Speaker 1: Hey folks, Paul Abernati here. On today's episode, we're going
to be talking about a very important topic for all
of you journeymen, apprentices and masters out there that are
working in the electrical trade and you have this urge
to disagree or argue with somebody or say something nasty,
only to realize that that's a bridge that you may
burn in the electrical industry and it may cost you
big in the future. So on today's episode, we're going
to talk about burning bridges in the electrical industry and
why it can cost you big. So stay tuned for
this episode on Master the NEEC.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Master of the NEC podcast, the ultimate
destination for anyone passionate about the electrical trade. Whether you're
a season electrician, an eager apprentice, or just someone who
wants to dive deep into the world of electrical work,
you've come to the right place.
Speaker 1: Join your host, Paul.
Speaker 2: Averdavi, a true authority in the industry with over thirty
eight years of trade experience, as he electrifies your mind
with in depth discussions, expert tips, and valuable insights that
will keep you ahead of the curve. Each episode, Paul
will illuminate the complexities of the Trade de Code, the
National Electrical Code, and share the latest industry trends, all
while empowering you to take your electrical career to the
next level. So gear up, plug in, and get ready
to supercharge your knowledge because with the mass of the
Neez Podcast, the power is in your hands.
Speaker 1: Now get ready. Here is your host, Paul Abernet. What
up everybody, Paul Abernet, you here, Thanks for joining me
on today's podcast, where we're going to talk about a
really important topic, especially for all of you apprentices out there,
journeyman master electricians that are working for companies that have
people that you answer to, or maybe people even the
answer to you in you sometimes to get mouthy and
say stuff and cause problems and really burn that bridge
of knowledge and you just never know what it's going
to cost you down the road. So that's the topic
today is basically your ability. You have a right to
remain silent, but you don't have the ability, and so
that's what we're going to talk about, burning bridges in
the electrical industry. Now today when we talk about this topic,
it's not discussed enough in the electrical industry, and of
course I will say that this is not just germane
to the electrical industry, Okay, it just seems that that's
the main one that I'm in tune with, so kind
of in the topic of this discussion is going to
be obviously more slanted towards the electrical industry and trying
to give advice to journeyman masters, people that work for
companies and all those type of things that hopefully will
save you some heartache down the road, because the trade
needs to understand that there is a thing called burning bridges,
specifically burning bridges with other electricians, burning bridges with inspectors,
burning bridges with manufacturers, and yes, burning bridges with industry
leaders like myself and other educators that are in the industry,
because I'm seeing more and more people that are online,
especially on this social media world, that absolutely torch relationships
that they desperately will need later in their career and
they might not even know it yet. But trust me,
the electrical industry is a lot smaller than you think
it is. Okay, so keep that in mind. It's kind
of going to be the heart of our discussion today.
And so and again, I am also not a hypocrite.
I have fallen below that line of professionalism once or
twice in my career, so I can kind of speak
from authority here. But let's keep a couple things clear.
There's a difference when you say burning bridges between somebody
that can be influential in your career or your progression
in life than it is for other people that are not.
It's just acquaintances and you don't really need them. So
you're okay to burn that bridge. That's your choice. Okay.
So a classic example that I could give of that
is I don't give a rat's ass about n FPA.
They can't do anything for me. Then there I disagree
with a lot of things that they do. But at
the end of the day, I still believe in the system.
I still contribute to the development of the NEEC. I
believe in the mission, but I don't agree with the association.
Same with IE. I believe it's a great mission, it's
a great responsibility that they hold, but I don't agree
with the management or how they do things. Thus I'm
not a member. So again there's there's differences here, okay.
So we want to focus more today on dealing with
you as an electrician. Whether you're working with customers, or
whether you're trying to build your business or you're starting
out and you're just an apprentice and you're working for somebody.
It's an approach to it that I want to kind
of plan a seed for you because I see so
many people who post nasty things online, say nasty things,
and they don't really realize that they're probably burning a
bridge at some point in their career they may need.
A great example is an electrician who you know, I
mentored quite a bit, gave a lot of knowledge to,
tried to help and even got them out of an
issue when they got in trouble, only to turn around
and stab you in the back, stab me in the back.
And at the end of the day, that's a bridge
that never can be recovered. But it was pointless. There
was no reason to do it, So why do it?
So you know things like that, actions have consequences, right,
and so we have to think about those things. But
let's kind of focus on the industry a little bit,
because again I want to try to put the bug
in your ear that you have the ability to change
your course of life and so that things don't come
back and nip you in the butt, right. You've heard
politicians say that they go and they do a career
and then they go run for office and then the
little skeletons come out of their closet. Well, yeah, that's true.
