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Whether you are a minority contractor or not, this episode delves into what new opportunities exist within the electric vehicle industry and infrastructure. Specifically, our guest, Larry Bullock from the US Minority Contractors Association discusses how minority contractors can capitalize on the growing EV industry, and what partnership opportunities may exist for non-minority contractors. 00:46 The Morning Huddle Construction Show Sponsors 2:12 Catching Up with Stacey and Chad, Return of the Show Season 7, Episode 1. 4:00 Well Built- Chad's New Book 6:42 Steel Toe Communications discusses launch of Instagram and TikTok @CHAT_CTE 7:35 Introduction of Guest, Larry Bullock 12:57 The Economic Boom of the Transportation Industry. 15:10: 1/3 of where we need to be in fulfilling the 500,000 Station Promise, and half way through funding. Lots of opportunity. 15:53 The Joint Office for Energy and Transportation, www.driveelectric.gov/contact 17:12 Justice40: Goal is 40% of every dollar spent under the $5B operation should be spent in disadvantaged communities. 23:50 Which Non-MBE firms are partners with MBE firms. 28:00 Become Bid Ready 30:58 What kind of trades will be involved in installing and maintaining EV. 33:41 17 Electric Car Business Ideas: You Get in Where You Fit In 46:49 Closing Thank You to our Sponsors: Well Built Construction Consulting https://www.wellbuiltconsulting.com/ Steel Toe Communications (Digital Marketing for Contractors) https://www.steeltoecommunications.com/ Katz Abosch (Tax, Audits and Accounting) https://www.katzabosch.com/ Lawrence Law (Legal Challenges for Contractors) https://lawrencelawllc.com/ Sandy Spring Bank https://www.sandyspringbank.com/ Genesis AEC (Full Service Architecture, Engineering, Construction in Life Sciences) https://www.genesisaec.com/ Marsh McLennan Agency https://www.marshmma.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=ntl&utm_content=resilience&utm_campaign=ntl-brand-awareness-mma&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3P-2BhAEEiwA3yPhwBStkU82B0UALO_Ro1GKvn_sfhRJaY7TaEfwisj92ciDKSpYt52NwhoCPAcQAvD_BwE Construction Links Network: https://constructionlinks.ca/ For additional episodes and information visit https://www.themorninghuddleconstructionshow.com/about Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter for the latest updates. https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/Ro2QrVt/Themorninghuddlepodcast?__cf_chl_tk=9S8PSaN6zCOUNBhPtHXE.qk8HWtzxNNluBDlsEYhZkg-1726511898-0.0.1.1-8361

0:23 Independent Electrical Contractors: Skills USA Involvement and Workforce Development 2:58 How IEC works with parents and students to train future electricians. 3:24 Jacksonville, NC Teacher and Skills USA Coach chats about his all girl Teamworks Team: Carpenter, Plumber Bricklayer and Electrician. 4:40 Skills Jam Documentary 5:39 Teacher Involvement with SkillsUSA. 7:22 Using Associations to connect schools to businesses. 7:52 Otis Elevators talks about careers in the Elevator Industry. 9:36 Why all trades can transform over to the Elevator Industry. 10:08 Career Pathway Showcase for Career Services: Students Discuss Why SkillsUSA 10:42 National Technical Honor Society looking to make quality connections with Top Contractors: 100k Active Members, 65k New Members NTHS.ORG 12:47 Don't shy away from a school that doesn't have a construction program, have a conversation with a CTE instructor. 13:14 Skills USA Competitors talk about their involvement in the largest skilled trades competition. 14:07 General Dynamics builds destroyers for the navy, and also visits high schools to develop relationships with students. 18:06 York Technical College, SC student is set to compete in the HVAC category. 20:51 Recruiters from McCarthy on fall and spring apprenticeships and internship programs. 22:58 Interplay Learning talks about non-traditional academics, and consistently adding new modules to their program to help businesses, schools, and non-profits who want to learn about the trades in a digital format. 26:52 CBRE employs over 45k technicians all over the world. 29:18 Virtual Reality Demo 30:20 Two Skills USA student competitors talk carpentry and drywall.

Join The Morning Huddle for an insightful conversation with Jennifer Todd, President of LMS General Contractors, as she explores the nuances of unconscious bias and its impact on the construction industry. Drawing from her experiences, Jennifer reveals how these underlying attitudes shape the industry, potentially impeding efforts toward inclusivity and diversity. Discover strategies for cultivating a more equitable future in construction as Jennifer uncovers the effects of unconscious bias and shares her insights.

Traditional leadership programs often overlook the hurdles obstructing women's path to leadership in the construction industry. During this interview, we'll confront these barriers head-on. By identifying the real issues holding women back, we can lay the foundation for genuine transformation.

One of the challenges is the double bind - Women are told to be more assertive and confident if they want to advance to leadership roles. Then they’re reprimanded for being too bossy or called aggressive.

