The Grit Blueprint
The Playbook for Building Unmistakable Brands in the Built World
You can be the best in your market and still get passed over by a competitor who simply shows up better and more consistently where their customers are looking.
The Grit Blueprint Podcast is where visibility, media, customer experience, and creative brand strategy turn trust into growth in the built world.
Hosted by Stefanie Couch, a lifelong building industry expert born and raised in the business, this show explores how companies in building materials, construction, manufacturing, and distribution position themselves to win before the first conversation even starts.
You’ll hear from executives, operators, and decision-makers who are rethinking how they show up in the market. You’ll also hear from Stefanie and the Grit Blueprint team as they share the systems, strategy, and content that make good brands impossible to ignore.
Every episode turns insight into action. Because in this space, great work alone isn’t enough. You have to be seen, be known, be chosen, and ultimately, become unmistakable.
Produced by Grit Media. Powered by Grit Blueprint.
The Grit Blueprint
Turning Industry Wisdom Into The Next Generation’s Edge: Amber Little, Chief HR Officer at Nation's Best
From a live conversation at Rough Creek Ranch with Amber Little, Chief Human Resources Officer at Nation’s Best, we get real about what it takes to support women in a male-dominated industry, attract the next generation, and turn everyday work into a story people want to join. This is a candid look at leadership you can feel: intentional retreats, strengths-based development, and the kind of fellowship that happens when you make space designed for women.
We dig into Amber’s winding path, from pre-med to industrial-organizational psychology to HR leadership, and why that background makes her a force for practical change. Servant leadership shows up here as more than a buzzword: whiteboards, sleeves rolled up, shared decisions, and a team that trusts the process because they’re part of it. We also confront a looming challenge: as experienced pros head toward retirement, how do we transfer the wisdom only time in the yard can teach? Amber’s answer starts with a mentorship engine, ride-alongs, subject matter experts, and structured knowledge handoffs, so new talent grows faster without losing the craft.
If you sell or hire in the building materials space, the psychology piece will hit home. Tools like CliftonStrengths and the Predictive Index help match people to roles and tailor coaching that sticks. In sales, story beats specs for most buyers. Outcomes, empathy, and clear narratives pull decisions through emotion before logic. Save the deep tech for architects; lead with a story that reduces friction and shows what life looks like after the purchase. That’s how brands become unmistakable in a crowded market.
We leave you with optimism and a plan: reframe recruiting around impact, invest in strengths, and build mentorship that honors the people who built this industry.
Topics we covered:
• Creating intentional spaces for women in building materials
• Focusing on strengths to boost confidence and performance
• Amber’s career path into industrial-organizational psychology
• Servant leadership as a hands-on team practice
• Reframing recruiting with clear stories of impact
• Building mentorship to transfer field knowledge fast
• Using CliftonStrengths and Predictive Index wisely
• Storytelling over specs for better sales outcomes
• Simple advice to ask more questions and keep mentors close
• A 52-week leadership journal for women is on the way
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👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?
Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.
One of the biggest challenges we have is it's a very male-dominated industry. And women bring such different perspectives and strengths to the workplace. There are such great opportunities, but when you tell somebody, hey, come into the lumber building materials industry, it's not sexy. And so it's how do we let them know how great the opportunities are? It's going to recruiting fairs, it's talking it up.
Stefanie Couch:I believe that our industry is going to be a harbor for people that want to work hard, but they also want a lot of opportunity and they're younger. And there's just something about it that's infectious because the people are so great. You never know exactly what's going to happen and you're not sure where you're going to end up, but somehow you always end up right where you're supposed to be. Absolutely. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the playbook for building unmistakable brands that grow, lead, and last in the built world. I'm Stephanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint, and I'm a lifelong building industry insider. I was raised here, built my career here, and now my team and I help others win here. The truth is, you can be the best option in your space and still lose to someone else who simply shows up better and more consistently. Each week on the Grip Blueprint, I'm going to show you how to stand out, earn trust, and turn your brand into a competitive advantage that lasts. If you're ready to be seen, known, chosen, and become unmistakable, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. I'm your host, Stephanie Couch, and I'm here today on site at Rough Creek Ranch in Glenrose, Texas. And I'm here with Amber Little from Nation's Best. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. And we are in this amazing, beautiful ranch. You have coordinated quite the retreat. So thank you for inviting me to the retreat because this was amazing this week. What got you excited about creating a women's retreat? And where did this start? Because it's the third year, right?