You know, in some cases it doesn't affect them. They
still win a lah Virginia. But at the end of
the day, there's skeletons are there. So it's something that
we have to think about. And you need to think
about that as you're entering into this trade, or you're
in this trade, or you're trying to grow your business
in how you interact with your customers, because you never
know when that customer that you interact poorly with may
keep you from getting another job down the road because
of their brief interaction with you and how you handled yourself.
So I'm gonna break this down. I'm gonna give you
some insight and again you can gree to disagree. That's
the one reason that people ask why I don't comment
on a lot of debates on social media, because first
of all, it goes nasty and people start name calling,
and people think that their authorities in the industry and
they've only been in the industry for a couple of
years or ten years at best. They've never served on
code panels. They've never developed an opinion, they've never written books,
they've never served on committees, they've never been ahead of
a jurisdiction. They don't have the experience to opine like
they do, Yet they pound their chests like they're right,
and they totally ignore that you have a right to
an opinion, they have a right to disagree, but we
can all get along. But they take it down the
wrong path and it turns nasty, and that's just not
what you need, certainly not for your ongoing reputation. Now,
am I immune from that? No, I've been down that
rabbit hole many times in my career, and what I'm
trying to do is to save you from that grief.
It's unnecessary. Okay, it's unnecessary. So let's talk about this
and break it down a little bit. So let's talk
about the industry. The industry. And when I say industry,
I'm talking electrical because that's my background. But this can
again apply broadily through whatever you do, whether it's the
office gossip or whatever it would be if you're in
an office building, it's all the same concept, right. The
industry is smaller than you think. Let me give you
some straight talk. Here in this industry, people talk, people, gossip, reputations, travel, screenshots,
and posts online live forever. You might think that you're
just venting on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or whatever. You might
think you're just speaking your truth in a forum, a
public forum, but what you're really doing is building a
digital reputation trail that follows you everywhere. Now, you might
be an electrician in the forum say I don't give
a damn, I'm say what I want. I'm you know whatever.
That's fine until it costs you your job, or it
gets shared with somebody, or at some point you want
to enhance your career and move up in Somebody who
is vindictive in nature and people are sadly shares information. Also. Again,
at the end of the day, it's just nasty. So
there's a reason why I block people on my social
accounts and I do not comment for the majority of stuff.
I don't comment. Why because I'm an easy target. Everybody
wants to challenge the code expert or the guy that's
been in the industry for forty plus years. You know,
we always want to be challenged. Where you think you
know more than me. Maybe you do, but at the
end of the day, you know we're not going to
get into a tit for tat debate back and forth
where your opinion outweighs my opinion. I found that my
opinions are based on experience and what I've dealt with.
If you disagree with me, that's fine. Let's respectfully disagree
and you go on your way. I'll go on my way.
That doesn't mean that down the road. I've had disagreements
where people call me up and want my advice years later,
but they didn't burn that bridge. They called me up,
and I was more than happy to have that discussion
because we don't have to all. I will agree all
the time, but some people take it to the wrong level,
and what I'm trying to do is keep you, as
an electrician, from taking it to the next level. So
that's my reason why I don't participate in those social
That's why I have my own forum that I participate
in because I won't let that garbage taint a topic.
I'm just not going to do it. And nobody will
ever see your shitty comment on any of my forms
because I block it or I delete it, So don't
waste your breath because nobody will ever see it. And
I don't care about it, because if you say something
negative to me, I'll just say, well, at least I
got you to watch it. At least I got you
to listen to it. So guess what, that's an hour
of your time you're never going to get back in
your life. So who really wins? I win because I
laugh my ass off at it because I don't care
about your comments. So think about that. Just think about
it for a little bit. Okay, now here's the reality
most folks don't consider. And this is not just in
the field. This is if you're an apprentice, you're a journeyman.
You're working with other electricians, other people, other trades, other
foremans leaders. The end of the day, you got to
remember that the person that you may blast today maybe
the person reviewing your project tomorrow or your chance for
advancement tomorrow. And you know, one good example of this
is I remember seeing a video not too long ago
of Tracy Morgan and this homeless guy who was asking
him for food or something, and he refused to help him.
And when you come to find out, the guy used
to really torment Tracy when he was younger, up and coming,
and so now this guy is homeless man he expects
Tracy to help him. Well, Tracy's not under any obligation
to help that guy. I would have done the same
thing saying no, you're on your own. People say, oh, Paul,
that's not the Christian thing to do. Kiss my ass.
You burnt that bridge and you ain't building that bridge back.
