Business Innovators Radio - Episode 17: Seven Principles: Creating Success in the Construction Industry With Henry Nutt

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Part of the Construction Executives Live SeriesCreating Success in the Construction Industry is essential to help you achieve your goals. Henry Nutt shares relatable, relevant, engaging, and life-changing principles. He believes that if readers can understand and practice these principles with consistency and the appropriate mindset toward specific challenges, they can obtain their desired careers and aspirations.In The Zonehttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/in-the-zone/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-17-seven-principles-creating-success-in-the-construction-industry-with-henry-nutt

Welcome to In the Zone, brought to you by U.S. Construction Zone, bringing you strategies for success with construction innovators and change makers, including In The Zone peer-nominated national award winners. Here are your host, Jeremy and Valerie Owens. Hey, clock struck 10. If you know anything about me, I'm prompt. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome back to Construction Executives Live. I am still your host, Jeremy Owens. I own a business. business in Folsom, California called Three Generations Improvements where we do a lot of remodeling. And my side hustle, my fun job, I guess my labor of love is U.S. Construction Zone, where I'm attempting to connect all of you construction executives throughout the nation, not only connect you together, but put you in touch with the right people at the right time, with the right events, all those things. And we've got a great, great speaker and guests today. You guys are going to be in for quite a treat today. As I mentioned earlier, please be interactive on this.

Go ahead and chat amongst yourselves as we talk. We definitely want to make this very interactive. And if you have questions for myself or the speaker, please don't hesitate to do so. But let's get on with the show. We're very lucky to have Henry, and he serves as the pre-construction executive for Southland Industries after serving as the sheet metal general superintendent for over 12 years. He has been a member of local 104 sheet metal workers in Northern California since 1987. Henry currently sits on the Associate General Contractors of America's Board of Directors and is their current chair for the Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee, which he has served on since its inception in 2016. He also sits on AGC's California DEI Steering Committee.

and he has helped develop initiatives designed to support, educate, and promote a diverse and inclusive culture for AGC member companies while being on both committees. His approach to the complexity of the current climate is one of calm, courage, and commitment. Henry is a consistent voice of reason, even in the worst of times, and is not afraid to have uncomfortable conversations that have the potential to bring about positive change. He is the author of a recently published book called Seven Principles, Creating Your Success in the construction industry, which we will be talking about here in a second. And Henry is the incoming chair of the Lean Construction Institute's board of directors.

He currently leads a task force designed to encourage the adoption of lien practices for trade partners through the development of new website called The Daily Huddle. I want you guys to check that out. If one of you guys could put that in the chat, that would be great. Henry was the 2018 recipient of the prestigious LCI Pioneer Award, and he resides with me in Northern California with his beautiful family. please help me welcome Henry Net the 3rd Henry thank you so much for being here thank you Jeremy pleasure being here all right right on man well as we were chatting

earlier we we both are talkers so we have a lot to say so we want to really just dive right into it but let's start with your your background in construction how did you get started well it's you know my so my dad was a sheet motor worker and he's retired now and and watched him go to work every day. Sometimes he had more than one job and just seeing him do it. And it was one of those things where he wanted me to do it, which I didn't want to do in the beginning. And so I was fixed on going to college,

would be an engineer, and it was going down that path. And he said, well, just try and take the test. Just take the test. All you have to do. So I couldn't argue with that. I take the test. And then it changed my life plans, It's kind of like almost overnight.

And so the rest is history. And so it's been a journey, but that's how I got into it. Somebody that was in it, got to see them do it. Yeah, I'm the same way. I'm third generation in the industry. So, you know, I think we both share something very common. I mean, in construction, I hear this a thousand times is, you know, you watch your father's work ethic and it rubs off on you. And, you know, tell me a little bit about that because honestly, I think we're,

missing that ingredient in a lot of our society now is watching your parents hustle and we're fortunate that we got to do that so tell me a little bit about that yeah you know i was always around my dad uh he was kind of a man that would work on cars uh do things around the house himself and always pulled me alongside of you know and so it got a chance to i mean i'm changing brakes at a young age and just learning how to do different things that I probably took for granted that that this is what happens to every family. And I learned as I got older that that was not true because I was probably a rare breed when it came to being able to cook and then also go and change brakes in a car,

which all those things my dad promoted. My mom did as well, but my dad was not normal that you see men in the kitchen cooking. And so having the only boy in the house next to my father, I got to see that happening and it was normal. And so it really was him just displaying that characteristic, you know. And he always had probably more than one job. It's one thing that he didn't lack is going to work, you know, and providing for the family. And so just growing up, you just kind of inherit that, you know.

You just grab that instinctively as a young person and understand that you need to work. And you need to get up early in the morning. You need to have a routine. You need to be disciplined. and all those kind of things that, again, you can take for granted until you get older and you recognize that it's not necessarily all common. And so that's something that I truly acknowledge that he and my mom obviously did that, but seeing a man do it was really important for me and just say, hey, here's what you do. Here's how you conduct yourself, and this is just normal practice. And so there's no reward necessary.

This is what we're supposed to do, you know? And so I appreciate him for that. Yeah, I mean, I see Dr. G's in here tuning in. So thank you for being here, Dr. G. And she said it too. Like if you see it, it's so much easier to, you know, achieve it. And so us being able to visualize what work ethic and what hard work and what struggle, honestly, what struggle looks like and pain, right, and failure. And that was all important for me too. And if I didn't see it, then I would have to learn that on my own, right? So it was super helpful for me as well.

