Hold The Line is a national leadership summit built specifically for NECA, the IBEW, and the contractors who keep the lights on. Two and a half days. Nineteen speakers. No hard hats.
We asked Leigh Conducy of Missouri Valley JATC about why it exists, who it's for, and what Leigh hopes every leader takes back to their crew. Further down, we hear from one of the summit's biggest supporters, Buckingham Manufacturing.
Every event starts with a reason. What was happening in the industry, or what conversations were taking place, that made you realize Hold The Line needed to exist?
Robbie Foxen and I went to an Extreme Ownership Muster, which was a leadership conference, and while attending, we both had the idea of developing an industry-specific national leadership summit specifically made for NECA, the contractors, and the IBEW.
Once the idea for Hold The Line started taking shape, what did you want this event to accomplish that you felt wasn't already being addressed elsewhere?
Lots of incredible organizations have internal leadership programs and pipelines, but we really wanted to try and work together with NECA/IBEW and in collaboration with all contractors. A leadership Super Bowl event.
It's a neutral arena. No hard hats, just an elite collective.
Yes, everyone is competing against each other, but keeping our people safe, working together, and bolstering the tools and skills of everyone in a leadership position is everyone's ultimate goal.
A "rising tide lifts all the boats in the ocean" mentality.
We also wanted to combine the purchasing power as a group to bring in top-tier speakers who have the ability to impact our teams.
You will not find a stacked speaker card like Hold The Line. Two and a half days, 19 speakers.
Who did you have in mind when building this event? Who do you believe will get the most out of being in the room?
That's a great question, and a misconception.
Hold The Line can benefit anyone in a leadership position. We have executive leadership, ops teams, GFs, supers, foremen, and even top-tier apprentices who've been selected by their JATC to attend.
We've got leaders from almost every facet of the utility groups, from safety teams to even administrators.
We believe everyone, from the lowest-level worker to the absolute top-tier leader, can develop leadership skills. With that in mind, Hold The Line doesn't have a "you must be X title." It's leadership training for everyone.
At its inception, we built it to be a sort of elite gathering where contractors would choose to send their best of the best.
Just like the movies where you got the call to go to Top Gun.
At HTL, you get invited by your leadership team to honor you, celebrate you, and also treat you to something extra special. Employee retention is important in our industry, and personally, if you invest in me, my loyalty to that company skyrockets.
Truthfully, the event itself is meant to be an experience where the learner is catapulted into an immersive experience. Learners are divided into teams and given team captains. We kick our event off with a pre-flight meeting we call the Black Ops Brief, and that's led by the team captains.
I wanted it to have the feeling and experience of leadership, fellowship, and brotherhood.
Throughout the event, we challenge the teams to compete, network, and learn in both keynote and breakout fashion, which, in our most intentional way, is designed for the learner to have that light bulb moment where something, someone, or a moment just ignites within them.
In addition to that, we want to provide them with their own book of notes we call the Black Ops Book, where they can highlight key takeaways and personal information for the learner to journal and work through in their personal leadership quest.
In addition to that experience, we conduct a morning stretch and flex with the Vimocity group and a workout with a Navy SEAL. The hope is the learner gets this whole mind, body, and soul leadership experience.
What are some of the challenges facing frontline leaders today that you hope Hold The Line can help them navigate?
Leaders have more challenges than ever before. An aging experienced workforce, a younger thriving talent pool, and a system growth unlike anything we've ever seen. The margins continue to get smaller while our field teams and leadership groups are being asked to outperform everyone around them, and themselves, each year.
Leadership is not a talent, it's a skill that needs to be learned, practiced, and honed. Hold The Line is a great tool for people seeking training in leadership.
It's a place where everyone can step away from work and focus on their growth. One thing I've learned over the years is when I improve, my team improves. Hold The Line is something where an organization can see a return on the investment in real time and in real experience.
Last year I watched the president of a giant company sit down and eat with his people. It made my day to see the hierarchy melt away and the leadership grow. From acorns to oak trees.
leadership is not a talent, it's a skill that needs to be learned, practiced, and honed.
When someone attends Hold The Line, what do you hope they walk away with that they can actually take back and use with their crew or organization?
I really hope they walk away with a better network of people to call for help. I also hope they leave with a full notebook of ideas, theories, plans, and objectives in mind that they can take back to the worksite immediately.
For example, one of our breakout sessions is called RECON, which is our first-ever one-hour frontline leadership training course. In just one of the many breakouts and keynotes, they will walk away with a measurable, actionable leadership tool. They can take the course and use it tomorrow.
Beyond the speakers and presentations, why is it important to get people from different companies, locals, and parts of the industry in the same room together?