Amber Little:It is the third year. It is. Well, you know, when I came into this particular industry, um, it's a very male-dominated industry. And I kind of noticed that there are a lot of things for men in terms of fellowship and, you know, things like that. So, you know, there's hunting trips and fishing trips and going to the golf course and going to a game or or whatnot. And women don't traditionally do those things. They may get invited, but I think they feel uncomfortable. At least what I've been told is they feel uncomfortable going to those things. So, you know, there's really not a lot of opportunities for them to um maybe build a relationship outside of the office like that or outside of the floor where wherever they're working. And so I really wanted to find something intentional for them that was really for them, for their lens. But I wanted it to be super intentional. You know, these women are, you know, we expect women to be everything for everyone. And so if I was going to take them out of their everyday, every everyone for everything all the time, I wanted to be very intentional for them. And so that's why I created what I created.
Stefanie Couch:Well, and you started the first year, um, all of it's been in Texas so far, right? Yes. Okay. But this year you're at this beautiful ranch. We've we've uh been here for two and a half days, and there's about 60 women here, I think. And you're really seeing them do activities, and we've had workshops, and it's really amazing, and I know they're all excited about it. What do you think the best takeaway so far from this year is that you've heard? I mean, I know you've been talking to the ladies. What have they said about it so far?
Amber Little:You know, we always try to do a couple different things with the retreat. We do some sort of workshop, um, and then I always bring somebody from industry in to speak. So every year we've kind of blended those two together. So this year was all about focusing on our strengths, right? And women bring such different perspectives and strengths to the workplace. And so, kind of what I'm hearing from the women this year is they were really excited that we were focusing on strengths because women just they're so different. Yeah. And so um, I was really excited to be able to bring that for them. And they were just excited to be able to focus on that. And they're also excited right now that they're out there competing because they are so competitive. They're doing a scavenger hunt right now, and um, there's I'm seeing the points tick up on their little leaderboard, and it it's crazy to me how competitive our women are, but they are yeah.
Stefanie Couch:Um, I will literally race anyone on any game, it doesn't matter. A recumbent bike, I will try to beat someone on. Doesn't even make sense, right? I love it. Well, I think it's been a great week so far, so I appreciate you making me be a part of it and letting me be a part of it. It's been awesome. When you think about your career, you've done a lot. You're you're now in a role at Nation's Best and you're working with a team, but how did you get started? Because I know you've worked in a lot of industries, a lot of different roles. You're originally from Kansas. I am, and you moved to Texas for a job and you've been here ever since. So tell me a little bit about your background and how you got to where you are now. Sure.
Amber Little:Well, I originally this was not where I intended to be. This career was not what I wanted. You know, I always wanted to be a pediatrician, you know, from the time I was little. And that's where I headed. I went to Kansas State Um University, um, the Wildcats, right? The purple and white. Um, and I that's what I wanted to do, pre-med. And then organic chemistry killed that for me. So I've heard that a lot over my life. It's not for me. So I decided, you know what, maybe I'll try another medical field that maybe doesn't have so much organic chemistry. So I bounced to nursing and then dentistry, and I did dental school for a day. And I was like, nope, that's not for me either. And so I took a summer class that was industrial organizational psychology, and I really just fell in love with the business and the psychology pieces together. And so that's where kind of life led me. So I ended up going to get a master's degree in industrial organizational psychology. Such a mouthful. And most people don't know what that is necessarily. I used to joke that it's the Bob and Bob from office space, but um, you know, obviously I do more than that. But I love that movie. But that's kind of where life led me. And I started in a role in Texas. So that's kind of when I got out of um grad school, I actually came to a consulting role in Waxahatchie. Okay. And I learned very quickly wasn't Waxahatchie, it's Waxahatchie. So I moved to Waxahatchie um and spent, you know, a year, a little over a year, working in a consulting role there. Um, and then it was a Department of Defense contract that we were working on. So I was working with submariners in the Navy, which was an interesting experience. And then I just kind of just as that door closed, another opportunity opened. And I've just kind of been in a little bit of done a little bit of everything.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah.
Amber Little:So, you know, oil and gas and financial services and hedge fund and medical devices, I've just kind of just bounced around and I've really enjoyed being in all these different industries and learning just a whole lot. How'd you end up at Nation's Best? You know, I actually um Nation's Best had a consultant working for them that I had worked for um way back when, um, Jim Moranis, who I I worked for, when I was actually pregnant with my first child. So I was um five months pregnant and he was looking for um somebody to come on and kind of help do HR work. And it was actually through connections that that happened. I came on and I interviewed, he's like, you know what? Um I really would like for you to do some consulting with me. And so we naturally started working together and I just stayed on with him. And then when I came back from attorney leave, he's like, hey, surprise, I'm selling the business. I'm like, okay, but we're gonna go work for one of our clients, and I'd like for you to come with me. And so that's how I landed it um at Hudson Advisors, which is Lone Star Funds. And so I worked for worked there and we grew that organization in about 18 months by a hundred people. It was brand new. Wow. So we did a lot of work there. And so I naturally moved on from that opportunity, but then full circle, life brought me back to him. And um, you know, he had connections with Chris Miller at Nation's Best. And, you know, uh Chris was like, I need an HR person. And Jim's like, let me introduce you to Amber. And so that's just how that kind of happened.