And that was Tracy Morgan's approach to it, and he
has every right to have that approach, you know. The
holier than tho. People will say, oh, well, you shouldn't
do that. We should love each other. Then you haven't
spent any amount of time perusing through electrical forums to
feel that way. Okay, so save me the moaning groaning,
because you have no clue. Okay. So the manufacturer's representative
that you may mock today, be little today, say something
smart to today. Maybe the one that helps you solve
a real product issue in the future. Maybe it's an
eating rep, maybe it's a Schneider rep. Maybe it's somebody
you burn that bridge. Do you think that they're going
to go out of their way to help you in
the future. And at the end, of the day. I
want all the help I can get if I need it.
But can you blame them for not helping them if
you trash them? How about this the educator you trash
today on social media, maybe the one whose course your apprentice,
or your helper or your electricians need to pass their
exam in the future, and just maybe, just maybe that
educator decides they don't want to help you, or maybe
you trasht his educator because they've helped you for years,
helped you get your license, gave you advice when you
needed it. But for one reason, you may disagree and
you immediately assume something, and you go to social media
and you start trashing them and have the audacity to think, well,
that person must be an asshole because they won't talk
to me anymore. No, because you trash them for what reason?
You don't know them. Hell half of you out there.
I don't know any of you much less sit there
and see you talk crap about people. That's different if
you're a home inspector in Arizona who talks a bunch
of smack and is not even an expert in electrical
But I even would have helped that guy if he
needed electrical advice and that all started years ago. And
y'all know who I'm talking about. That's because this guy
named Brandon, And all I did was give what the
National Electrical Code says about it, and he got been
all out of shape and took it on his mission. Dude,
that should have never gone anywhere because he could have said, well,
that's not what we do in Arizona. I would have said,
that's fine, I teach the National Electrical Code. I wasn't
jumping on Brandon, but that guy took it to the
next level because he likes the clicks, he likes to
get the attention, and I get it. He's got his
little minions who are basically whack jobs that go around
threaten people and cause all kinds of problem for people.
That's a sickness, and I feel sorry for him. I'm
not upset at him. I'm not upset. I feel sorry
for him. I really do. You feels sorry for people
like that. But that's the reason I don't comment. So
in case you wondered that she's not worth it, you
can either learn from me or move on. Now. This industry,
electrical speaking has a long memory. Okay, so people do
not forget things, and they do hold things against you. Okay, Now,
how do burning bridges hurt your business? So if you're
a contractor, for example, and you've lost technical support when
you need it because you bash experts in the industry,
you bash other people that could have been resources if
you disagree with them, bite your tongue. But at some
point you may need an expert for product clarification. You
may need code interpretation discussion, you may want to bounce
something off of somebody. You may need engineering support. I
got a guy called me tonight, wanted some engineering help.
I helped him out, called me quite a few times.
Good relationship with him. Okay, you know, don't mind helping
people out at all that need to be helped. But
the moment that he burns that bridge, don't call me
no more. I'm done. Okay. People say, well, that's pretty petty.
Shut up. You don't get it. You don't get it.
Manufacturers Assistance, HJ Cooperation, electrical inspectors. There's no reason for
you to be little, talk down, get shitty with an
electrical inspector. He may do it with you. He needs
to listen to this podcast as well. But at the
end of the day. You can be very professional, you know,
present your case, you can agree to disagree, but ultimately,
at the end of the day, they have the authority
and you can either fight it or comply, but you
can do it respectfully. Okay. If you publicly trash the
very person who provided that help in the first place,
then guess what happens. You don't get the same level
of responsiveness you. Certainly they're not going to answer your calls.
They're not going to help you out in the future.
It's you know, maybe not officially but professionally, they're not
going to be there for you. Okay, they're not going
to be there to help you out again. I have
example of where I've helped the many people in this industry,
and for whatever reason, they also get a bug up
their ass and they don't want to talk to me,
or they call me names on their podcast or whatever.
And for the life of me cannot think of whatever.
I what I ever did? I gave one guy advice
not to use ready kilowatt in his in stuff that
he creates and sells online. Next thing you know, he's
bashing the shit out of me. And I don't even
I'm like, dude, I've helped this guy, I've answered question
for this guy. I even help him, prauded him along
to get his master's license. But out of nowhere, he's
just going to trash me on a podcast. So I
think you get the point. What's the point of burning bridges? Why?
What's the point? Now? Damage to your own professional reputation
and we're back to talking about electricians, contractors, employers. When
you go to deal with a customer, I've talked about
this before, what we call soft skills. You do not
tell your business to the customer. They don't want to
hear your story. They don't care about your story. You're
there to solve a problem. You're a problem solver. That's it.