We often hear from well-intentioned men who want to contribute but are unsure how. During this interview, we'll talk about how to shift the burden of change off of women’s shoulders and create a shared responsibility for change across your entire organization. We'll also share evidence-based strategies that you can use to accelerate the path to leadership for the women in your company.

In celebration of National Apprenticeship Week, we have designed a special episode that focuses on the recruitment of seniors and recent graduates into the electrical industry.

We'll explore the benefits of choosing a career in the electrical industry, debunk common misconceptions, and uncover the vast opportunities that exist within this exciting field. Our guests will share their personal journeys, providing firsthand accounts of the hands-on training, career growth, and job satisfaction that can be found within the electrical industry. From apprentice success stories to the mentorship and support offered by contractors, you will hear inspiring narratives that showcase the rewards of pursuing a career in this dynamic trade.

It has been proven that exposure to the construction industry for school-aged kids inspires many to join the industry upon graduation. By the time kids are in high school, many have preconceived notions about the industry that make them hard to reach. In this episode, Mr. Jarrett joins us to share his story about the first CTE Program in Middle School in Philadelphia and the impact it's making on young lives.

With over 20 years of experience and certifications across multiple trades, Jason Blackwell was in a wreck that changed the trajectory of his life. Approached with the opportunity to teach, Jason found ways to inspire and support his students through his CTE program. In 2022, as the high school industrial maintenance teacher at Escambia Career Readiness Center in Brewton, Alabama, Jason was named a grand prize winner of the 2022 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, winning $30,000 for himself and $70,000 for his program. That then led to his current role with the Alabama State Department of Education and dreams of running for Governor. Join us to uncover what it takes to master craft training in and out of the classroom.

Great leaders are formed through their experiences. From the interactions they have with bosses, colleagues, and mentors to the education they receive from books and classes, our construction leaders are a product of the development they’ve received. In this episode, Vice President of Construction at Foulger-Pratt, Brett Harton, joins us to share his own leadership development journey and advice for current and future leaders alike on how we can build a better leadership culture in the industry.

Most construction companies recognize opportunities to improve their business. Few have a track record of capitalizing on those opportunities and driving positive change. In the fast-paced environment of designing and building, companies become accustomed to their problems and focus on getting their work done instead.

In a first for The Morning Huddle, host Chad Prinkey will become a guest and share his experience driving organizational change as a consultant for the construction industry over the past 15 years. We’ll discuss why companies get stuck and what employees and executives can do to get better today.

Many construction Project Managers have never received an education in their craft. Finding the time to travel to a training facility and sit for hours can be challenging for the average PM. We have so much going on and limited time, but quality professional development creates efficiency and reduces stress. In short, it is always worth investing time in training that will elevate your performance.

Join me, Stacey, and our guest Jim Rogers, a LinkedIn [In]structor who dedicates his time to delivering top-quality, easy-to-attend, online training programs for construction professionals right here on LinkedIn.

There’s a demand for qualified leaders in the construction industry, and our guest for this episode has dedicated herself to meeting that demand by unleashing the potential of women in leadership positions. Mentors guide up-and-coming professionals, using their experience to help develop a (usually younger) mentee. Sponsors, on the other hand, advocate on behalf of their mentees and help them advance in their careers by being proactive with those in positions of power. In this episode, we learn how to be an effective sponsor for up-and-coming leaders in the construction industry to help eliminate the leadership shortage.

Our workforce is in dire need of capable, passionate young people with technical education applicable to careers in construction. Amy Rock is one person delivering that to Prince George's County Maryland and the surrounding region.

Guest: Kevin Fleming PhD

Topic: Purpose Driven Education

Transcript:

Speaker 1: 00:00

So Kevin, when you, you've got a. We were just talking about this YouTube video of you. How, how much of your time do you spend in front of audiences? Like, you know, how often is that a thing for you?

Speaker 2: 00:18

It's a side hobby that's just, that's evolved. But I'm still full time community college vice president, so I do maybe 15 to 20 keynotes or speaking engagements a year. So it's definitely not my full time gig. But, but I love it. And at some point, maybe those two roles will, will reverse. Like for many of our kids, sometimes plan B becomes plan A and vice versa. But I love, I love working with schools and with districts, colleges and students, just kind of helping them navigate life after 12th grade. So I do, I do a little bit of it. Some of the animation videos take a chunk. And right now I'm working on my fourth book. So that takes a chunk of time. So like all of us just spinning, spinning plates and still trying to be a good dad.

Speaker 1: 01:01

I can relate. I know that drill so well. So welcome to everybody. It's showtime. We've got a slightly delayed show this morning. We're doing a holiday special time mostly to make sure that we can accommodate our guest, Kevin Fleming. We had this conversation about bringing Kevin on. It was like, we really want to have Kevin on. Kevin is located in California. Yeah, California.