Stefanie Couch:That's cool. It's really fun how life is you never know exactly what's gonna happen, and you're not sure where you're gonna end up, but somehow you always end up, I guess, where right where you're supposed to be. Absolutely. Tell me about your leadership style because you're leading a team. Um, I don't know how how many people do you have on your team?
Amber Little:I have two HR business partners, I have an HR operations manager, I have an HR intern, I have an office manager who's really a planner because he did all of this work.
Stefanie Couch:He's amazing, Marcus. Shout out to Marcus.
Amber Little:Yeah, Marcus is amazing. The only male that got to get invited on this trip because he planned the whole thing. Absolutely. And they all know they can go to Marcus and he will make everything amazing for for them. Um, so so all of those individuals are on my team.
Stefanie Couch:Okay. Well, tell me about your leadership style. How do how do you lead? What do you think is important as a leader? What makes a great leader?
Amber Little:I'm definitely a servant leader and very hands-on. So I am not one that just, hey, I want you to do this, this, and this, and just hands out directives. I'm in the trenches with them. So I want to roll up my sleeves, I want to do the work they're doing, and I want to do the roles that they're doing, right? So I'm in there doing the same work that they are. I like to brainstorm, I want to put it up on a whiteboard and you know, let's talk it out, you know. So if I'm making a decision, I want them to be a part of it. There's nothing better than a whiteboard. Oh, I love whiteboards.
Stefanie Couch:And lots of colors of the markers. Yep, absolutely. Mine is full right now. Yes, full. The only bad thing about a whiteboard is you have to erase it to rewrite on it. Take lots of pictures. Yes. You gotta have those notes. Well, as you're looking at the future of our industry, what do you think one of the biggest challenges that we have, just generally in our industry, um, is that you see with next generation talent. And how do you think we solve that?
Amber Little:You know, I think one of the biggest challenges we have is I guess letting them know how awesome this industry is, right? There are such great opportunities, but when you tell somebody, hey, come into the lumber building materials industry, it's not sexy, right? And so it's how do we let them know how great the opportunities are? But I think it's just getting out there and showcasing what the roles are and how fun they can be. Yeah. And you know, it's going to recruiting fairs, it's talking it up, it's, you know, inviting them to come and see what's happening. And really, I think going to the universities and showing off.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, and tech jobs have become a little less sexy in the last few years as people, you know, hundreds of thousands of people got laid off from these tech jobs the last year or two. But with AI, I do think there's gonna be another wave of that where jobs that used to be safe or used to be more appealing become obsolete. And I believe that our industry is gonna be a harbor for people that want to work hard, but they also want a lot of opportunity in their younger, especially the trades in general. I think that's gonna be a huge place for the next generation to thrive. So hopefully they know that. And I hope so. I think that there's a lot of people that are already doing that. You know, they call Gen Z um the tool belt generation. So hopefully that's true. Hopefully they can come see us. I think that it's an interesting time, though, with training and development because we do have a very large portion of our business that is older, 50, 60-year-old people that have been in the business, they know the business, and they're retiring soon. Those new people don't have that knowledge of 20, 30 years in the field. How do you solve that problem of figuring out how to train those new people to get all that knowledge from the older people? How do you do that in this swift amount of time that we have to do that?