Solve your problem, get paid, and get out. They don't
need your baggage. They may empathize with you, but at
the end of the day, they're going on with their life.
They don't give a damn about what you got going on.
Sooner you realize that, the sooner you're going to stop
opening up your baggage to other people who do not care.
They act like they care, but they do not care. Okay,
I'm just gonna be brutally honest with you. They do
not care. They really don't, So get over it. Okay, Now,
how this damages your reputation with customers, with other people
in the company, with your employer, with your foreman, with inspectors.
The problem with it is that when you burn that bridge,
those people could be in positions someday to help you.
Why would you want to do that? Right, So, in
the trade, your reputation is just like currency. When people
see repeated rants, personal attacks, public call outs, unprofessional posts,
they start asking one question, is this somebody I want
to work with? Is this somebody that I want to promote?
Is this somebody I want to give a good recommendation for.
I mean, you burnt that bridge. I'm just gonna let
you flounder. I'm not gonna help you. So the gentleman
that I helped out because he was having an issue
with some counterfeit codebooks, I wrote a letter. I didn't
have to do that. I wrote a letter to help
him and his wife. But then he ended up burning
that bridge just weeks later. It's one of those things
that I'll never help you again. Why did you have
to do that? It was not necessary. I didn't do
anything to do it. I wasn't crappy with you. So
at the end of the day, I don't understand. I
don't know why people burn bridges like that, especially if
there's somebody in the industry that can help you grow,
and if he's already helped you grow, then it's proven
that they do help you grow. Why would you want
to do that. If I'm an electrician and I'm an apprentice,
why am I going to talk about the master who's
helping me. I may not agree with him, I may
not always come the same meeting of the minds, but
I'm not gonna talk smack about him. I'm not gonna
talk behind his back to Johnny, who's a neutral third party,
who's going to form an opinion to that guy based
on what I tell him. And then when he gets
a relationship with that person and realizes he's not the
way that I say he is, now he's going to
judge me, and that's going to ruin our relationship. It's
not worth it. Again, I tell people this all the time.
Loose lips sink ships. Keep your mouth shut. You have
the right to remain silent, but some people just don't
have the ability. Okay, Now, once that seat is planted
in somebody. They don't want to work with you. You're a troublemaker,
you're a mouthy person. You spread it, blah blah blah.
Once that seeds planet, it's very hard to undo. And
again we're talking about in the field, when you're working
with your coworkers, working with your supervisors, whatever. Now, look,
you may have disagreements with somebody in the field. You
may not like your boss, you may not like your supervisor,
you may not like your coworker. But here's the deal.
Swallow that pride. It doesn't do you any good to
banter back and forth, no good at all. Why because
you never know and that helper may hit a home
run in their company and you may need to go
to work for them one day. He's like, well, I'm
never going to do that bullshit. I've seen it more
than once, see it more than once. Okay, don't burn
that bridge. You want to gripe at home, gripe to
your significant other, gripe on your time you leave a job,
don't a bitch about the job, and burn that bridge
because you never know when you may have to go
back to feed your family. Leave those bread crumbs alone.
And I don't know how many times and people we
have this sense of wanting to get the last word
in right, And it's not just electricians, it's anybody that
gets pissed off. We want the last word. We want
to leave it as gotcha, it's the last word. I
get it. Everybody's got that pride again. This is why
I don't comment and comments, because it seems like it's
just a long tit for tat. Nobody wins, everybody gets
pissed off, reputations get destroyed. This is why I don't comment.
So people ask me out there, they say, well, paul
a block here, he won't comment, absolutely right. One is
because I don't care about your opinion, because you're not
gonna sway my opinion, because I spent nearly forty years
forming my opinions. If you disagree with me, you may
be right, I may be wrong, but you need to
accept it that you're not gonna change me. That's it.
Move on. So I'm just not getting into that tit
for tat now on my forum that we have cheat
shameless plug over on nec chat dot com, which is
free for you to join. There is zero bullying, there,
zero hate. We help everybody over there. You can post pictures, images, graphics,
whatever you want. We help everybody over there. Okay, and
you want to post a ask a code question, or
you want to do something perfect. It is not like
the other social platforms. I don't want that garbage. I
don't want the dance and boobies and all that kind
It's not what it's about. Does that mean we won't
get that many followers? That's fine because I don't care.