And you know, you mentioned too that you briefly quit the construction industry and came back. So I guess what caused the quit and the back, I guess? Yeah, there's a story there, obviously. And there's a big gap in that, you know, in regards to going through the trade, going through the apprenticeship, and somewhat successfully, you know, had a lot of great people that pulled me to their side and helped me along the way. when I turned out to journey level, I found myself getting laid off all the time, you know,

and I didn't feel like it was because I didn't know what I was doing or I wasn't fast and all those things. It just seemed like I just wasn't the right person. You know, I didn't have some of the connections. And so I would be the first person, Henry, sorry, we've got to let you go, we'll bring you back, blah, blah, blah, you know, and you're going through this cycle of being laid off. And I had never been laid off as an apprentice. And so I'm thinking to myself at that time, I believe I was newly married, and I had no plans on working six months out of the year as a career. And so I felt like this is not working for me. And I do a lot of struggle and, you know, internal conversations. I decided that I was going to go back to school and go do that and

had an agreement then with my wife then and said, I'm going to go back to school and pursue this career in this other industry and I was doing that and I remember I was on the bar and uh have this epiphany happened as this voice from God or something you know it was like what are you doing you have this five-year certificate training and you're now going down a different path and it was just like it stopped me and I remember coming home and talking to her about it and decided to go back. And the difference that, and then I talked about this in the book, when I went back, I had a different attitude. And I had to not look at what people were doing to me or not doing to be, but how was I going to be different when I showed up again? And that's what I did.

I became a person that didn't get intimidated by all these older people around me that had this experience. I was always a young guy. I used to get teased about being a young kid on the job sites. And so I got in at 19. And so I had. to come back with this different attitude and confidence and really understand what my place was and that I can contribute just like anyone else. And so I did that. And so it made all the difference in the world and the trajectory of where I was going from that point on. And it really had to do with me, not so much with every other person. And because I still experienced some similar things, but I just found my voice, you know, and I think that's really important. So coming back was

was not just coming back to go to work, but really coming back with this attitude of me being different and understanding how I needed to conduct myself to be successful. Yeah, I mean, awesome. And what I like about in your book, too, and you've always been very open about this,

is you've had a lot of mentors in your life, right? And you have a series of them in your book that you give credit for. You know, I guess talk about a few of them and what role did they play in this, you know, coming back? And it's almost like the beginning of your legacy in this industry was that moment, right? When you have that attitude change and say, I'm going to build something here as opposed to it being like a job. You know, it's more of a lifestyle, a career, the whole, it's a different mentality, right?

So talk about a couple of those people and what they meant to you. Yeah, there's a couple of people that were specific to Southland and my journey here. One was, I'll start with Ben Rivera. Ben Rivera is a sheet motor worker. We used to work together at a different company. And then he came to Southland and had asked me about coming here. And it took him about two years to get me to finally move over. But when I think back, one of the reasons why I acknowledge him in my book was because

at the end of the day, Ben did something that I think great leaders do for others, which is provide opportunities for people. And not forget, not be remiss of how you've got work. you were, no matter who you are, no matter what skin color you are, nationality, your gender, we all need someone to help us at some point in our lives. And someone did. And it doesn't matter who person was, but it was someone. You didn't just show up and, you know, and came on the scene. You had some help. And so acknowledging that person, acknowledging that help is important because it's one just kind of reflecting back on your own personal journey and recognizing the village

that's around you and how that support has helped you. And so Ben provided that opportunity. Ben couldn't make anything happen for me. Ben couldn't make him help me do my job better. Ben could provide an opportunity for him. And that's what he did. And so that's where once in the door, it was kind of up to me. And so I appreciate him. for providing that opportunity is not something I'll ever forget. And then on the executive level, there's a gentleman, he's one of our senior vice presidents, name is Victor Sanbito that acknowledged him.

And he's always been very instrumental in my career. And day one, when we had a training that we do for new employees, we go to the corporate office and go through this week, a merged training of leadership and different things, and our core values, company. And he said something to me, to the group as a class. What does every leader need?

And I just raised my hand, or I only think I raised me in, I just shouted out followers, you know, and that was the answer he was looking for, you know. And it was kind of like that was a connection. And ever since then, I felt like he's been someone that supported me really as a person and as someone on, again, a different trajectory in my career path. Maybe he saw something to me that I didn't see him myself back then.

So it was really great having those two individuals, specific to Southland and my journey and how it's helped me to be where I'm at today. Yeah, awesome. I mean, we can never have enough of those people in our corner, right? I mean, you never know when you're going to need them. I mean, this is all life, right? So we're going to have those crossroad moments, and it's nice to have those people in your stable to help you when you need it.

So that's awesome. I just like that you gave them credit to, and obviously none of us are here on our own. we've had certain things that have helped us and gone our way. So very cool. One thing I know about you as I'm getting to know you is you're a bit of a people whisperer. If I can coin that phrase for you. I mean, you've been fighting for people in this industry since day one. Where do that passion come from?

And I guess, you know, how is the construction industry doing in terms of this people relations? I know we're on the upward trend, but I know we have a long ways to go. but I guess speak to the people part of this industry. Well, that's cool. I've never been a phrase or coined as a people whisperer. I'll have to remember that way. It's good. So, you know, it's, I've been this, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I'm wired, you know, and I think of always, and sometimes to a fault.