Speaker 2: 01:28

Southern California.

Speaker 1: 01:29

And in California, it's weird, they follow this different time zone thing and, and Kevin was like, look, I can try to be on at 4:45, but I don't know that that would go well. And so, so for Kevin right Now it's still 6:45, still bright and early on the west coast. But I'm sorry, now. Yeah, sorry, 7am on the West coast, but 10am here on the east Coast. Thank you, Kevin, so much for, for making this happen. It's awesome to have you here.

Speaker 2: 02:00

Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 02:02

Yeah, this is great. So, Kevin, I actually. You just said you're finishing your fourth book. Talk to us just a little bit about your books, your authorship, what's your. What have you been writing?

Speaker 2: 02:15

Yeah, I, well, thanks, Chad, for asking. I consider myself a recovering academic elitist. So I did the traditional educational pathway and got a bunch of degrees and then realized I couldn't get a job. And so a lot of my research and work is really fixing that, that chasm in helping people prepare with intentionality for what they don't want to do with their life and not just to get degrees for the sake of getting them. So my first book was called Redefining the Goal and that was written for an audience of educators to help them really understand that commencement is not the goal, but it's a milestone. And the goal is really what happens after that and what people do with their lives and in their communities. My second book was on a really niche area of higher education. It's called program discontinuance and viability. Really helping faculty and administrators change their career technical education programs over regularly. My third book was a children's book. My daughter's now five and so I read a lot of children's book and nothing really hit the mark for our field and talking about all the different careers they could have. So, so that's a children's book called There's a Hat for that. And you follow Little Monkey through all the different industry sectors and trying different hats. A construction had an engineering hat, of course. And then my fourth book is going to be for parents and it's tentatively titled Life After 12th.

Speaker 1: 03:30

Love it. That's exciting. Do you have a target release date for that?

Speaker 2: 03:35

November 2022. We just got the first draft is being refined right now. And then you got to go through the whole production cycle. So I'm looking at a pre Christmas release next year.

Speaker 1: 03:43

Wonderful. That's exciting. And you know, so, so purpose driven education, that is our, you know, topic for today. And you know that, you know, this is an audience, our audience, Stacy and I, every, everybody that joins us, you know, either a contractor, an engineer, architect, or services the, you know, construction community in some way, maybe a developer. And so that is, I know that your experience is outside of that as well. Right. You're bridging all different types of occupational settings in your educational background. But bearing in mind that we're going to be talking about the building industry, I want to invite the audience as always, please shoot in your questions. You should have some great ones based on the topic today, which I think is extremely relevant to the building industry. And Stacy, engage with that audience as you always do and make sure that we gather great questions that we can pose to Kevin in the final 10 minutes. And then one quick heads up is that Stacy and I have planned a couple of giveaways through the course of the conversation today. So keep your eye on the chat. Stacy's going to be hitting you with a couple of quiz questions. First person to answer wins. And we'll share with you what what the opportunities are for for the giveaway today.

Speaker 2: 05:15

Am I eligible?

Speaker 1: 05:17

Yeah, Kevin, no, you're out. You are, you do not qualify yeah, but you get two points for asking. I think that took, uh, that was good.

Speaker 2: 05:27

Points don't matter. All right, good.

Speaker 1: 05:30

All right, cool Stacy, we'll see you with 10 minutes to go. All right audience, we look forward to hearing your questions. And uh, and you know, hopefully uh, a couple of you guys get our quiz questions right so we can send you some cool st. See you soon, Stacy.

Speaker 3: 05:42

See ya.

Speaker 1: 05:44

All right, so Kevin, let's, let's dig in. I think, you know, we, in conversation leading up to this interview today, we talked about this idea that there's, you know, a message for educators and there's a message for students and there's a message for employers. And I think for our, for our audience today, it makes sense to focus on employers and students, you know, families, if you will, parents, which I think we can all, many of us can relate to. And you know, if maybe you're not a parent, maybe you're actually a student and you're checking this out, it'd be relevant. You know, questions along those lines would be relevant as well. So you mentioned earlier, how do we help students to realize it's not just about commencement. Give me more on that. How do we help students to realize that?

Speaker 2: 06:40

Yeah, so we, we have a whole educational system and I'm in that system so I can poke at it with a fair amount of love and affinity. But we have a public educational system in America that is really set up for commencement and for university baccalaureate attainment. That's primarily what this system was always set up for. So first, as, as employers have to acknowledge that that that's what the system's going to get. If you look at how they're funded, if you look at what are the metrics, education, it's, it's very much directed towards a couple very specific outcomes and they're not often in aligned with what the labor market needs. I've spent at least 10 years worthy in the manufacturing, industrial automation, robotics, space. And our systems are just not set up to help students engage, hands on and have work based learning and to really tease out some of those other outcomes other than commencement. And so a part of this structural challenge we have is we all have the same ultimate goal. We want our students and our children to have a great educational experience. We want them to find a career they love. We want them to be productive members of the citizenry in our community. We define that success differently. So the first I think maybe aha moment is for employers that want to bridge this gap. They want to work together with schools, the first thing is really to realize that they have a different set of metrics that they're trying to fulfill that motivates them. And it's not the same metrics we have. Schools are not rewarded by actually creating a large pipeline of trained workers. Shocking. That's what we want, but that's actually not what they're designed or incentivized to do.