I made it as a resource. If you don't want
to use it, don't use it. Remember words matter, and
it's easier. It's it's easier just to say something and
then have to backtrack that it is. Just keep your
mouth shut and don't burn that bridge. Okay. Now, most
people don't realize this, that you know, at the end
of the day, when you make all those attacks, that
you probably are going to lose opportunities that you never
even knew you had. You won't even know because the one,
the one, this one hurts the most because most people
never realize it's even happening. Okay, you may never get
a job that you were recommended for. In other words,
you don't get the job because you weren't even recommended
or even if you were recommended, somebody in there said
I wouldn't hire them. Well, you'll never know the reason
why they're not gonna put that in there. Oh well,
Johnny said, don't hire you because you're a dick. Maybe
there's a committee you were you weren't invited to because
nobody wants to work with you because you run your mouth. Hey,
I'm guilty of that, But you know what, I do
that on purpose because I don't like committees. I don't
want to fly out to Texas anymore or somewhere and
sit on a committee with a bunch of people that
pound their chest. That's why I stopped doing the PSI
stuff and helping with code development panels. I don't I
don't want, I don't care about that crap anymore. I
have no interest in it. I'm over it. The younger Paul. Yeah,
was the younger Paul an a hole from time to time?
Absolutely he was, And but it was calculated. I knew
what I was doing. I wasn't burning a bridge. I
was setting a foundation. Hey, I'm letting you know. Don't
call me. I don't want to help you, Okay, And
maybe that's what you do, but I certainly would not
do that if you're a young apprentice, a journeyman, a master,
or a business owner, because you're always going to need
somebody to help you, and if you burn that bridge,
you don't have that help anymore. How about the partnership
that passes you up because you're somebody they don't want
to work with because you started talking smack to somebody
and it comes back to haunt you, or maybe a
consulting opportunity that went elsewhere because they just don't want
to work with you. I know for a fact that
I have not written any books in a long time
for a major publishing house because somebody said, yeah, you
don't want to work with Paul. He's a problem to
work with when it comes to writing books. And I
am a problem. I get I honestly, because I have
a high standard and it's not you know, I don't
just settle, and so I'm difficult to work with. That's fine.
I've accepted that. That's not burning a bridge because I
didn't want that work to begin with. So again, all
these things, why because decision makers saw some online behavior,
heard something somebody said, or the person that's in a
position to put you in a position that you want
to be in, you had an interaction with them and
you ranted and you called them names or whatnot. Then
you've burnt that bridge. And here's the thing. All of
those things, promotion, recommendation committees, consulting gigs, all that kind
of stuff, you'll get no announcement, you'll get no warning,
you'll get no understanding of why you just didn't get called.
It's kind of like you're bidding on a job and
you put a good price out there and you never
understand why you didn't get the bid, and it eats
you up right because you're like, I want to know
was I too high? Was I too low? Was I
right in the ballpark? What's the reason you didn't hire me.
It's the same thing here. You're never gonna know why
you didn't get that position, you didn't get that promotion,
or why you may have to go back to a
company because you've lost your job where you were at
and you want to go back to the company you
work for. But you burnt that bridge, and you wonder, well,
maybe they forgot. They don't forget. Don't burn that bridge.
Now when it comes to social media, the bridge burning machine,
let's talk about the elephant in the room. Social media
has made it dangerously easy to burn bridges instantly. So again,
before social media, it was harder. Okay, you had to
pick up the phone, you had to write a letter,
you had to say something face to face to burn
that bridge. Okay, it's more interactive now. One emotional post,
one late night rant, one comment typed in frustration, and boom,
permanent record. So I have people, for example, that I've
helped out for years, answered questions for them. They know
they could pick up the phone and give me a call.
I stumble on a post in the form and yes,
we'll find it. Somebody will share it with somebody else.
It will come to light and I read it and
I go, well, that's good to know. That's good to know.
Don't think you're doing it in a private room and
somebody won't share something, or they won't screen capture it
and share it with somebody. It's just nature of the beast. Okay,
it's all online. I see something like that, or somebody
else sees something like that, and you realize that bridge
is burnt, and you can act innocent all you want,
but it's right there in black and white. There you
go boom, big mistake, So biggest mistake I see electricians
make online as they'll publicly trash inspectors. They'll mock manufacturers
without any true facts. They don't understand how something's made,
they don't understand the UL standards, they don't understand how
the NEC's developed, and they make stupid ass statements that
they can't back up. They just say it. They just
make it up. There's no facts behind it. It's just
what they feel, so they put it out there in
an emotional post. They attack educators or code experts acts
saying they're dumb, they're stupid, they don't know what they're
talking about. Yet they may have only been in the
field a couple of years, or maybe they're an electrician
that's been in the years, fifty years in the field,
but they've only taken one exam and everything else has
been a renewal. And yet all of a sudden, they
think they're their authority on everything. And they've never served
on a code panel, they've never written a book, they've
never written an article, they've never done a podcast or
a blog. They've never done anything to give to the industry.
