
Building America is a phrase I heard over and over again as I toured the facility at Gaylor Electric and saw their innovation center or their “high school”, as they call it, where they have people come and learn. It truly was inspiring. I sat down with one of their apprentices, one of their journeymen, and I got the opportunity to close the conversation with the CEO, Chuck Goodrich. What I was struck most by was something that I’ve always wanted to communicate well to people about the skilled trades—you can start in the trades not knowing anything about what we do or how the work is done, but if you’re willing to watch and wait, you will learn. And then if you’re willing to do the work, put in the time, the opportunities are endless. I think that these conversations really make that clear. Chuck started by working hard and now he’s the CEO of an almost billion dollar company with more than 4000 people and growing. They truly are building America. This is why we need the next generation to be built. It’s not just about buildings. It’s not just about data centers. It’s about people and this is something that Gaylor Electric understands. We made it a longer episode to celebrate our milestone of 100 episodes of The Line. We hope you enjoy.