Speaker 1: 08:13

Right. Yeah. There's this. The love of education, and I love educating. I think the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of learning is a very, very worthwhile endeavor. And, you know, personally read all kinds of books that I'm not going to necessarily use in my occupation, but I think that maybe the appropriate space for that kind of learning is maybe in books on your free time. But when you're going to school, as you're, as you're, you know, you're spending, you know, when it's your job to be a student, on some level, we have to be, I think, considering the fact that once that's done, you're actually going to have a job.

Speaker 2: 08:52

That's right.

Speaker 1: 08:53

And so, you know, what is it that you're learning that is going to be applicable? And I think there's the Purpose Driven education piece now. So you mentioned I'm gonna get it wrong, but you and I, yesterday you said a word. I was like, I'm gonna get him to say this publicly. Oh, ika guy.

Speaker 2: 09:13

Yeah, Ika guy. All right, so I learned about this last year. So here's what I want you if, for all those listening, if you're on the treadmill or if you're driving, don't do this. But if you're in front of your computer, if you can go to your phone, open up a new tab and Google image this word. It's called ikigai I k I G A ikigai I K I G A I And if you Google image that, you're going to see this image of a Venn diagram with four circles. And ikigai is a Japanese philosophy of getting that intrinsic motivation, and it's a reason for living. It's poorly translated as the thing that wakes you up in the morning. We might loosely define that in Western culture as purpose, but that's a poor translation of it, but it really aligns four different things. And so the concept of ikigai says you want to identify what can you get paid to do, what do you love to do, what does the world need? And what are you actually good at? And if you can get those overlapping circles, if you can find the thing or the few things that hit the bullseye in all four of those dimensions, you're going to have a reason for getting up in the morning, you're going to want to labor, you're going to want to contribute. You're going to love what you do. And imagine if I like a lot of what ifs, Chad. What if our school system actually focused on helping students find their e. A guy instead of helping them just go through commencement and graduate? It'd be a whole different structure in helping students learn what they love and what they're good at and what problems the world has that needs solving. Instead of get a degree in philosophy like I was initially taught to do.

Speaker 1: 10:40

As a parent of three, I am really, really glad that there are people like you out there fighting the good fight, trying to make sure that our educational systems do that. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do right away is I'm going to start to weave that thought process into my conversations with my kids.

Speaker 2: 10:55

Awesome.

Speaker 1: 10:55

Right? And I think, I think that's something that all of us can do. But, but meanwhile, I think there's that. I mean, that's, I've all my. You know, when I was a kid, my dad always told me, if you do something that you're passionate about and that you're really good at, chances are pretty good that money is going to find you as long as you're doing something that people care about.

Speaker 2: 11:18

That's right.

Speaker 1: 11:20

That was the, that was the X factor. And you know, turns out, you know, I. I missed my calling. I should have become a professional video game player. Evidently that, in fact, is a thing.

Speaker 2: 11:32

It's a thing now. You were just a decade too early. That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 11:35

I was just a decade too. You nailed it. It's exactly how too early I was.

Speaker 2: 11:39

And the thing I love about ikigai is. And you have children. A lot of the, the people listening are kids. My daughter's 5. She loves to build. She loves blocks, Legos, like her first erector set. She loves to build things, and frankly, she loves to knock them down with as much tenacity. She might be a future demolition supervisor or something, but she loves to create and build what kids don't. Right. Fast forward 10 years and how many teenagers are playing with blocks and building as much? Something happens in that span, but looking at ikigai, they love it and they're. And they're good at it, then we don't keep reinforcing it. So, yeah, I think as wearing our parent hat and Then also wearing our employer hat, I think it's important to say, okay, how do we give people the opportunity in the space to practice the things they love to practice, the things they're good at so they can get great at it. And that includes of course, building an engineering design.

Speaker 1: 12:28

Yeah. And Lord knows they can get paid to do it and there's a need for it. That's right. Let's talk about what it is to be an employer. How can employers play a more meaningful role in driving the student population to consider the building industry?