But all of a sudden, they're an expert simply because
they hold a license for fifty years. No, sorry, it
doesn't work that way. You could be doing some for
fifty years. You can still could be doing it wrong.
How do I know? Because I had people come up
to my seminars that say, I don't want to come
to a seminar for continuing education. I've been doing this
for fifty years. The moment they leave, what do they
say to me? They pull me aside and go mister
AVNANTY apologize. I learned some new stuff today. Everybody can
learn new stuff. Airing customer disputes, publicly posting them online,
arguing with the customer face to face, all of those
things are just not going to be good for your reputation,
and it's unnecessary. This is why I teach soft skills,
and that's why I have a lot of consulting gigs
with electrical contractors in how their employees need to deal
with customers. You don't need them sharing any baggage or
arguing with the customer. There's a tactful way to do everything. Okay,
post an emotion instead of professionally is a problem. And
this is again why I don't comment online. I just
don't want to get into it. People say, well, Paul
blocks people, he doesn't comment. Damn right, I don't. It's
not worth it. Listen. You may feel justified at the
moment that you made that Schnike comment, but the Internet
doesn't forget context. It just remembers the behavior. The reason
why I don't post in debates online to try to
until I'm blue in the face try to educate somebody
over and over because they won't listen. It's because the
next person that stumbles onto that conversation are not going
to go to the very beginning and read it. All.
People are too lazy for that. How do you think
TikTok got so grows too quickly the little three minutes
because people's attention spans are small. All they do is
see the sensational posts and they start to jump in
there and they form an opinion of somebody, Oh guys,
it as whole. They didn't read the context of the
entire discussion because people don't do it. And that's the
problem with little minions, and that's the problem with the
people that follow the quote, influencers who spread false and
misleading information and then get into these little pissing contests,
and the next thing, you know, people stumble on it
and say, yeah, he's right, that guy's a dick, and
they don't realize it that you're on the wrong You're
riding the wrong horse in this race because you didn't
go back and read the beginning of the conversation. But
people don't do that. But remember the negative comment or
the harassment, or the fight or the argument lingers on
forever on social media. Look the long game of professional
relationships in this industry. The most successful people in the
industry understand one thing. This is a long game. In
our trade, we hang around for many, many years. I was,
you know, I talked to a gentleman the other day.
He called our office. Talked to him about an hour.
He's in his seventies, he's still getting back into the trade.
He's been doing it for sixty to fifty or whatever
it is. I mean, just a long freaking time, even
longer than me. And he still loves it. Okay, this
is a long game. Careers in the electrical industry can
span decades, not months, not years, but decades, and during
that time, everybody that you're having an argument, everybody you
disagree with, whether you're on the job site helpers, journeymen,
other people, other trades, supervisors, jobs, you work for customers. Remember,
over time, people's roles changes, positions change, influence shifts from
person to person. People move into leadership roles that were
not into leadership at the time you had your confrontation.
So today, inspectors, instructors, engineers, manufacturers, reps, committee members, and
maybe just maybe tomorrow's gatekeepers, those folks may be which
they're not today. They may be the gatekeepers of opportunity
for you and your business or for your growth personally,
and you have burnt that bridge. For the life of me,
I would not understand why educators out there on the
internet who I've helped through the years feel like they
would get any type of benefit at trashing me online
when they don't even know me. But sadly, that is
where we're at any industry. And I'm just trying to
keep you younger electricians, younger educators who want to build
a name, apprentices, journeymen, masters, want to keep the integrity
you want to own your business. One day, you never
know the inspector you trash may be the building official
down the road and make it very difficult for you
to do any work in that town. So it's really
important that you think about those actions. Now, what to
do instead of burning bridges? Okay, So what should you
do when you disagree with somebody? And again this is
an exercise that again I don't comment block, but this
is what you would do in the real world if
you're an electrician and you're working in the field, whatever
level you're at, when you disagree with somebody, Because disagreements
are going to happen, and here's the professional playbook on
how to do that. Number One, address issues privately first
before you go public. Just pick up the phone, send
a professional email, ask for clarifications, seek understanding. You'd be
amazed at how many conflicts disappear with a very simple discussion.
Just talk it out. Okay. Again, we're talking about people
that you may need that you don't want to burn
that bridge, not talking about for me. For example, if
I have another educator and I'm like that's you know,
I was like, well, Paul, you should practice what you preach.