I, I, I, I generally care about people and in how they're doing. I am that person that would, would recognize someone in the back, quite, quiet, not engaged, that's a person that I'd be drawn to and asking myself, why? Why is this person there? It's what people don't say at times, and then some things they do say, and it's not just always the apparent things that they say. It's the things that they're like codes, you know, and if you're listening, you hear more than what the words they're saying. You hear a brokenness or you hear something hurt. You hear disregard. You hear something more than just general talk. And sometimes, again, it's, it bothers me because it causes me to be preoccupied

in many times with what's going on that may not be spoken about. And so that is this, again, a wiring of how it was created, you know, and it's a gift in some ways. And sometimes it may feel like a curse to me. But it really is a gift. And I try to bring that, you know, when you talk about bringing your whole self to your place of work, that's just a part of of who I am as a manager, an executive, as an employee, you know, because that's just who I am, and I am comfortable with bringing that. In regards to where we are in this whole journey

of doing better, recognizing the most important resource and assets that we have in our industry, which are people, how we have done has been poorly. What we're doing, to your point, we have, we're making strides. We're doing some positive things. There's lots of people. There's lots of conversations happening in regards to diversity, equity, inclusion,

and regarding people, regarding recognizing women in the industry. It's now a thing, right? Which is great. We've got so much more work to do, and we need more pioneers and more champions and more people with courage of all nationalities and genders to stand up and be advocates and allies. They kind of stand in the gap for people that don't have. have that voice to stand up for things that we know we've allowed to happen in this industry

that are wrong, that are blatantly wrong. And I want to see more of that. I want to see more people that have power stand up and be courageous and fight for the quiet voice, for the one that doesn't have a voice. It's really important that that group of people that have a platform use it not just for themselves, really to empower others and not to feel like they're threatened if someone rises to the top, it's enough for all of us. And we have to recognize if you're really that good, you don't have to worry about your job.

You don't have to worry about your career. You'll find another one or you'll make a new pathway because that's just what you do. So I think there's this kind of mindset that there's not enough for everyone. So I have to keep this to myself or limit what I give you

in order to keep my piece of the pie when really that's the first thing from the truth. And so we could all be better and we get impact our lives and communities in a much richer way if we were to think like that. And so it's just whenever I get a chance to talk to people about that and be vulnerable and open and honest about some of the things that may make people nervous when you have these conversations, I get it. It's not comfortable. But so what? You know, we have to continue moving forward and not worry about the comfortness of it. We have to worry about the impact of not doing

something and how that really in some ways comes back to us directly anyway. Yeah, so true. And the future of this industry is not sustainable without diversity. I mean, just period. And we got away with so much. I mean, like I said, being in third generation, my grandpa started in the 50s, so much has changed, obviously. But we got away with so much for so many decades because it was the guys club and it was

the tough guy and all that stuff. And really what happened in those decades was treating people unfairly. It was all about get your job done. We're not going to talk about your performance, just do your work. There was never a conversation. There was never a, you didn't care about the families. You just put your head down and work and that was it. So I like that this is a conversation now because even when I was a kid, this wasn't.

So it does seem to be improving, but you're right. It's just we have we have a long ways to go. And like I said, we got away with so much as an industry. It's embarrassing. I mean, really. Yeah, if I could say something really quick to that. You know, I have this term now. I use that we have, this industry has had a license to kind of kill, steel, and destroy.

You know, and maybe not literally, but really figuratively, we have been able to do that all in the name of, well, after all, it's only, it's construction. Right. And that's what you do. You know, and lots of lives have been destroyed, lots of families have been destroyed, careers have been destroyed because we've given the license to act poorly and we've celebrated it. And it's the unfortunate part and it's actually embarrassing. And when you think about trying to get people to enter this industry and how we have to go back and re-message and re-image what the construction means, what the industry means, it's not a second-class career path.

It's not for those who aren't able to go to college. It actually can be a first choice. We are professionals in this industry, and even though many did not conduct themselves that way and allow others to kind of dictate why I shouldn't go, you know, why I shouldn't choose this as a career path. So, again, very optimistic about the future, very optimistic about people entering the industry,

very optimistic about more women coming into the industry and having positions, people of color, having positions, not just work reviews, but having positions that are of authority. And so all that is going to influence how the entire population of our communities on job sites conduct themselves because you're going to have voices that weren't there, that are now there, that observe and have different points of view and perspectives and experiences that show up on a job site. So you treat people differently.

Yeah, perfectly said. I mean, speaking of, you know, advocating for people, there's a subject matter that is deeply important to me. My family, my businesses is mental health. And you have spoken up about this many times on other podcasts and on LinkedIn and your attended events. And you've done a lot to promote this need. And so, first of all, thank you for doing that. And secondly, you know, what do you think this industry? Maybe it's an obvious thing because of our people problems, but why do you think we struggle so much as an industry?

And are we making strides in this topic as well? So I'll start with your last question first. Yes, we are definitely making strides to improve. We have no choice. We really don't. And we think about the statistics that we continue to rank in number one or two in the amount of suicides that are occurring every year. we lead as an industry. And so it's not a number that we want to have high rankings in.

And when you think about those statistics and really dig into it, it's white men. It's white men that are coming to work to kill themselves more than any other group right now. And so you think this privileged class that we call privilege, why would they be coming to work to kill themselves? That's something to ponder. There's something to really think about and say, it's not the money, it's not where I live. What's happening? What's happening to me at work?