This is a great question and something you really have to see in action. Hold The Line is a cavalcade of talent, and it's incredible to surround yourself with so much energy. Everyone here is locked in and hyped up. People come to Hold The Line to level up, and it's like going to the Masters. It's fun to see an empty bar at night, because learners are up, in the gym, working out, and doing what they love.
When you peek over the fence and are able to see the jungle, the world around you is this massive group of absolute industry beasts. HTL also teaches us that we all have similar issues, and as a team and network, we can move the entire industry in the right direction.
one thing i've learned over the years is when
i improve, my team improves.
Missouri Valley JATC is helping bring this event to life. Why was this something your organization felt was important to invest time and energy into?
This is where I always get that award ceremony moment, because very few people actually get to see how many people make Hold The Line possible.
It would never happen without having what I believe is the best Board of Trustees in any industry or apprenticeship.
They drive us to deliver, and if we can properly advocate for the product we want, they will give us the tools and the resources to make it happen.
I also have to thank Buckingham personally and wholeheartedly. When I sat with Andy Baty three years ago, he went all in on Hold The Line, and their support has been monumental.
That being said, NECA's leadership team, David Long, in all honesty, I'm not sure this would have ever happened without their ultimate support.
There are so many more to thank as well. Last year, the Western Line Construction team asked us to come out west and do it in San Diego. Without them, this doesn't happen. Their team has been incredibly helpful in shaping this year's event.
Cal/Nevada JATC has been great to work with, and they represent half the team captains this year. Having their support has been great.
The Power Element team comes every year to actively produce anywhere from 4–8 podcasts that we use as refresher courses. You can actually see almost all the speakers on our HTL website from the years prior and relive the experience. Raul and Paul are world class.
Vimocity, Roshek Skinner, Powering America, the list of organizations and people all in this expedition to the summit is very humbling.
I could spend an hour listing all the people I personally owe and am grateful for, because I truly believe in Hold The Line.
Contractors send their people to support this event. Their guidance and willingness to register and send people to the event, that's a huge level of trust, and I take it personally and seriously.
Leigh, you came up through the trade as a journeyman lineman. How has your experience in the field influenced the way you look at leadership, training, and the responsibility we have to the next generation?
I've been on the worst crew and the best crew, so personally, I've seen how great leadership can influence a worksite, which is ultimately why I believe it's one of the most critical aspects of our trade. The crew does what the foreman allows.
Our responsibility is simple. Leave the trade in the absolute best possible position to catapult the next generation to success. I heard once that you're not a leader until someone you teach takes your place and does it better than you. With that mentality, that's our responsibility, which will be measured long after we're gone.
Did we give the tools, training, and resources to our future generation?
Did we give them everything they needed to succeed?
If they do succeed, then we will have done our part.
the crew does what the foreman allows.
Events like this don't happen without a lot of people and organizations coming together. What does that level of support say about the need for conversations like the ones happening at Hold The Line?
It says everything. NECA, the IBEW, WLCC, Buckingham, Powering America, The Power Element, Roshek Skinner, Vimocity, and all our contractors make Hold The Line truly the horizon event that it is.
It also speaks to the importance and power of the relationships and the willingness to work as one.
The level of support from the contractors is ultimately something that keeps me up at night.
The level of investment to send people to HTL is immense, and I'm grateful for that. It also gives me the drive and energy to never stop working to make it better.
I can honestly say a lot of people around me have to put up with my endless pursuit of building an event that will last the ages. Tiffany Chumbley and Clare Hackman put up with my insanity almost too much. I could not do it without them.
I'd like to see HTL be something that never stops and is carried into our industry long after I retire. I've actually got aspirations to grow it, open it up to the inside groups, and potentially even build it into a national annual summit where we run it on 4 or 5 learning tracks, but one step at a time.
One person can change the entire landscape of our industry. Henry Miller changed the entire landscape of organized labor. If HTL can impact 300 people a year, we could really make a difference.
After last year's event, I got a call about three weeks later from a GF, who ultimately thanked me for not just making him a better leader, but said it may have been that experience that saved his marriage. That one interaction made me realize how powerful of a product this is.
you're not a leader until someone you teach takes your place and does it better than you.
When Hold The Line is over and everyone heads back home, what would you hope people are saying about the experience, and more importantly, what do you hope happens because of it?
We do care what people say, as much as we pretend not to, and I've always prefaced registration into HTL with a money-back mentality. We can't do that, but I build it with that mentality.
If I didn't build and give you the best leadership training you've ever had, give me a call. I can't give your money back, but I will listen to you, genuinely curious as to what it was that pushed you to let me know. Ultimately, we will learn something from every single situation we encounter in life. Sometimes the worst, or our absolute bottom moments in life, become our defining moments.
So in short, the single greatest leadership summit they've ever experienced. I hope they take what they learned back and put the skills they learned into action in everything they do. I've actually had this question come up a lot: "What do I do now that I've taken the leadership pill of life?"
