Ep.28 - The Enemy You Become

Anthony Foley went from National Guard infantryman to master electrician to owner of his own veteran-owned shop, and he volunteered five years as an apprenticeship instructor along the way. In this conversation he is unusually honest about what large-scale construction does to people over time, including himself. We get into the day there was no drinking water on a hot job site and what that silence communicated, the leadership test he gives every apprentice, why he believes teaching is the highest form of mastery, and the moment a former student told him over lunch that he still seemed bitter. He agreed. **Key topics covered** • Why a foundation in standards made the transition from the military to construction easier, and where that turns into rigidity • The jump from a small shop to a national contractor, and the day he had to admit he might just be a number • Getting thrown onto large-scale new construction with no mentorship and being told to ask as few questions as possible • The water story, and what leadership communicates when it brushes something small off • Take the money off the table: his test for whether a leader is worth following • Why he gave five years of his own time to teaching apprentices for free • Teaching as the way men in this trade actually show they care • Phones, gambling and what he reads as a hope problem in younger apprentices • The gap between the six figure trades marketing and a first year apprentice’s actual paycheque • The superintendent who kept working through heat stroke, and what that models for everyone watching • How harshness gets inherited from one generation of tradespeople to the next • Why he thinks building steadier men is the precondition for the diversity the industry says it wants • Becoming the thing you were trying to avoid, and catching it in yourself • What construction could learn from law enforcement about peer support and stress • What he would tell an eighteen year old, and the one reason for joining the trades he will not accept **Guest** Anthony Foley, owner and master electrician, AKF Energy Electrical, Dumfries, Virginia. Former National Guard infantryman. Five years as a volunteer apprenticeship instructor. **Mentioned in this episode** • AKF Energy Electrical: akfenergy.com • Anthony Foley: afoley@akfenergy.com • Kennesaw State University (where Anthony studied graphic design before enlisting) • Lightcast, Defining the Skilled Trades: A Data-Driven Blueprint for the Future, August 25, 2026 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit humansideofconstruction.substack.com