Developing the Next Generation of Leaders

Words: Kent Huntley

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about leadership, not the title, not the position, but the kind that quietly shapes a company and an industry over time.

Last month, I wrote about laying the first brick. About how everything that follows depends on that first one being set right. But the truth is, after that first brick, somebody has to keep building. Somebody has to carry the line forward.

And that “somebody” doesn’t appear by accident.

Across the country, the seasons are starting to change. Here in North Carolina, that also means contest season. From high school masonry contests to the NCMCA Skills Contest, I try to attend as many as I can.

I enjoy watching the contestants. You can see the nerves. You can see the concentration. And you can definitely see the pride.

Standing there, watching those young men and women lay brick, I can’t help but think about when I was learning the trade. I didn’t figure it out on my own. My father took time with me. My uncles took time with me. Other men in the trade corrected me, showed me, pushed me.

They didn’t just teach me how to spread mortar. They taught me how to show up. How to carry myself. How to respect the craft.

Somebody invested in me.

That’s what those contests remind me of. Not just competition, but opportunity. If we show up, mentor, and take the time, many of those contestants will shape the future of our industry. Some will become foremen. Some will run companies. Some may sit on boards like this one day.

But that only happens if we stay engaged.

In our own companies, it’s easy to get pulled into the daily pressures, schedules, labor shortages, equipment, and margins. We all feel it. But when you step back, you realize the long-term strength of a company isn’t just in the work it produces. It’s in the people it develops.

Some of the strongest leaders I’ve been around weren’t the loudest in the room. They didn’t demand attention. They were steady. They showed up every day. They cared about the crew. They understood the fundamentals. And over time, people trusted them.

That kind of leadership isn’t flashy. It’s built slowly. Course by course. Just like a wall.

We talk a lot about recruiting new masons, and that’s important. But we also need to be thinking about who’s going to be the next foreman. The next project manager. The next owner. The next association leader.

That doesn’t happen automatically.

It happens when we give responsibility. When we allow room for growth. When we let younger leaders make decisions, and yes, sometimes mistakes, while we’re still close enough to guide them.

None of us got here alone. Someone corrected us when we needed it. Someone trusted us before we were completely ready.

Leadership is something that gets passed down.

The MCAA plays a big role in that process. One of the best parts of this association is the exposure it gives people to different ideas, different approaches, and different ways of solving problems. When younger leaders attend meetings, sit in on discussions, or serve on committees, it expands their thinking.

And that matters.

Because if we ever want to step back, even just a little, we need to know someone else is ready to lay the next brick.

Not perfectly. But confidently.

If we take the same pride in developing people that we take in laying brick, the structure will hold. Not because one person carried it, but because many did.

Brick by brick. Leader by leader.

Developing the Next Generation of Leaders

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