5 Leadership Lessons for Tradies from Trik Con Construction’s Chad Perry

Guest: Chad Perry

Episode: Season 1, Episode 11

Listen here

Chad Perry has more than 20 years in concreting and built a successful business leading diverse teams with one core practice: paying more attention to people. He is growing his leadership by sharing his technical knowledge with other tradies, so they have an opportunity to grow in their craft and trade long term.

Here’s what Chad’s learned about getting the best out of others:

Lesson 1: Practicing Leadership Without a Title

Speaking from Bali, where he now splits his time, Chad is firm that leadership isn't reserved for people with a team or a formal title.

"You can still be a leader and implement your fundamentals of leadership, whether you do have people under you or you don't," he says.

For him, that starts with a genuinely positive mindset and staying open, regardless of whether you're managing a crew or working solo on a job site surrounded by other tradies.

He's built both Trik Con Construction and Master Form Concrete Academy on that same belief: that showing up with the right attitude is available to anyone on a site, no rank required, and that in-and-of itself is leadership.

Lesson 2: How to Lead Different People on the Same Team

Chad's leadership instincts showed up early, taking on informal responsibility even mid-way through his own apprenticeship. What's carried through since is a preference for reading people individually rather than issuing blanket instructions.

"It's not about bossing people around," Chad says. "It's about showing people what you've done throughout your career... and being able to take them in a way that they will actually understand."

He's clear that what works for one person on his crew won't necessarily land the same way with the next, and says the only real way to learn that is by paying attention over time.

Lesson 3: Learning From Setbacks in Trade Businesses

Twenty years into concreting, Chad has had plenty of setbacks along the way, and says the mindset that's carried him through wasn't avoiding failure, but reframing it.

"It's always being positive, no matter how many setbacks you have," he says. "You actually will learn most from your failures."

He sees a can-do attitude and persistence as more valuable than any single skill, arguing that setbacks aren't proof something is wrong with the plan, but information that pushes you toward not repeating the same mistake, a mindset he actively tries to pass on to the tradies coming through Master Form Academy.

Lesson 4: Why Tradies Should Share Their Knowledge

Chad estimates the trade industry is split between people who freely teach and mentor, and those who guard what they know because they feel it's something they earned and shouldn't have to give away.

He founded Master Form Concrete Academy directly in response to that second group, wanting to share 20-plus years of concreting knowledge rather than sit on it.

"There's that stigma that we share knowledge, thinking that you're giving up something," he says. "That's just something we've got to try to get rid of in the industry."

A healthier industry, he believes, benefits everyone in it, and there’s room for everyone to grow and succeed without needing to hoard knowledge.

Lesson 5: Preventing Burnout as a Trade Business Owner

Chad is candid that managing and influencing other people, day after day, takes a real toll, and that he's personally burnt out more than once from underestimating it. What keeps him grounded now is deliberately protecting time for family, physical exercise, and simply switching off to a podcast.

"Everyone burns out, and I've burnt out many times," he says. "Always make sure you have time for yourself."

His practical rule is that almost nothing genuinely needs solving in the moment. Tomorrow, as he puts it, is only eight hours away, and most problems can comfortably wait that long.

Chad’s Advice on Everyday Leadership

"It's just about showing up 100% and giving everything you've got. It can be as simple as being punctual, not being late, and just asking questions," because if it doesn't work out with a particular mentor or business, that's not proof you failed, just proof you now know what isn't the right fit.

Catch the full conversation with Chad Perry on Tradies Who Lead for more leadership lessons for tradies, out now wherever you listen to podcasts.