The answer is also easy: one thing at a time, one day at a time, one habit, one process, and build on it. HTL is the Sherpa, but you're the climber who has to prove to yourself that the summit is within your reach.
I hope people encourage others to come, and tell their management team why and how it helped them, so they can see that return on everyone's investments in each other. I also hope they keep the momentum and listen to The Power Element podcast, which does refresher course podcasting onsite. They actually record and have most of our speakers doing podcasts, so the training and experience does carry them into '27 and beyond.
I hope they strive to return again. Every year we will have a new lineup. I'm already booking speakers and have a spot for HTL in '27 and '28. It's only going to get better and better, and everyone that attends will leave a better leader than before they came. Guaranteed.
I'll close with my two mottos for life: If you don't write it down, you'll never cross it off. And I'm Always In, ALL WAYS.
one thing at a time, one day at a time, one habit, one process, and build on it.
Buckingham has been part of this industry for a long time. For someone who may know the name but not the full story, what do you want them to understand about who Buckingham is and the people you serve?
Buckingham has been around since 1896, and we've been in Binghamton, New York since the beginning. We started by making climbing equipment for linemen, and while the company and our product lines have grown significantly since then, our focus has remained on the people who rely on our equipment every day.
We work closely with linemen, utilities, contractors, arborists, tower workers, and others across the industries we serve. Many of our best ideas come directly from talking with the people doing the work and understanding what they are dealing with every day. That feedback has influenced how we design new products, improve existing ones, and think about safety and usability.
We are proud of the history behind Buckingham, but we also know that history only matters if we continue earning the trust of the people using our equipment today.
history only matters if we continue earning the trust of the people using our equipment today.
The people using your equipment are often working in some of the toughest and most demanding environments out there. What does it mean to Buckingham to play a role in helping those workers get home safely at the end of the day?
For Buckingham, there is a tremendous amount of responsibility that comes with putting our name on equipment people trust every day. Generations of linemen have relied on Buckingham equipment throughout their careers, and that is a trust we never take for granted.
It influences everything we do, from how a new product is designed and tested to how it is manufactured, inspected, and improved over time. We also listen closely to the people using our equipment because they are often the first ones to tell us where something can be made safer, more comfortable, or simply work better.
At the end of the day, we know what our equipment is trusted to do. Our responsibility is to make sure the person using it can have confidence in it every time they put it to work. Helping people do their jobs safely and making it home to their families is ultimately what gives the work we do at Buckingham its purpose.
There are a lot of ways a company can support an industry. What made Buckingham want to be part of Hold The Line and support what Missouri Valley JATC is building with this event?
What stood out to us about Hold The Line is that it is focused on more than just products or equipment. It is centered around the people in the trade, the challenges they are facing, and the leadership, safety, and training that will shape the future of the workforce.
We think there is real value in supporting an event that brings experienced linemen, contractors, manufacturers, trainers, and other industry partners together to share ideas and learn from one another.
Buckingham has been serving the line trade for generations, so we feel a responsibility to support the organizations and programs that are investing back into it. Hold The Line gives us an opportunity to do that while also spending time with the people we ultimately build our equipment for.
Hold The Line is bringing together people from across the industry to talk about leadership, safety, and the challenges happening in the field. Why do you think it's important for companies, contractors, and the people doing the work to have opportunities to come together like this?
Some of the best ideas and improvements happen when you get people with different experiences in the same room and give them a chance to have real conversations.
The person doing the work every day may see a challenge differently than a contractor, trainer, manufacturer, or safety professional. None of those perspectives tells the entire story by itself. When those groups come together and share what they are seeing, it creates a much better understanding of where the industry is today and where it needs to improve.
That is especially valuable for Buckingham. We can design and test equipment, but hearing directly from the people using it gives us insight we cannot get anywhere else. Those conversations can lead to product improvements, better training, new ideas, and stronger relationships throughout the trade.
some of the best ideas and improvements happen when you get people with different experiences in the same room and give them a chance to have real conversations.
When you look beyond the event itself, what do you hope comes from the conversations and connections that start at Hold The Line?
We hope the conversations and relationships that start at Hold The Line continue well beyond the event. Bringing together linemen, contractors, trainers, manufacturers, and other industry leaders creates an opportunity to share experiences, talk openly about the challenges people are facing, and learn from one another.
For Buckingham, those conversations are especially valuable because they help us stay connected to the people using our equipment and understand what they are seeing and dealing with every day. If those connections lead to better ideas, stronger relationships, improved products, or new ways to support the trade, then the impact of the event goes far beyond the time everyone spends together in San Diego.
custom built for hold the line
We're proud to be building custom hoodies for the Hold The Line crew. Want to learn more about the summit or see the speaker lineup?
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