. But for you, it's a key way to close that gap between supply and demand.

Absolutely. It's a tool. It's an agent. It's more than a tool. It's a very intelligent tool. So it's more of an agent, but I see it more as augmenting. And look, it will replace some roles, just like industrialization replaced some manual roles. Whether it's in the auto industry when people were assembling cars and so on by hand, inevitably technology replaces some roles, but the fear that it's gonna make humans irrelevant, it's not what I'm staring at.

Yes, I'm hopeful too. I share that view. Now, when you're trying to deliver fast and with this increasing demand in high-stakes environment, Leaders like you face trade-offs because you have to go fast, but also be resilient, innovate, but also standardize. You have the urgent client needs, but also you want to build that long-term community trust. So how do you approach those trade-offs? How do you make decisions?

Yeah, Marie, the challenge is not new. Our company was founded in 1915, so today, 111 years old, and the world has only moved faster and faster since then. So our company has continued to evolve with a faster-moving world, right?

Mm-hmm.

So it's not a new challenge. I think for us, what's important is to really be clear on what are the fundamentals, what are the non-negotiables, what are the things that you really have to Protect no matter what. You cannot let speed compromise, in other words. And this comes back to values, values and culture. So what we don't rush is safety. Safety is to us a non-negotiable. We will not do things faster that could harm anybody.

Okay.

So people always on our jobs and construction sites are going to be cautious. And they're going to think before they act. We're not going to rush them to get into safety hazards. Integrity is non-negotiable. Quality is non-negotiable. So, you have to really define to your people what are the guardrails, what are the things that we do not compromise. And then everything else, you then figure out how to do it faster. And we always challenge ourselves to do things faster without compromising the non-negotiables. But again, this is where technology comes in, right? Technology is an agent. It augments our ability to do things faster. AI in particular helps everybody, and that's no different for us in business, do things faster.

Mm-hmm.

Could be verification of some documents, could be even Taking the first pass at a drawing to make sure that there are no errors, and then the human component kicks in next to do that second verification. But we use technology to also help us go faster. We also use technology in construction.

Mm-hmm.

Robotics. We're using robotics in construction more and more, and it helps us do things faster without compromising safety.

Got it. So you really use the values and non-negotiables as a filter to make decisions and then technology to go faster.

That's a nice way to sum it up. Yeah, that's a really nice way to sum it up.

Now, we love leaving our listeners with some practical tips. You've given a few already, but maybe just to recap, if someone is leading through rapid growth, high-pressure delivery, increasing demand, And could be infrastructure like Black& Veatch or tech, manufacturing, services. What are some concrete actions they can take to strengthen the ownership mindset on the team and improve execution?

Ownership really is, at the end of the day, a value, right? Ownership is accountability. Ownership is empowerment. You cannot tell people to feel ownership of something without empowering them to do it. And even more, as you pointed out, in today's high-demand environment, you have to empower people. So it's a necessity, but it's also very powerful when you empower people. So you have to empower people, you have to trust people. You have to be willing to also try new things. So innovation is a critical component. And innovation requires trying new things and requires the willingness to fail. If you're afraid of failure, you're never going to try anything new.

Yes.

And that's how really innovation works. You have to try new things and learn and try again and try again.

Yes. That makes me think about an important decision to make is when do you innovate with your people? When do you build? When do you acquire? Because one is faster, but maybe the other one is more motivating for people within the company. So how do you decide when to build, when to partner?

Yeah. And you're right, Marie, it's not necessarily an either or. It's not you either do this or you do that, you do both. So to your point, it's a matter of when do you do this and when do you do that. There are times when you do need to acquire, you're right. So for us, digital technology, for example.

Mm-hmm.

We go back to who we are, right? We are not software companies. So we are not doing our own self-innovation of creating software. That's where we go and get help and we acquire. But we are innovators when it comes to the core technology of what we do.

Good.

So improving the design of a power plant or a water plant, that's the innovation that we do. That's what we're good at. And of course, we—

Because you know how.

That's right. It's very healthy to know what you're good at and what you're not good at.

Yes. And it requires humility.

It requires humility. That's right. But in any case, innovation, you either introduce it or you make it. Innovation is critical and cannot be overlooked. And then you said 3 things. The third, to me, I'm gonna go back to core values. Core values. You have to have those and they have to be very clear. Who you are, what do you stand for? What are things that are a must? You have to define this for people.

Yes.

And they need to understand what those non-negotiables are. For us, they go back to values.

Yes. And on that, I want to highlight that because I got to know this through my work at Black& Veatch, is that you don't stop at naming the values. You define the behaviors, you give examples.

So our core values at Black& Veep are care, create, own. And so care talks about caring for each other. It talks about caring for the communities we live in. And of course, that's where safety comes in. So we care for each other. Meaning we also keep each other safe. Everybody's accountable for safety, including the safety of the person next to them. If you see someone who's about to do something unsafe, we stop it, right? And we do it at a broad scale in our projects. Every single employee on our projects have the power to shut down the whole project. They are able to stop work. If they're seeing unsafe behavior, and if they believe someone is going to get hurt, they could stop work. And everybody understands that. Create is back to innovation. It goes back to our DNA as a company that creates solutions. We are a solutions company. And so that's part of our DNA, but it's also a core value for us. So we want to make sure that we continue to be a company that creates, which means a company that gives the space for creativity. And that talks then about what? It talks about leaders empowering people, allowing people to create. It talks about psychological safety, where people feel safe.

Mm-hmm.

To share a new idea or to challenge an old idea.

Yes.

To challenge the status quo, to say that this is not working. And we've always done it that way is we don't like to hear that at Black& Veatch. We don't like to hear it as a reason why you should keep doing something. If it's not working today, it may have never really truly worked, but no one ever said anything.

Yes.

So we've always done it that way is not a good answer. So that's create. And then own goes back to our identity as an employee-owned company. The own core value is you own Black& Veatch, you own the results, you own the quality of your work, you own the fact that we want our customers to trust us and to be satisfied. We all own that.

Mm-hmm. Powerful.

So that's how values really work in everyday life, right, in a business.

Mm-hmm. Mario, thank you so much for this conversation. You know, what really stands out for me is the link between how you lead and what you're able to deliver, especially when the work is complex and the stakes are high. We talked about how employee ownership can shape accountability and decision-making. And we also explored what leaders need to understand about the data center growth moment, because meeting that demand isn't just a technical challenge, it's a leadership challenge.

Absolutely.

To everyone listening, if you want to go deeper on leadership that drives real performance and real transformation, visit proteus-international.com. Thank you for tuning in. And until next time, here's to creating the leadership you truly want. You can build ownership, deliver with trust and power what's next. Thank you, Mario.

Thank you, Marie.

Thanks for listening to the Proteus Leader Show. We hope you're leaving with ideas you can put to use on your team, in your organization, or in your own career. To learn more about how we support true transformation through change consulting, leadership development, executive coaching, visit us at Proteus-International.com. Until next time.