Amber Little:Definitely a challenge I have not solved. Um, you know, we're working on a mentorship program right now. Um, we have not rolled it out because we have so many other things going on. Yeah. But I think that's the start, right? Um, it's really identifying who wants to be to do those roles first. And then we have some amazing, you know, leaders in our organization, those at a bent that are going to retire at some point that really want to transfer that knowledge. They want to share, they want to train, they really want to show those people, the next generation, all that they know. So I think it's really bringing them in and saying, hey, you know, it's just tapping them on the shoulder, hey, I'd love for you to be a subject matter expert and work with Joe here or Susan or whoever it is. Can you really work with them and share your knowledge? And you'd be surprised at just asking them, hey, can you spend some time with them? Can they do a ride-along with you or what whatever it is? They're more than happy to sp you know share that knowledge with you. Um, they're amazing. The people in this industry are amazing.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, it's such a great place to be. And I think that's one reason why I've obviously been in a whole whole time that I've been alive, but I have thought about doing other things and then you know, I've been around a lot of other businesses, and there's just something about it that's infectious because the people are so great. And I think it's really fun to put together something that's kind of the heart of America. You're building communities, you're building houses, you're helping that. It's a big part of our economy, and it will be, you're always gonna need housing. No matter what else changes, that's always gonna be something that, you know, is needed in some capacity. And so I love that as a macro that you're always gonna need. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, you talked a little bit about your degree, and I love psychology. I think it's a huge level up for people that understand it. What would you say to someone who is thinking about getting into a role and doesn't think about how much it matters what people say, what people do, why they're doing it, especially in like a sales-facing role. How do you talk to people about that and share what you know about psychology? Like, what are some of the big tips that you give people? People are starting to understand it more and more, right?
Amber Little:You know, I when I worked at SLOR, we trained our salespeople on psychology. Um, you know, and once they learn it and once they understand that it clicks, yeah, um, they're like, oh, you know, I can understand what, you know, the person I'm talking to, the doctor or whoever I'm talking to and trying to sell to, I understand, I can understand that they're this type or this type or this type. And I I can sell better to them, I can speak better to them. Um, I think once you show them how powerful it is, yeah, they get on board super quick. Um, but you know, I think showing them and showing how awesome it is, and then spending time with them and you know, uh showing them how you can spend time with them with learning from them and speaking to them. We do a lot of assessments, I think, which is really helpful. You know, we did the the Gallup's Clifton Strengths, I know the then the name has changed, and I think that is amazing, you know, and there's psychology obviously behind that. Yeah. And when people learn how these things speak to them and they can read it and be like, oh my goodness, that that's me to a T.
Stefanie Couch:I wish I could get my customers to all do that. Right? Um, because it's so enlightening and it really does show you what's important to them and how they make decisions. And if you know that, then even if it's not the same way you make a decision, you know how to make it work for them because it is really about their best experience. How do you reduce friction in their journey? It doesn't matter what you like.
Amber Little:I, you know, and I try to try to tell the people that I work with, trust the tools that you have, right? You have all of these tools. You know, we use the predictive index, for example, when we're hiring. Trust that tool. Obviously, it's not the only tool that you have. You have interviews, other things that you're that you're looking at, but you have these tools, use them. There's great psychology behind them, and it's so important. Yeah. So that's kind of the one thing that we try to preach, I guess, to that to our everyone we're working with.
Stefanie Couch:What's always been interesting to me when I study psychology is we all like to think we're super logical human beings. And we very rarely make decisions based on pure logic or even like mostly logic. Right. We mostly make them on emotional our gut. Yes, or some tie back to something that we don't even correlate in our minds. And I think that's really interesting when you start to think about that and break that down. I talked a little bit today about the power of story and how we connect with that and we connect with each other through those things. And so a lot of times you're making decisions not really consciously, more subconsciously, even though you think it's logical, it's all those things underneath. And once you started to understand that about people, it's really powerful.
Amber Little:Yeah, it was funny when you were talking about um the storytelling, it actually took me back to Esler again because when we trained our salespeople, we trained them to tell a story. Yeah. Stick with the story, tell the story. That's how you sell your product.
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, I mean, especially in our industry, there's so many technical specs and products and all those things. And you really get bogged down in that, especially if you're selling to a homeowner or a contractor that just don't care. Now, the one caveat I will say is architects do care. Sure. They care about the seven million statistics and facts, but most buyers do not. And we sell a lot of times, you hear people selling on that, like, well, it has these features and benefits. Let's talk about story and outcome and watch what happens. And as a business in general in our industry, I believe we underplay the value of that of that story. I think if people built brands that were around stories more, they would get a lot more positive feedback and people just care more. They would just watch it more.
Amber Little:Absolutely. Yeah, some of the best brands out there appeal to your emotions, right?
Stefanie Couch:Absolutely. If you really want to like number one convert, just put a dog in it. Absolutely. Like that is the biggest psychology psychology trick. It's just for me, it's golden retrievers because that's what I like, and that's what a lot of commercials have in it because they're the all-American dog. But um, you know, you see dogs in every commercial, yeah, and there's something to that because you relate to the happy do. How can you be mad when you're looking at a golden retriever? Even when my golden retriever does something horrible, she's still so cute. I'm like, I can't even stay mad at you. So absolutely. Well, what is exciting to you going on right now in your career, in your future? What fires you up the most? So, what are you working on that's got you lit up?