You don't want to burn the bread. There's no educator
out there. I'm going to call for code advice. I stopped.
I didn't need to do that twenty years ago. It's
not that I sit here and say I know everything
here about the cooebook, but I understand how to read it,
interpret it and form an opinion now. And it took
me years to get to that point. So I'm not
burning bridges. I like to keep relationships. For example, me
and Mike Hole get along great. Seem to be that
online that people think we don't we get along great?
Do I like Mike's forum? No? I think those moderators
in there are full of crap. I think that they
pound their chest that they Mike should probably get rid
of all of them. But that's that's Mike's form. That
ain't my form. But as far as Mike and Mario
and Brian and all them, they're great people. I get
along with them all the time. Anytime we're at an
event together, we go out to eat or do something.
That's great people. But people like to propagate stuff that's
not true. Well why not ask the source? The easiest
thing to do is just ask the source. Okay, pick
up the phone call. It's important. Next stick to the
facts and remove the personal attacks. If you must discuss
something publicly, focus on the technical issues. Cite the code references,
stay professional, try to remove emotion from the discussion. The
moment it comes personal that you start damaging your brand.
You can say I agree to disagree the other person's
I would say yes, because you're stupid, you're full of crap.
You don't know anything about the code. They took it personal.
My response to that would be, Okay, you're right, you
know it all. I'm wrong. Ho home, far be it
for me to correct you and then move on. Now
did I do that years ago? Absolutely not. There is
a reason why I don't put the strawberry ice cream
in my freezer because I know if it's there, I'm
going to eat it. So if I don't comment, and
if I turn off the ability to comment or comment
to people's posts, then what happens is I don't have
the temptation to do it and go down that rabbit hole.
How I'm human, So that's why I do it that way.
I don't need to have I don't need to take
a perfectly good if I share an example of a post,
I don't need five hundred people commenting taking it all
the way to the extreme left or extreme right, or
or arguments in there about this guy's wrong, that got's wrong,
or people picking pieces of it and sharing it out
of context. I just don't allow it. You get what
I'm saying. So I'm not gonna get into the banter
back and forth. And it's just it's worked great for me.
I've been doing that now for about five years. It
works great that type of thing. Now. I have my
little moments with some home inspectors, but at the end
of the day, yeah, I don't really get back and
forth in it that much anymore. I don't get in
the weeds like I used to that type of thing,
and I had to grow. And I'm saying to you, grow,
you don't need to do that now. Assume you may
need that person later. That's the one is an important
thing to remember when you're getting ready to jump on somebody. Now,
if it's just two electricians that want to fight it
out and that gets you your nipples hard and you
want to go arguing back and forth in a form
and look like idiots, then do do that. You have
had it, that's on you. That's whatever I'm saying. There's
a big difference between that and then burning bridges with
your job, your employers and people that you interact with
every day that could be influential in your success in
the future, or doing that with people in the industry
that may be able to help you, like me and
other people, Mike and all that. Burning those type of
bridges as you climb that ladder to success is really
stupid for you to do that for no reason. There's
no reason to do that. But think about it. So
here's the process that you look at. Here's the golden rule.
Before you post anything, ask yourself this question. What if
I need this person's help in two years, three years,
one year. Is it possible that this guy is known
enough or this girl is known enough in the industry
that I might need their help on something at some point,
maybe in a committee, or if I need a coding
term inpretation, or I find myself in trouble because life
changes on a whim, right you need an expert witness
on something because you get in you're a contractor, and
you end up getting in a lawsuit and you need
an expert. Who do I call? Well, I can't call
that bridge. I burn it, Okay, So ask yourself, will
I need this person's potentially their help sometime later in
my career. And if that question gives you pause for
a second to think about it, then it's best to
not hit that sind button or not hit that post button.
So ask yourself that before you make some schnikey remark,
will I need this person's help someday? Now you might
be saying Nope, I don't need this pinhead's help. Ever,
then you do, you boo. But educators, think about that
before you post it. Just remember I'm not here to
be your friend. I don't care whether you like me
or not. So I'm just saying it for your benefit
because I help anybody until they burn that bridge, and
then I just you're dead to me. So if you
don't need me, or you don't need Mike, or you
don't need other people's help, and you just keep doing you.
But that's educators, that's people that are moving up that ladder.
When it comes to electricians in the field, plumbers, mechanical,
don't burn those bridges in the field. Be respectful to
other people you work for, Respectful to your boss, expectful
to the company you work for. Don't leave on bad terms.