What's happening to me and my family that I haven't resolved? What am I showing up? How do I show up at work? So what we've conditioned people to do in this industry is just keep it all in. And we know as men, it doesn't matter where National County you are. We're trained like that. We come up, being taught not to cry, right? And all those things that we were told that what it meant to be a boy and a young man

and to a man and what really ended up doing was hurting us. And it shows up, whether it's a year later or 10 years later, So I believe some of the things that are happening in our industry now are seeds that have now sprouted to be trees were planted decades ago. And we're unfortunately living out some of that. And so that's where I say we have a great chance to change that. But definitely not without a lot of work, a lot of intentional action and conversations that we have to really want to acknowledge what we've done. We have to own some of the reasons and take account for that. And our individual projects that we have, working with agency, we have the culture of care, you know,

and trying to create cultures that really help people to feel like they belong and are welcome and job sites. You know, all these different places that we work are communities. And we have an opportunity to impact the community where we live probably more than we do at home. You know, we're on the job site spending most of our lives with people that we work with. and when we do living in our places where we sleep, it's important that we really truly recognize that. And so going back to that, it's that license to kind of destroy that behavior

that we've accepted. All that, that bottled everything up, and it's okay to scream, yell, berate, belittle people, because it's construction. All that buildup over decades and decades has exploded, you know. And now it's just how. a national kind of spotlight on it. It's been happening, but now we recognize it because we have people that have the courage

to say something's wrong here, and we need to shine a light on this and talk about it. And one of the best ways that we can impact something that's negative is to bring it to the light, is to really begin to have conversations and recognize that just that is more than necessarily just going to the doctor for something. It's like, let's talk about this in a way that says, what do we do next? How can we be actionable? How can we be more empathetic for people? How do we help people who show up at work that have different circumstances than just putting

them in a box and saying, well, you don't fit this, so you have to go? You know, and really not recognizing that we can be flexible and we can do things because really help people to be successful and accommodate different needs that show up on work every day. Yeah, it's almost like the cancer thing where. Everyone now knows somebody who has committed suicide, you know, whether that's a friend or a, you know, a relative or someone in their industry. So I think that that brings it to light, you know, you're like, oh, crap, this is happening everywhere. And you ask somebody and they're like, oh, yeah, I know somebody too. And but yeah, I mean, the societal norm about, and Corey said it in the chat is that the tough guy mentality.

You know, obviously that that norm of not crying, not being vulnerable, you know, this is what a man looks like, you know, the image of a construction worker with a hard hat and you're tough. I mean, it's false. There's no, there is nothing true about that, about that's what a man should be. And it's quite the opposite. So I guess it's one of those things, too, that we're seeing positive trends in the right direction. because we're talking about it because 10 years ago we probably didn't say a peep right now probably one word online there's not probably anybody that talked about it even though it still was even back 10 years ago it still was top three so it's it's funny how that took so long to get to where we're

just talking about it because you talk you heard about it in the military you heard about police and fire you know again very male centered industries but now we're finally hearing it from the construction industry. A lot of people are like, really? I didn't know that. So it's still the thing that they're still going, oh, I didn't know that. So it still does take the conversation first before you can get to all the other steps. Yeah. And again, the courage to really step out because you're in a group where especially with guys, you know, it's tough to be that one to say something different, to be that one that steps outside the ranks, right? You feel like, oh, I'm going to get all, you know, I'm going to get removed from the club or something, you know, and it's unfortunate. That's been the mindset

for so many and for so long. And we were okay with splattering pornographic pictures of women on gang boxes. No problem. We'll do that all day, every day. But if we talk about emotions and things that hurt people, that hurt women, no one's going to say anything. You know, so because it's a new day, and again, somebody had the courage to stand up and say this was not okay. than someone else said that and begin to say, no, this is not funny and this is not acceptable behavior. We're better than this. And not just with words, but with action.

And that's really what at this point in my career, I'm not afraid and haven't been for many, many years to just be myself. And that's the best person that I can be is me. And bringing my perspective, regardless of people agree or disagree, I know. important. Somebody needs to hear it. And so that's what I've done. And that's what I continue to do. And it's so awesome to see how much it's celebrated. I don't do it for that. I don't do it to be what people say, oh, you're a LinkedIn celebrity or something. It's like, okay, I don't, whatever that means. I just feel like being a support where support is needed. Right. Kind of fitting knowing where you

fit in the spectrum of the big picture and then doing that. And that's what I have to do. I want to do anything else. You know, I don't have to try to be you. I don't have to try to be anybody else. I can just be the best Henry and that's enough. And I think that's what we need to try to do as a collective is figure out where you fit and do that and do it well, you know, in time developing, whatever that may be.

Right. Right. And in the opening, I mean, I describe you as, you know, you're not afraid to have the tough conversations and you need people like that that will open the door to their staff, their people, their, their ecos and saying, like, we need to talk about this. And so I'm, you know, like I said, thank you for doing that and being a voice because, you know, we can't have enough of them right now. And I think for a lot of us, it starts with just hearing it a couple times. And then, then you can go to the next step of like, okay, I got to fix this for my own team.

And I think for a lot of managers, we struggle with the, you know, being vulnerable, talking to our team as people instead of like workers. I think that's still a struggle for a lot of us. So just being able to say, how are you doing? And then when they say fine, you say, no, how are you doing? You know, like, it's not, it's just been so surfacy for so long that for a lot of people, it's hard to even talk. It is.

It's very challenging and very difficult to get to that place. But when you recognize that, I'd like to look at vulnerability. as it's like a root. It's the root that holds the tree up. And like in any relationship, if you try to bring too much too soon to a relationship, it doesn't have any roots, this isn't going to fall over.