Speaker 2: 12:52

Absolutely. There's a short term game and there's a long term game. So what a lot of people think they need to do is just go visit a classroom, give a presentation and get to know the principal and all of a sudden you're going to have this trained pipeline of workers and that's insufficient, that's not going to work. It's really a three to five year game and that's a short term game. To change the structure of the system a little bit, we have to change the DNA of the school. And it goes beyond just one interpersonal relationship. The long term game, the ten year game. For those that are in this for the long haul, we actually have to change state policy. And that's, and that's the answer. And the example I can give is South Carolina, they changed state tax code to incentivize apprenticeships and over a 10 year period they saw a 20 year, 20 times increase rather their formal apprenticeship programs. And that's union or non union. And so that's, that's a longer term play. So I'd say short term we have to build the actual programs into the school. And here's one way to look about it. Think if everyone can think about the two closest high schools to you. Do they both have strong construction trade programs? And if the answer is no or I don't know, then that's where you start. And you start right there by getting a bunch of employers to show up at the school board and just say we have great paying jobs, we provide great standard of living, there's a needle. You have students that have this desire, how do we partner? What do we have to do to start a program? That's a three to five year dialog that's not going to happen overnight. So that's like your short term. The long term is having that same conversation with elected officials and actually looking at tax incentives and education code to prioritize hands on construction trade programs in at least 51% of schools. And that's both middle school, high school and community college. That's a, that's an eight to 10 year game.

Speaker 1: 14:30

It's a really difficult proposition, I think, in, in particularly for the, the vast majority of construction companies that are, you know, less than 100 employees, that are not rolling in millions of dollars of profit every year that they can reinvest into their businesses. It's a very difficult proposition, I think, to get these employers to act. I would even say, I think you kind of have to act unselfishly to do this. I know that it's, it's, it's long, maybe it's long term selfish, but, but you have to go into this idea that I'm not just setting up this pipeline for me, I'm setting up this pipeline for our industry and that may benefit my competition.

Speaker 2: 15:23

Well, I would say it's okay to be selfish. I'd say you show up and you say you need, you want to make sure you have a trained workforce for the next five to seven years.

Speaker 1: 15:29

Right.

Speaker 2: 15:30

And if that's you, if that resonates, then this is actually it's okay to be selfish. This is you getting the best employees that you can out of middle schools and high schools and community colleges so that you have a bench of great folks to choose from. I'd say be selfish about it. And everyone's busy. A lot of listeners there. You're running your own business. There's, you know, there's small contractors, maybe 50 employees or less. I'd ask just for two hours, give two hours in 2022, go to two board meetings, one hour each in 2022. That's my ask. That's the initial call to action. Go to your local school board for one hour twice this year. And if you can have even just 10 or 15 employers show up and do that at the same school board every single month, there's two contractors filling out a little card to give your 30 seconds at the podium that says, I need your help and we have great jobs. Eventually they will hear you. But if everyone just did two hours a year, that's how we change this.

Speaker 1: 16:20

Wow. I love that. I mean, I think it's, there's a power, there's, there's, you got to do the math on that. I think exponentially, it could be massively impactful if everybody did that. I just wrote it down. I'll be, I'll be making that step. I'll be taking that step this year for sure for the building industry.

Speaker 2: 16:40

That's what makes a difference. And you know, I've met a lot of school board and a lot of, you know, university trustee members. They're good people. They want what's best for their students. They're typically not malicious. 99% of them are altruistic good people. Right. So, so when, when they have this steady stream of information coming at them, they only know what they know. And they may not have been in the construction trade. So when you start pinging them every single month with tenacity and with fidelity, over time they're going to, they're going to hear you and eventually they will respond. And that, that's the, that's the three year game.

Speaker 1: 17:10

So, so back to speaking as a parent here. You know, in, in I have to put my, what I know about the building industry off to the side and all the opportunities that exist for, for just, just for a moment to ask this question. I think a lot of parents fear getting their children involved in the building industry because there's some sort of mindset or mentality that these jobs are bad, that they are going away, that they are right, that everything's going to be automated, that these aren't the ideal kinds of jobs, you know, that people should want. What would you say to parents who fear getting their children involved in the building industry?

Speaker 2: 17:58

Well, first they can call my brother who did the inverse. He got his bachelor's degree in TV and film production, only to later become a general contractor. So sometimes you can want the best thing for someone and then they go down this path and realize it's not in alignment with who they are. And I think every parent would agree with the philosophy of Ikigai. And I would say to them, well, don't your child, don't you want them to do what they love and what they're good at and what they can get paid to do that solves a problem the world has no parent with any conscience can say, no, I don't want that at all. I just want them to get a piece of paper in psychology because that was no.

Speaker 1: 18:29

Right.

