Tuesday we had a special visit. Gateway CEO joined Clinton County IL CEO for a morning at Korte & Luitjohan Contractors, Inc.. with John Goldsmith. John is responsible for Marketing and has served as a mentor with us several times. He had a wealth of knowledge to share with our students, in addition to an opportunity to speak with several department heads as part of the tour!
Korte Luitjohan is a company that began as an underground utility contractor and has grown into a strong, still family owned general contractor serving the Metro East and Southern Illinois. They continue to expand and current have their own construction zone going on within the own building!
John shared his background and how he got to his position today. From high school, his goal was to become a baseball manager or announcer. As he realized that would really be a huge mountain to climb, he was fortunate to join a local radio station while a junior in high school. He then went on to SIUE earning a degree in Mass Communications and finding a career in 20 years on radio between Greenville, DeKalb and Centralia communities. He then moved around to several positions, within Marketing for The National Road Association in IL, Chamber of Commerce in Greenville, a time with 1st National Bank of Vandalia and then landing at Korte Luitjohan. So many experiences that continued to build as he enjoyed the different industries. Learning how to navigate marketing for a construction company was much different than any of his other roles. Today, he handles their social media presence, website updates, print and branding/design work for proposals as Korte Luitjohan continues to expand business with new clients. Along the way, John also had the joy of creating and maintaining the DeMoulin Museum in Greenville that pays tribute to the unique attributes of the DeMoulin Bros. & Co factory. Finding work and life balance has been an important part of his journey!
Before walking through the tips from John, here are some highlights from the leaders that we met during our tour of the building!
- Cheryl - In billing since 1998 - Ensures all subs are paid along with any accounts payables that comes in. They also handle in-house payroll, financial statements to keep profit and loss in check.
- Berard - He had so much wisdom to share with students after an extensive career and retirement that has happened two times already! Started as a carpenter and worked in facilities management for over 35 years working in hospitals and then prisons. After retirement, worked as an Estimator and now is working in Business Development for Korte Luitjohan. RELATIONSHIPS are key everything you do! Attitude determines your attitude! Always keep asking questions. Go all in with each task provided! Learn as much about AI as you can - so that you can bring value to others by knowing how to use it as a tool.
- Lisa - is Pre-Construction Director and works with the Estimators. Very detailed job in gathering specs, labor, how each piece of the puzzle might come together on a project. Must have a unique mindset within this business as your wins are big, but you have to keep going if you lose a bid. There will be another project to go after.
- Ben - is a project manager today, he started as a carpenter and has moved his way up in 20 years. Provided the plan from start to finish on a project including scheduling, procurement, and all details in between. One of the hardest parts is keeping expectations for the owners and working through lead times on materials.
- Al - is the General Superintendent over the field crew. He works through scheduling of all carpenters, labor and operators. Must ensure that job sites are covered for each day and sometimes has to rearrange crews based on projects and challenges that may come up. Daily, there are so many decisions to make and relies on insights from the crew. Always works to have a back up depending on what could arise. Expressed the need for all trades! It is an incredible opportunity that offers insurance, pensions and a very rewarding career when you can look back at the finished product or building that you got to be part of!
It was amazing to see and hear so much about the construction industry and get that view behind the projects. As we gathered as a group, John wanted to share some real life tips for our students that will soon be navigating their worlds after high school.
- Pick your battles - Not every battle will you win. Have to learn when to stand your ground and when to compromise.
- When you're angry - whether with an employee or co/worker, don't respond to the email until you have cooled down.
- Leave it @ work / Leave it @ home. Try to enter each space without carrying the negativity or challenges home with you. Or bringing personal to work. Give focus the best you can where each place needs something different from you.
- Know your competition - and then be smarter than them, work harder than them. It's the only way forward.
- No decision - can be worse than a bad decision. Don't let those decisions linger!
- All experiences are good. Even the hard ones. Always ask, how can I grow from this?
- When you're the boss, avoid making decisions Friday afternoon or Monday mornings.
- Don't just exist. BE. Be a difference maker, a leader, one to give back. You never know in a moment what someone else is going through.
- And finally, stand in that mirror each morning and say --- Let's make some MAGIC today. You decide how you show up in this world and how you can give back!
Thank you so much John for hosting and great to meet our Clinton County IL CEO class as well!