There are certain conversations you can have when you're in 10 years that you shouldn't have when you're in one year. And if you try to bring that 10-year depth conversation, you're just going to tip that tree over. And if you don't understand why, then, you know, you'll learn a lesson, I suppose. But as much as you are willing to be vulnerable is strengthening that relationship to be able to carry the weight of a heavy conversation of something that is not from the norm.

And so I look at vulnerability and our ability to do that as like a bridge. So if you want people to be vulnerable towards you, then you first have to be that. You can't expect someone to open up and be how transparent and share their life story about what's really. happening if you don't even give them something that's happening with you. Does that mean you disclose all your personal business? No, but you can talk about something appropriate that may be connected to work. We all have bad days. Some people think, why are you always smiling?

Why are you always happy? Why are you always seem like your own cloud nine? And you may get the chance to pull somebody to decide and say, what a bad day looks like for you, when you just had one. Maybe it was that day. And they would never know. It's like, you're not supposed to know. I don't have to wear it like a t-shirt, but.

But I am human, right? And I have frailty and things happen to me. And so you first have to be that person that you want them to be. And I think that that's how we really get people to engage and begin to say, okay, again, I can show up as myself. I have a job to do. I know what that task is. But at the same time, I have a manager that understands.

And I can say, hey, today I'm struggling in this area. Right. Just think about the power of that. of having to carry extra weight that you can't tell your manager, so you just show up anyway. So you're showing up half-cock. You're not going to perform to the level that you need to. If they're pushing you, they're actually helping you to be counterproductive, and they don't even get it. So really, when you think about the big picture of that is that you're going to help somebody solve a problem that's personal that is going to impact what they do at work.

So that's what it looks like to be a good manager in my mind. Right. Yeah, it doesn't feel like there's enough leaders like that in this world right now where they're vulnerable, they're humble, right? They talk about their own failures too and not just everyone else's. Like, it's just, you're right, it's so attractive when someone leads with that humble beginning as opposed to, you know, I'm all powerful and, you know, everyone else is not, you know, so it's, I think we're lacking that as a society right now. And it's, you can't have enough of it really because you can't really get to know. somebody until you get past that barrier, that giant wall that we all have, and you're not going to really know them. So now, again, I appreciate your thoughts on that. And I want to talk a little bit, get into the book a little bit. Seven Principles, Creating Your Success in the Construction Industry. What inspired you to start this? I know you started it a while ago. So tell me a little bit about that path. Yeah, 86 pages, 10 years later. That's how long it took me to write this book or finally finish it. It's a word of day. Yeah.

It started with the work that we did at Southland. Twelve years ago, we began partnering with an organization here in the Bay Area called City Build. And they're a pre-apprenticeship organization that prepares people that want to end up the industry, and they partner with different companies, and the unions are not here to place people to work when they finish their program. And so in the beginning, it was more of a mandate for a job. So we had to kind of go do this thing and partner with this organization.

That job ultimately went on hold. But at that point, my construction manager said, hey, we need to continue doing this because this is good stuff for us. And said, hey, would you actually lead it for it? So I took it on. And we would bring down a group of people, field leaders to this group, and spend the day with them and build a project. in about a four to eight hour period and answer questions and all that. And so doing this for years,

we'd go there every quarter for over 12 years and develop this relationship with the students. At the same time, didn't recognize what was happening then, but it was actually impacting even our people that were showing up there at these events. And I find myself saying the same things to the students every time I would show up there.

To the point where the actual professors, their instructors, would say, okay, Hennar's going to talk about at that point, they were like these four things that I would talk about every time I came there. And that four grew to seven. And they were things that I felt, again, how I was raised, things that were important to me, what my parents put into me, and then what I found important in life. But I then realized they weren't common to everyone. And so I began to put that in a book form and wrote it.

And then put it on the shelf and felt like no one's going to read this. This is common knowledge. And then I ran across somebody that said to me that words are like fine line. They're timeless. And so I thought about that, whether it's a good song or it's great words. They really are no matter when they were set. And so I picked it back off the shelf and then was committed to it, put myself on a schedule. And about six months later, it happened.

you know and so and you know publishing a book it's not been necessarily like oh i want to publish a book i always thought i would write a book and do something with it but right i think it would be a construction to be honest with you and so the timing of the book is just phenomenal because we're this conversation we're having with regards to diversity equity inclusion with regards to work workforce development um trying to bring people women and other ethnicities and genders and uh you know LGBTQ community all that just timely for this book. And so it's my small contribution to the overall conversations that are happening. There's so many great books and so many people that I know personally that are just writing some amazing books to share stories that really are counterintuitive to how we

have thought about ourselves and the construction industry as a whole. So it's amazing to be a part of that group. Yeah. So it's fun. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, I appreciate you writing. I'd like to go through kind of just briefly the seven principles and we don't have to get too far into it because I want people to grab the book. And I'll have Matt put it in the chat there so that you have a link to the Amazon page to pick up that book. And, you know, we'll start with number one.

I'll start where you are. So what does that mean? It's kind of taken from an actual scripture, that first chapter, not despise a day of small beginnings in the Bible. and really thinking about we all got to start somewhere. We all have a start. And sometimes when we see people at their, whatever path they are in our lives, we might see them far long in their journey.

And as a person starting, you're overwhelmed by someone that has, whether there's accolades and digits and letters behind their name and all these different titles. Are they doing some great amazing things in the community and the work that they do, and you're just starting, and you're just left. There's no way. You just doubt in your head, right? You just think there's no way I ever get there.