Don't burn that bridge. So you always have a place
that you possibly could go back to don't talk shit
to the inspectors. You can disagree and do it professionally
and respectfully, but don't get on their bad side because
you never know when they may become the head inspector,
when they may be the building official and make your
life miserable night need a referral from them one day.
Gonna look kind of bad if you ever have to
go back to somebody and ask for a referral after
you burnt that bridge. Okay, And if you do it
too many times, you're gonna run out of people that
can help you. Because if you have a tendency to
do that with one person, then you probably have a
tendency to do that with more than one person. Right,
So think about that now. Protect your professional brand at
all times, whether you realize it or not, you are
building your personal brand every day, every post, every comment,
every interaction in the field. Ask your reputation. It adds
to your reputation in this industry if you carry yourself properly,
and if you carry yourself wrongly say things you're not
supposed to propagate misinformation or falsehoods, or make up lies
or say things, it will follow you. And you need
to be intentional about it. You need to catch yourself
and ask yourself. Okay, I know this guy's coworker, but someday,
someday I might need to work for another company and
guess what. He may be the foreman, he may be
the owner. Think about it. Is it worth it? Is
it worth the spot off your mouth for a little
bit and burn a bridge? Is it really worth it
in the long run? Because I could promise you words
are just words. When people post things on my Facebook
and things like that or on YouTube, nobody's ever going
to see the post and you're gonna get deleted. But
if it makes you feel better and you want to
keep creating fictitional fiction usernames to keep posting you do
you doesn't bother me. I get a kick out of
the fact that I took that part of your life
away from you, and I laugh. But there's a reason
why I don't allow public comments. There's a reason why
I don't get into the debate. And it also gives
me a reason to capture who your username is so
that I can add it to my database, your IP
address and all that stuff to block you from ever
having any ability for you to use any of the
stuff that my company comes out with because one day
you may need it, whether you need an interpretation or
exam prep, or your son needs exam prep, or your
significant other needs exam prep or wants to learn the
neec or needs something. I will not be there to
help you. I track all that stuff. Yeah, it's exhausting.
I love it. Okay, so think about that. Now, let's
close this out and say, let me leave you with this.
In the electrical industry, your knowledge gets you in the door,
but your reputation keeps the doors open. You don't have
to agree with everybody, you don't have to like everybody,
but you need to stay professional because the bridge you
burn today may be the one that desperately needs to
be crossed tomorrow. And if you burn it, you're not
crossing it. Folks, if you enjoyed this episode or hit
home with anybody or made you think about it, or
cause you to create a discussion with somebody else in
your company, or having a little discussion with your employees,
and say, look, guys, all of you may not get along,
but don't talk crap about each other. Just do your job,
put your time in, be respectful again, because I want
to be able to openly hire you back someday if
you leave me. I want to be able to refer
you to other people. I don't want you to be,
you know, as a troublemaker. Just come and do your job.
You can have these discussions with your employe, and if
you're the employee, you're there to earn your money. If
you disagree with what you get paid, don't openly run
your mouth about it. Negotiated with the company. Other than that,
leave on good terms. Go somewhere else because you never
know when you may have to come back. Don't burn
that bridge with the inspector, educators, don't burn the bridge
with other people that have paved the way for you,
because you've just burnt the ability to ask questions. Because
I can tell you right now, some of you people
out there that are new to the industry, interpretations that
you're putting out online are incorrect, false and misleading. And
again I'm not going to comment on them because I'm
not going to be that guy. But it'll embarrass you
as you move further into your industry, it will it'll
come back to haunt you. Okay, So just think about
those things. So if you got anything from this folks,
share it with other electricians, share it with the apprentices,
share the message. Let's keep raising the professionalism of this
industry together. Until next time. Folks, stay sharp, stay professional,
and keep on mastering the Until next time, stay good.
Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning into another electrifying episode of the Master
of the NEC podcast. We hope you're feeling more powered
up and ready to tackle the electrical world with the
knowledge and confidence you need to succeed. Remember, in the
electrical trade, knowledge is power, and we're here to make
sure you stay plugged into the latest insights, tips and
code updates. If you enjoy today's episode, don't forget to subscribe,
leave us a review, and share the podcast with your.
Speaker 1: Fellow electricians and industry pros.
Speaker 2: Until next time, keep your tools sharp, your circuits clear,
and you're my focused because here at the Master of
the NEEC podcast, we're all about sparking your success. Stay safe,
stay smart, and keep mastering the trade. From all of
us here at Electrical Code Academy, Thank you for all
your support and we will see you on the next
amazing Master of the NEC podcast episode. So mhm