Speaker 2: 18:29

So, but I would say we can historically look at automation and robotics. The example I like to share is the ATM in the financial services industry. I tell parents this and I wrote about my book. Do you remember back in the 90s when ATMs first came out? Late 80s, early 90s, there was this big scare that all the tellers were going to get fired and we were going to automate the banking industry. Well, if you look before ATMs and after ATMs, there's more workers in the financial services industry, when you walk in now, they're doing a lot more than just being a teller. They're helping us with financial investments and getting a mortgage and a Roth IRA and all these other things. Right. But there's more employees. Even if we get 3D printers on the job site that helps us build, we're still going to need people to set up, maintain and clean up and do quality control on these builds. So automation is not going to get rid of the headcount or the number of jobs in the, in this industry. It's just going to increase the number in a different skill set in a different way. So, so we might have to learn new things about artificial intelligence and robotics and, but it's not, it's not going to change the fact that there's still a great industry with a good workforce. It just might change some of the hands on skills we need to adopt along the way.

Speaker 1: 19:37

What changes what the skill set for preparing for a career in the trades might look like as the, as technology and innovation changes what building looks like. But it doesn't change the fact that again those, those, those students that, that love building, are passionate about doing it, are good at it, that, that if we can train, if we can, you know, leverage that passion and get them trained up so that they can be prepared. Maybe it looks totally different 30 years from now, but I think what I'm hearing you say is don't be afraid to, to get your. Look, any industry is going to change.

Speaker 2: 20:23

That's right.

Speaker 1: 20:24

Every industry is going to adapt and it's all going to look different, you know, and, and you know, for, for that's what progress looks like.

Speaker 2: 20:31

That's right. We don't want it to look the same.

Speaker 1: 20:34

Right.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Every industry, I mean just look at the last year and a half, how many industries because of the pandemic have completely changed and adopted new technology and different ways of operating that we, there was a recent McKenzie report that says we as a society evolved 10 years in the last year in terms of our technological, you know, advancement and adoption. Every industry is going to change. We can't fear automation and robotics, is it not being. But I'd also tell parents that this is one of the few industries you can't outsource. You know, my doctor outsources reading the X rays, my accountant outsources filling out some of the tax forms. You can't outsource many elements of construction and engineering. And so this is actually more resistant to at least that economic force than other industries. I'd Be more fearful of my child going into accounting in the next 20 years than I would at the construction and building trades.

Speaker 1: 21:23

Love it. I totally agree with you. So we have, in my opinion, and I think many others, we have this really interesting paradox that has to be solved. And what we've been discussing today, I think, is the path through it, both the short game and the long game, as you've described, where we've got. We're not at 0% unemployment in the United States.

Speaker 2: 21:50

That's right.

Speaker 1: 21:52

So roughly how many Americans are today without jobs, American citizens without jobs?

Speaker 2: 21:58

As of Yesterday, it was 6.9 million Americans, 4.2% unemployment rate. So from a labor market perspective, we have about seven. Let's round up from 6.9 million. It's called seven million. There's seven million Americans.

Speaker 1: 22:11

We have seven million Americans sitting at home who don't have work.

Speaker 2: 22:17

That's right. And I'm going to bet, Chad, a lot of them when they were kids like to build, and a lot of them today still might like to create. And they might want to have a legacy that outlives themselves and supports things beyond even their vitality of life. And I think a lot of them, we failed as a system, as a community, as an educational contract. We failed those seven million human beings. I think we were designed to work. I think we were created to labor. I think we have something in our DNA that we want to produce and give back and make things. And I think we failed 7 million people by either directly or indirectly convincing them that this isn't a viable opportunity for them. And I think we vilified hard work. As I like to quote Mike Rowe, who speaks a lot about this. And so there's a labor market answer to this, is that you could look out in any state, any region, look at the unemployment rate. There's a lot of folks out there that could benefit from a better understanding and changing the way they perceive the opportunities in this industry. And that's a marketing that goes right back to Marketing 101 and just, you know, getting associations, not necessarily individual employers, but associations out there to get the information out there about what the benefits are. What the. And not just about pay. I'm talking benefits about. In alignment with your eco guide. I'm talking about the benefits of being a contributor to community and be an example to your kids, not just be a taxpayer.

Speaker 1: 23:37

Yeah. And. And create that clear entrance, that clear path that makes it obvious for people how to get involved.

Speaker 2: 23:50

And.

Speaker 1: 23:50

And I think meanwhile, every day I'm talking with you know at least five, maybe six different construction companies every single day, 50 to 75% of them are falling all over themselves to bring talent in at every level in their organization. And, and we have 7 million people who aren't, who aren't, you know, successfully finding jobs.

Speaker 2: 24:16

That's a great.

Speaker 1: 24:17

Imagine how many other people who hate what they're doing.