And we have to be mindful, and we have to let people know that we had to start, and that you are at that place I was at the X amount of time ago, and recognize that and really help them to be encouraged that we all had a start. We all had our zero. We all had our place where we were just to see it in the dirt, and nobody even knew we existed. So be encouraged by that and not discouraged by you're not at stage 10 when you should be at stage one. Yeah, and the recognition that we all have a different starting point period in life.

Right. Why we don't recognize that is beyond me, but that's another story, right? Yeah, the second one is get a mentor. Yeah, again, you start somewhere and we need some help. You can't do it all alone. and recognizing just what we talked about with the people that gave me opportunity. And that's really what it comes down to is showing someone how to do something, giving someone some tools or helping to change a mindset or recognizing that you do need some help.

And you need to see some better examples. You need to see somebody succeeding. You need to see somebody get up in the morning and going to work versus doing something illegal. You need to see people engaging in a way that is productive and helps people versus berating. So get a mentor, getting someone that is going to help you. Also recognizing if you're always the smartest person in the circle of your friends, you might need some new friends. I'm not saying that you have to necessarily throw away the ones you have, but if they're there to stretch you and pool you and if they don't, then you have to question that. And I don't always want to be the smartest person in the room.

I want to be pooled. I want to be stretched. I want to learn what I don't know and then try to figure it out. But you only do that when you have people there that really are smarter than you and that can introduce you to new things and new concepts. So true. So true. Third one, I like this.

This is very applicable today. It refused to be a victim. Yeah, we all have a story. As you know, Jeremy, we all have a story and we can have a laundry list of things with that story and get a bunch of people to feel sorry for. us and to come around our support system and cry with us or whatever. But at some point, we have to get up and we have to get at the bed. We have to open up the curtains.

We have all figures of league. We have to do these things that say, okay, this happened to me. It was wrong. It was all these things that shouldn't have happened to me, but they did. So now what do I do? I can stay in that place and be mad and have my feelings. feelings hurt or I can decide how do I respond to this? And we all have a different time in a way you're going to go through a morning period. You're going to get you're going to be hurt.

But at some point, we've got to dust ourselves off. We've got to get up and we've got to shut over again. And so I refuse to be a victim to anything and anyone. And it may last a few hours or maybe it lasts a day, but it's not going to last forever. And I refuse to stay in that space of feeling sorry for myself or looking at what someone did to me. Because. at the end of the day, that could be decades ago, and I'm still stuck in that same place because I have not let it go. And so we can't stay in that space of being victimized. We have to recognize that it's a detriment to us and is doing us harm,

not saying we don't acknowledge the things that have happened to us and the help that we need and support. But at some point, we have to say, okay, it's time to move, it's time to get up, it's time to make some changes. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the way I look at it. that one is just life is so short and so painful and like you don't give them that win however you were victimized you know they win in that moment so you know we only get one life and it's super short so

you know how many what do you want to be thinking about every day right and it's it's obviously easier said than done i get that but um but that's why you said get the help that you need to get beyond that and then and be able to to move on so right good advice good advice and then the next one work hard. We had an easy one with this, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's just that, right? It's just you show up to work, go to work. Yeah. Don't look to cut corners. Do your best every day. People will recognize it. Simple as that. Show up, be ready to go to work and do your best. Right. Yeah. Next one. Love what you do. Yeah, so many people don't, right? And I have like, love what you do or at least like it a whole lot, right? Maybe you don't start

I'm loving it, but this is something that you gravitated towards because something that had drawn you to it. It's so important that we love what we do. I get a chance to tell my kids that as you're in search of their careers in college and doing all these things, is you have a chance to really get into something that you really are passionate about that's going to make not feel like work that you're going to love and put all your energy towards because you really do have a passion for it. And so spending the time, some people don't have a luxury, right? Some people just have to go to work because they have to provide and do it. different things and I get that. So that model may not fit for everyone, but when you have the opportunity

to find out about how you can get into something that you love, why you're working on something else, what is your passion, what keeps you up at night, what do you walk past, that gets your attention, what others could step over it. It's really important to recognize that about yourself and how you're wired, because that's what's going to draw you to do so much more in that career path when there's a love and a passion for whatever it is, you're going to get recognized, and that's not going to be your mission to be recognized. You're going to just be functioning in a capacity that just resonates with who you are as a human being. And if you can do that, you're a whole different person. You're probably less aggressive on the freeway when you're driving

to work, you know, because you're hating your Monday mornings or something. You know, we have this phrase of living for the weekend. It's like Mondays are too. terrible and Fridays are great. Why? You know? And it's like, I get everyone to have a break. And work can be hard no matter what it is, but not like you agonize Monday because you hate your job. But if you do, that's another thing. Yeah. And I struggle with this one is, is it kind of like a relationship in the love what you do is it can be a decision too, right? I think so many people, the grass is greener, right? They want this other job with more money or whatever, the things that they're after. But for some of us, it's just deciding to be, take a lot of pride in what you do.

And knowing that this is a great career and doing your best at it can be enough for a lot of us. It's just what I think that they struggle with that decision part of like, I'm going to decide, like you had to decide, this is going to be my career. It's different than a job at that point. That's a great point, Jeremy. It really is. You have the choice to decide that this is, at least at this time of my life, this is where I'm at. I can choose to hate it every day and show up that way, or I can decide, okay, I can do something different here and take more power and authority over the scenario that just, it's the stuff happening to me.

