Keep the Flame Alive: Apprenticeships, Retention, and Building a Training Culture in the Trades (with Manja Horner)

Jesse hosts the Learnings and Missteps podcast and interviews Manja Horner, founder and CEO of Boost Learning Design, about solving skilled-trades workforce shortages driven by retirements and the long push toward college over trades. Manja introduces her book, “Pass the Torch: A Call to Rescue the Future of Trades,” and explains her “talent flywheel” for retention: strong onboarding, trained supervisors who give clear feedback, clear expectations and standards, and career pathways with training and advancement. They discuss why training succeeds only with leadership buy-in, clear business impact, and protected time, contrasting failed and successful rollout examples. Manja outlines a learning ecosystem (attitude, strategy, content/knowledge capture, trainers/technology, and skill practice with deliberate repetition). They cover apprenticeships as an industry responsibility, Manja’s path from violin teaching to trades training via her family’s restoration business, and close on thinking bigger. Get the Book: https://www.boostld.com/pass-the-torch-book Get the staff onboarding blueprint: https://www.boostld.com/onboarding-blueprint 00:00 Apprenticeship Wake Up Call 00:27 Meet Mana Horner 02:43 The Skilled Labor Cliff 05:52 Pass the Torch Book 06:54 Retention Talent Flywheel 13:10 Career Pathways That Work 17:38 Training Buy In Story 24:14 Learning Ecosystem Framework 32:19 Why Apprenticeships Matter 33:31 From Violin To Trades 39:29 Transferable Skills Mindset 41:10 Collecting Experiences Lesson 42:25 No Credentials Needed 43:20 Preboarding To Orientation 46:11 Role Onboarding Structure 47:25 AI And Constant Learning 48:29 Talent Choice And Culture 54:17 Let Kids Figure It Out 59:00 Skill Stacking Plan 01:03:35 School Mismatch Insights Lets leave the Construction Industry Better than We Found It https://www.depthbuilder.com/construction-leadership-lab Download the free PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be