Speaker 2: 24:22

That's right. They call it now the great reshuffle. You know, there's a lot of people that are cashier somewhere and they don't want to be a cashier anymore. They'd much rather be outside and doing so. So yeah, we're in the middle of that great reshuffle right now. There's never been time to get out new messaging or to dust off the old messaging we abandoned 10 years ago and really start promoting with tenacity the opportunities we provide, the well being and the self efficacy, self confidence we can give to people. And for everyone listening, if you're not out there at least doing, you know, at least once a quarter, volunteering for things like Habitat for Humanity and getting out there, those are the opportunities that middle school kids sometimes will go to. We need to get if our king of the world chat and my wife likes to remind me I'm not, but if I were, every middle school kid would go out there and do Habitat for Humanity so they can see geometry actually being applied and they can get excited about erecting a wall and running pipe and running wire and understanding how that, that those systems all work together and those, those experiences can really light a fire inside them and create a desire to go into this industry. So I'd say anything you could do to make sure everyone in your community does something like Habitat for Humanity, that also is part of the long term game that will pay dividends down the road.

Speaker 1: 25:34

Outstanding. Stacy, I brought you back on. We've got a little over five minutes. What do we got?

Speaker 3: 25:41

Okay, so I had a question for you. You were talking. I love the actionable plan because I sit in a lot of these workforce development discussions and we're so stuck on just Career day and having volunteers represent our industry and Career Day because we don't know how to go above and beyond that really. So I love the tips that you gave and the fact that it's a three to five year game or a ten year game with the state policy. So I'm thinking what the contractors would want to know who needs to sit on the school board meetings is it. We have a recruiter that usually works with a contracting firm, workforce development person or the owners or all three. I don't know, like who would you assign that role to?

Speaker 2: 26:30

All three. You each take a month, have the CEO in January, the recruiter in February, of the HR person in March. I mean, I would say everybody there's. Imagine how powerful it would be. You're, imagine you're a school board member, you want your, you know, you're running your local school. Imagine if a CEO came to the podium one night and said, I have 18 jobs that are going unfilled in our community and you're not producing from your school. Workers that are interested in my field and I pay 30 bucks an hour. Like, how piercing is that? When they hear that month after month after month after month repeatedly from, from one industry, eventually they're going to get. So you're going to browbeat them kindly and always be kind, right? But you're, you're going to, eventually you're going to guilt them and embarrass them into responding, at least having a conversation about what they're doing to prepare students for, for the billed trades. I think every high school should have at least two apprenticeship programs. Every single high school, union or non. Union. And, and if your high school doesn't, that's a really easy thing to point at and say, hey, we got thousands of jobs in the community. Why don't you have even one apprenticeship program in your school district? That's hard for them to defend. And eventually they're going to start getting people galvanized around that to figure out, okay, we should have at least one apprenticeship program. The apprenticeship model is not. Knew Jesus Christ was an apprentice. This is not a new model. So why doesn't every school in America have at least one apprenticeship program? When you start asking those kind of poignant but polite questions, then they start to respond. So I would say great questions, Stacey. I'd say all of them. Everyone take a turn with a slightly different angle at it. And you get five or six of your other company buddies in the same community do the same. Don't let a school board meeting go by without someone being at the podium asking them to respond to the industry. And I bet about four to six months in, that's when you'll see some traction.

Speaker 3: 28:13

Nice.

Speaker 1: 28:15

So I just read. Stacy, I'm sorry, I just read a comment that I had to call out. So I read this comment that said some of us should go back to high school and be guidance counselors. I love that.

Speaker 2: 28:29

Yes, Gregory, yes. Here's my thing about guidance counselor. I love school counselors. I love their hard working, warm people, but I think less than 10% of them have ever had a job outside of being a school counselor. So we have to recognize who they are. They went to school, they got their bachelor's, they got their master's in counseling, then started working at the school board or the school district. They don't know what they don't know, so they're incentivized to get them just to commencement. I think maybe we should have a. Buy a school counselor, take a school counselor out to lunch day or something and help them see what's going on in the world and help educate them because again, hard working, good people, but they don't know what they don't know. If. If you're looking to retire, I would absolutely encourage you to go back and be a school counselor. That. That's certainly one way to infiltrate the system. You can't change the system if you're not in the system. As a mentor of mine used to.

Speaker 1: 29:17

Say, you can't change the system if you're not in the system. Yeah. And that's. I mean, that's my biggest takeaway, you know, in terms of personal involvement as a parent. Very easy to make a presence at school board meetings and, you know, get an opportunity to speak. I think that makes a ton of sense.

Speaker 2: 29:36

Two hours a year. That's all we're asking, Chad. Awesome.

Speaker 1: 29:39

Stacy, what else we got? We got probably time for one more.

Speaker 3: 29:43

I don't see any questions. Lots of great, great comments. We can get into the three giveaway questions.

Speaker 1: 29:51

Thank you. Yes. All right. All right.

Speaker 3: 29:53

I want to do it during the discussion because it was so good and I just thought it was inappropriate, but good call.

Speaker 2: 30:00

I don't.

Speaker 1: 30:00

I have my gauge on what's appropriate. Stacy is terrible.