You know, it's really about what do I do? How do I take authority and control of this and begin to engage myself in a way that's different? And it's a choice. And I'm not saying it's an easy choice, but it can be a decision you make for sure. Yeah, for sure. Next one number six, learn how to follow. Every leader has had to follow somebody. You cannot be a leader if you had not first followed a pattern.

Again, we didn't come out the womb with people following us. We really had to learn what that looks like. And some have learned poorly, right? And we have leaders that lead people astray, but they're still leading. And then we have people that really help people and move to something bigger than themselves and recognize it, it's not about them. And so really important that's a humility that you have to have, it's recognizing that you don't have to have all the answers.

But someone has to be the one to say, you know what, I'm going to go do this, and I'm going to take the risk, and I'm going to recognize the impact, and I'm going to make a decision to step out. And it's not easy. So it's not just about being in the front. It's not even about a title.

There are people who are leading, and they have no title in a group. they have more influence than the person with the title and everybody knows it. And so it's really important to recognize that leadership is not just about a title or it's about being in the front. It's about people listen to you. Why? Why do they listen to you? Because you're impacting them.

Because you're probably vulnerable. Because you care. All these different things that may, again, be counterintuitive to what we think leadership really is about. It really is more than just about those things that we all have kind of gravitated towards forever. It's really now, who really? really is the voice I want to listen to. It's not necessarily that person in the front row. Yeah.

No, it's totally true. And the last one, number seven, know the difference between being a liability and an asset. Yeah, when you show up for work, you have to recognize that if you're easily dismissed and disposed of in a sense, then you're not an asset. And you have to recognize what the difference of the two are. And I think when I learned that before I had my whole kind of transition and change about how I showed up at work and came back the next time years later was realizing that I wasn't an asset. I was just a person that showed up to come to work every day. And then I

recognized what I need to do differently to be an asset. And if I know the difference, then I know how to show up and know what I need to do. If I know what it looks like, if I know it's important to the people that I work with or for, then I can begin to engage in that way. So it's like understanding what that quick path is to success, not trying to discover it without any knowledge of how to do it. It's right, like, what do I need to do? What does it look like for me to be an asset at this company for my boss or whatever? I'm going to do that.

I'm going to do those things. And for me, it was taking initiative. It was showing up and recognizing what the work was around me and then going to engage in that work without necessarily someone saying, hey, Henry, can you go do that? It's like, oh, no, it's already done. Yeah. That's what changed my career from the job to a career was showing initiative, taking risk,

because I wasn't always right with that initiative, but it was the effort. And I had some great leaders tell me, if you're not making mistakes, you're probably not doing anything. So I don't need you. I want somebody who's going to take some risk. Now, is that risk going to cause me to fall off a cliff? No, that risk may have me to scrape my knee. It's not going to be something like threatening or kill the company, but it is taking some chances and recognizing that, you know, at the stage that I'm in my career, I can do those types of things.

So it's important, though, that your liability, you won't hang around very long. No, yeah. Problems for me. Yeah, exactly. And you kind of, thank you for going through those briefly. We kind of touched on this, but I wanted to kind of expand on it a little bit now that we've kind of gone through the principles is how D&I and workforce development and partnerships with pre-apprenticeship programs connect with these principles.

So how does it all tie together, you know, now that you kind of summarize them, how does they tie together? Well, the way they tie together, first of all, you know, as a black man that wrote this book and talking about my experiences, I'm obviously talking about my experiences. I'm talking about people probably who have been marginalized, people who don't have that voice or who are the missing voices in construction, women and people of color, LGBTQ community, those folks that really tend to be on the outside. skirts of construction. And so, or just of the industry. And so as this book talks about these principles and things and looking at how to help shift the mindsets of the folks that need this, it's not just the folks that are coming in the industry.

It's the folks that have been in the industry. It's the leaders that have to manage these folks that are coming into the industry. We have to have a different mindset. that if we really want people not only to choose construction as a viable career path, we have to have them stay as well, right? We have to be able to engage with them in an effective way. And we can't use the old antics that we've used, the antics that were used on me when I'm coming in. And I kind of come from the old school.

So I got it to a degree. But there are a lot of folks that don't get that. So we want you in. We want you in. Joey, son up here. And you son up here. And then you treat them like a. jerk, they're not going to stay. I mean, I had a situation where I got a chance to talk to a group

of women about their short experiences in the industry. One was a carpenter. And she was so excited about just how to be successful. She was at, how am I going to be an asset versus a liability? She goes to her foreman and says, tell me what I need to do to be better. He essentially told her to go home and bake cookies is how you can be better. You know, so this happened six months ago. Right. So we're not anywhere where we need to be yet. So it still happens. You still have people who think like that. You still have people who think women belong at home cooking versus engaging in work, especially when it's construction. And so it's really recognizing that those conversations that are still happening and how we need to be intentional with the work that we're doing. We need to really understand that when we're partnering and going into communities where there's a bunch of that don't look like us, how we show up, how that group shows up to a group that they may have stereotypes in their mind about what they are, what they're not. And that's where the beauty of doing this kind of work, this is an indirect to what happened with the people at Southland,

was I have a bunch of white men that went with me, some reluctantly, in the beginning to these programs, the part where we're doing these workshops for the pre-apprehensible. apprenticeship programs, they were resistant. I don't want to go here, Henry, as charity. I'm not going to find anybody that I need, blah, blah, blah, blah. The whole list, right? Some of them made me true in some cases. But I said, nope, you're going.