Amber Little:Well, you know, I'm I'm very passionate about women and leadership. So, you know, I love working on things like this at the retreat. I'm hoping to continue to be able to do this. Yeah, working on, you know, leadership development programs within um Nations Best. From a personal perspective, um, I'm actually working on a leadership journal for women. So I've been, you know, started out as a journal for myself. And I'm like, you know what, I would really love to share this with others. So I'm working on that just from a personal perspective. I just love to work with women that, you know, it doesn't they don't have to be in a formal leadership role, right? You know, people think, oh, leader, you have to manage people. Absolutely not. There's so you could uh define a leader is in so many different ways, but you don't have to manage anyone. You can be a leader of your home, right? A leader in your community, or you can lead in an organization. But that's what I'm really passionate about is building leaders.
Stefanie Couch:Okay. What would you say to 25-year-old Amber? What would your advice be to her if you could go back and tell her maybe one or two things that you think would really change her perspective the most?
Amber Little:I think I've had some really great mentors um over my career, but you know, I I don't necessarily stay in contact with them as much as I probably should. And I think that would really make a huge difference um in my career if I would just cling on to them a little more. Um, but also I think ask more questions. As I've gotten older, I'm like, I there's so many, like I said before, there's so many great people that want to share. You know, and you know, 25-year-old Amber doesn't want to ask questions. It's scary. Yeah. Right. And so now I'm like, yes, ask the question. Um, I don't understand it. Can you please go back and, you know, give me some info? But you know, as 25-year-old Amber, you're scared to do that, right?
Stefanie Couch:Yeah, what if they judge you for not knowing? Why don't you know this? Yeah, it's really hard to know when you're that young that nobody really knows what they're doing. We're all just trying to figure it out every day, and maybe you know a little bit more about certain things than others do or whatever, but um, nobody really has it figured out. And I think that is something that I would tell every person that I meet, no matter what age they are, if they don't realize that is like, hey, even the most successful people in the world, they're still trying to figure it out every day because no one's done all of these things that we're doing. You've never lived the life you're living before. You're still learning, always learning. Yeah, it's a challenge. Life is a challenge to kind of solve, but there's no exact right path. Like there's no roadmap for what building a business, for you know, being a leader. You have to figure out, and I think that's why I like Clifton Strength so much, is because that path really is unique to each person, but you can start to use those tools like that to say, okay, I lead with influencing or I lead with strategic thinking. I should be thinking about these things maybe from this point of view, because it's how I can be most efficient and most peak performance in my life. Yeah, it's so powerful. Yeah. I love Clifton Shrink because it's so specific and it really is like reading a psychic reading to someone. It's scary. If you if you get down to the report and start to talk to people, you know, we were at dinner the other night and I was kind of talking to people I'd never met before by looking at their reports and it's kind of like reading the tea leaves. But um it's been a game changer in my life and with my team to see where people should be and what to do and um how to talk to them, how to communicate with them, and how to challenge them. If someone is not competitive, giving them a carrot like that, like a scavenger hunt, if they don't have any competitive bone in their body, they're not gonna care. But if their competitive is high, like they'll do anything to win. It doesn't matter if there's a prize or not. I have competitive as number six in mind. So it's funny to watch how that lays out in the real world.
Amber Little:Absolutely. And then you put them in a team with competitive people and they're not competitive and they're getting pushed to be competitive. Exactly.
Stefanie Couch:They they don't, well, especially if they have some sort of relationship building strength where they want to make everyone happier. They want to make then the competitive person, they're just trying to make sure they're okay. Yeah, it's fun to watch that and uh from a perspective of the bystander to see how that works. Yeah, it's been fun. Yeah, it's been a great week so far. Well, I'm excited to have met you. Thank you again for inviting me, and I'm really excited to see what you do next. Can't wait to see the journal, and when it comes out, you'll have to send it to me. I would love to see it. It's gonna be 52 weeks, you said, and a week uh per chapter. Yes. All right, and it's gonna be for moms and and women leaders. Just women in general, just women leaders. Women leaders, and what is the title? Do you know that have a working title? Um, the inner work of leadership is what I'm thinking about so far. I love it. Amazing. Well, thank you for joining me on the Grit Blueprint podcast, and we will see you on our next episode. Thank you for listening to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. If this episode helped you think a little differently about how to show up, share it with someone in your building world who needs it. If you're ready to turn visibility into growth, then head to gritblueprint.com to learn more and book a call to talk to us about your growth strategy. Until next time, stay unmistakable.