Speaker 2: 30:04

I'm with you. I'm with you.

Speaker 3: 30:06

I don't want to take this off topic, so let's do the first one. Kevin has generously said he would give away one of his children's books that he published. So with that being said, the first person to respond to this question, how many books has Kevin Fleming actually published?

Speaker 2: 30:26

Someone had to be paying attention for that one.

Speaker 1: 30:28

Yeah, I like that. There's a little trick in there, too.

Speaker 3: 30:31

I don't know how many people joined us in the very beginning.

Speaker 1: 30:34

Yeah, you had to be there for the first 10 minutes.

Speaker 3: 30:36

Might as well just guess.

Speaker 2: 30:39

Some educated guesses. Let's see. Well, they know it's at least one or else you wouldn't ask a question. Right?

Speaker 3: 30:47

Exactly. Nope. Not two. Try again.

Speaker 2: 30:59

Good guess, Mark.

Speaker 3: 31:03

Very close, though. Come on, guys. Hey.

Speaker 1: 31:06

Oh, there it was. Caitlyn's got it.

Speaker 3: 31:08

Come on. Caitlyn's got it. So. All right, Caitlyn, I'll contact you and you have one of Kevin's children's books. And then remind us again, Kevin, when is your fourth book going to be published? November, right?

Speaker 2: 31:23

Yeah. Next fall it'll be called tentatively entitled There's a life after 12th. And that'll equip parents with the conversation points to help their, their child really have success in alignment with who they are with life after commencement.

Speaker 3: 31:37

Okay, cool. Two more questions.

Speaker 1: 31:40

So, Stacy, Stacy, I apologize, I'm gonna have to, I have to call this one thing out. Is it. I totally forgot that we have like a solid 30 second delay from the time we say something to the time that we. The time that people see it and then the time that they type. So here's, here's what I'm going to propose is that you pop them in the chat afterward just so that we don't have two minutes of awkward waiting. And so, so watch, watch the chat box right after this, guys. Watch the chat box right after this. Stacy's gonna pose two questions. The first two accurate answers. We will be hooking up with your choice of giveaway. Stacy, what are we doing? We're doing mugs.

Speaker 3: 32:28

Yeah, mugs. Some swag we'll give you from the morning huddle. But the next question is the first person to name two guests that we had on our first season so far.

Speaker 1: 32:38

All right, cool, good. So we'll pop them in the chat. We'll handle. You're going to put those questions in the chat, Stacy? Yes, yes, I just put it in the wonderful. All right, Kevin, I can't thank you enough for being here, spreading a really, really important word. It was wonderful to have you. I hope that we can do this again maybe in November next year. The timing would be good.

Speaker 2: 32:58

I like where you're going with that. Yeah, let's, let's, let's, let's plan for it. Thank you, Chad. Thank you so much, Stacey. Appreciate you both. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 33:04

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 33:06

Thank you so much, guys. We are off next week. We are taking off the weekend between Christmas and New Year's. We're gonna reload and get ready to rock for the first week in January. Our guest the week in the first week in January is Marissa Bankert. She's the executive director for Central Pennsylvania's Independent Electrical Contractors association, who's going to be joining us to talk about attracting women to the Trades. So, you know, similar kind of theme here, which is how do we get more awesome people involved in the building industry specifically? Marissa's got a great story of her success in attracting women to the trade. So don't miss it. We look forward to seeing you. Happy holidays. Stacy, anything to say as we wrap up?

Speaker 3: 33:53

One more question. Which topic haven't we covered yet? The first person to respond correctly, A, acquisition B, small business, C, cybersecurity, or D, contact roles. And there might be a little bit of lag here.

Speaker 1: 34:11

There will be. We'll get it. We'll get it in the chat.

Speaker 3: 34:15

So my husband tried to respond to the one question, but, no, he does not get a prize. So, Libby. Yes. You won.

Speaker 1: 34:25

All right, Libby. Awesome. All right, guys. Stacy, do you mind? Do you want to hang out? Is that what you want to do?

Speaker 3: 34:34

Yeah, I just want to wait for the last one.

Speaker 1: 34:37

She has to give somebody. Yeah, I get it.

Speaker 3: 34:38

I have to. So which topic haven't we covered? A, acquisition B, small business, C, cyber security, or D, contract contact roles?

Speaker 1: 34:51

Oh, we got Matthew.

Speaker 3: 34:53

Correct. Matt. Matt won. All right, Matt, you got some goodies coming your way.

Speaker 1: 34:59

All right, guys.

Speaker 3: 35:01

All right. Thank you so much for joining us. Happy holidays. And we'll see them in January, right?

Speaker 1: 35:06

Yeah, January, January, whatever that is. Fourth. The first two back at our normal time. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Speaker 3: 35:12

Okay, great.

Speaker 1: 35:13

Thanks, guys. Thank.