So they went, that same group of people, specifically one individual that now leads our field leadership here, Southland, was transformed. His guy is one of his best people from this program, by his words, not mine. And has become our primary. spokesperson when we go into these different organizations now and is very passionate and go there looking knowing I'm going to find somebody that wants to work that's going to show up one time, that's going to grow and develop, all the things I need. The only thing they didn't have was an opportunity. And so we were, you know, we talk about unconscious bias and all these different

terms that we use about race, you know, and gender and all these things. When you just show up and you get people engaged in this space, there's a magical thing that. begins to happen. Human beings begin to interact. Human beings begin to have conversations. Not a gay man talking to a straight woman. It's just people are talking together. You're not worrying about classification. You're not worried about what color the skin they are. This is Mike, John, Bob, Sally for better. You know, you're not worried about all that. I'm worried about, are you the best person for my project? Yeah. You're qualified. You know, and so that doesn't happen if you don't get in the space. It's like you're getting in this pot and you're forced to kind of

engage and have conversations and work together and you learn that, yeah, this person that doesn't look like me, this person that I used to see, I would say, reflected on the news in a negative way, guess what? They have a family at home. They want to provide. Guess what? They have dreams. Guess what? They want the same things I want. Why don't know? I don't know. But I do know they discover that. And then they begin to have a different kind of mindset on their approach to these same people that they would be resistant to and defiant towards helping. Now they're like, they're just an extension of the community.

They're just another part of the group that I need to go reach because they're the missing people in the industry. They're going to feel the gaps of the disorders we have. And so that is such a transformative thing that happened within our space. And I'd say for anyone that just gets a chance to go do that. It's like when you go give, you're like, oh, I'm going to go give to all these people and you're going to feel good about yourself. And you realize that at the end of the day, you're the one that changed. Yeah.

Almost every time. Yeah, it's like clockwork. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I think it's very apparent that you have a need or a desire to leave a lasting legacy in this industry. Where does that come from? And I guess where do you see yourself going?

That's a great question. For the legacy part, I believe we all leave a mark. And we all have something to leave. We're not just here to live and die. We have something that we should leave for our families, and it's not just a bunch of money all the time. It's really, can you help them manage that money by how you've conducted yourself? But I think, especially as we've gotten older and we get to a point in our career where not that we're in the easy lane,

But we kind of like, we kind of figured it out. We're not trying to fight people. We're not trying to compete necessarily anymore. We just kind of got our thing and we're established. And we recognize that, like, you don't want that just to go away with you. How do you pass that down and make sure other people are going to get that? How do you make sure that people are receiving that, that information and that, that story that they need to have? Are you ensuring that next 20-something-year-old person that's coming up sees a different type of leader and has confidence in the way that they lead?

because they know it doesn't fit what they've seen. They get it by seeing you. They get it by reading what you've done. They get it by watching your life. They get it by recognizing someone there, dare to do it in a way that others just don't. So that's my legacy. It's my lane.

It's not better or worse than anyone else's. It's just recognizing what your contribution is to the big picture. And for me, it's just, and it's taking me forever to get to that place of just saying, I am Henry Nett the Third, three sisters that no brothers and used to be mad at that, right? Why am I different? I want a brother. I want a brother, right? But it shaped me.

It formed me to who I am as a human being. And I give that part of who I am and not afraid anymore to do that, just to be the best version of myself. So that legacy is important for all of us to kind of take a script. of your life and say, what is it that you want people to remember you buy? What's important? Awesome. Well, it's safe to say that you are leaving the industry better than you found it. Henry, thank you for your time today.

Thank you for writing the book. Thank you for being so open, vulnerable, honest, all the things that you are. Keep leading and we'll keep following. I'm a big fan of yours. So let me know when you have anything, any events in the California area. I want to come meet you in person and get you to sign my book and things like that. That'd be cool. So thanks again, Henry, for being here.

And then how do people stay in touch with you? LinkedIn, obviously, is probably a place to find you, right? LinkedIn, and there's a new website coming out, not live yet, but it'll be out shortly. It'll be promoted on LinkedIn here in the next week or less. So look out for that. So that's probably the best way right now. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Henry.

Thank you. Appreciate the journey. Yep. All right, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. This has been Construction Exeter's Live. I am still your host. My name is still Jeremy Owens.

And I hope you guys tune in next month. Typically, it's going to be the first Wednesday of every month, which will be November 2nd at 10 a.m. And I'm going to be chatting with my friend Philip Lanos about his book called Pushing Pass the Norm, Sidespepping the Mind Game of Life. The cool thing about this one is he's going to interview me and then I'm going to interview him. So you guys are going to get to learn a little bit more about my story.

and he's got a lot of very good and applicable business strategies and things that I'd like you guys to here too. So I will be sending an email to all of you guys with the calendar invite for that next show. Again, November 2nd, 10 a.m. Pacific. Again, thank you so much for being here. As always, if you have any topics that you are really passionate about, please don't hesitate to reach out to me, Jeremy, at usconstructionzone.com. as you know, I'm an open book. I want to give you guys a platform to talk about something you're very passionate about

and move this industry forward. Again, thank you for all you guys for tuned in. And for the familiar faces that I see in the chat, thank you for being here. And we'll see you guys next time. Bye. You've been listening to In The Zone with Jeremy and Valerie Owens. Be sure to subscribe to In The Zone and stay in the know with the best minds in the construction industry. To nominate an innovator.

or changemaker in the construction industry, connect with your management peers, and stay up to date with construction industry news, be sure to visit usconstructionzone.com.