How to Treat Interns

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 6 min

How to Use Interns the Right Way

In this blog, I’m going to talk about how to use interns. This topic came up at bootcamp, and even though I’ve talked about it before, it’s still a massive problem in our industry. An attendee told me: “Jason, when we get interns, our company just says, ‘You can come to the project site and do paperwork.’” And not even useful paperwork, just busywork no one else wants to do. That mindset is broken.

We Need People, So Let’s Treat Interns Like the Future

Right now, there are plenty of people who want to work in construction. I get contacted almost daily by people wanting to get into construction management, but recruiters won’t give them a shot because they lack a degree or five years’ experience. When I was at Hensel Phelps, we didn’t care about that. We cared about core values and mindset. We could train the right person into a great team member, whether they came from finance, performing arts, the craft, or anywhere else. But many companies today are stingy with people. They lean on staffing, then wonder why work is late. If you can’t run a full-blown training program, your intern program becomes your pipeline. And if that’s the case, you’d better make it count.

How to Treat Interns

Welcome them. Make them feel at home from day one.
Equip them. Give them a desk, a computer, and the tools they’ll need.
Train them on real work. Simulate the actual job they’d do if they were full-time.

Forget the “make them pay their dues with crap work” approach. Hard work should be the proving ground, not poor conditions. When I get an intern, they’re outside running total stations, doing level work, creating lift drawings, writing RFIs, processing change orders, reviewing submittals, and real work. If anything, the biggest “complaint” is that they’re doing full project engineer tasks while being paid as interns. That’s a conversation I’m happy to have.

Why the Old Boot Camp Mentality is Outdated

Movies like Full Metal Jacket made it seem like screaming at people and breaking them down was the way to train. But even the military doesn’t do that anymore, not in the same way. Modern training is about support, technology, and engaging people so they can perform at their best. The “treat interns like crap” mentality needs to die. Interns are an investment in your company’s future, not a cost to be minimized. Bottom line: Respect interns, train them on real work, and give them the resources they need. That’s how you build the next generation of talent and keep them in the industry. On we go.

Key Takeaway

An intern program isn’t busywork, it’s your talent pipeline. Treat interns with respect, equip them with the right tools, and train them on meaningful work, and you’ll build skilled, loyal team members for the future.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our YouTube channel for more info: (Click here)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

Best Intentions—Wrong Inputs

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 7 min

Doing Your Best with the Wrong Inputs

I’m going to talk about doing your best with the wrong inputs.

LeanTakt is doing great right now. We work with large general contractors in commercial construction, projects that don’t slow down right away when a recession hits. And because we help projects remain financially stable and successful, our service is still needed even in tougher economies.

Still, I’m already hearing from people on the West Coast whose businesses are struggling because of tariffs and paused projects. Things are getting chaotic. Our Lean Belt project is still moving forward, but now we’ve gone from “fun and exciting” to “hard and grindy.” And I know for many of you, especially in residential and multifamily sectors, the economic shift is hitting hard.

That’s why today’s topic is important, because whether it’s in business or in life, you can work incredibly hard but still get the wrong results… if your inputs are wrong.

The Problem with Wrong Inputs

Let me share a few examples.

Example 1: A loving, considerate feminist debates her brother, an avid Andrew Tate follower who believes men should control women. Both are doing their best, but their “input” beliefs are completely different, one based on equality, the other on patriarchal control. The output? Endless arguments that never lead anywhere.
Example 2: A trade foreman storms into a meeting defensive and combative. His inputs? Years of being abused by general contractors, never being treated well, always feeling victimized. Yelling is the only thing that’s worked for him before. Wrong inputs, wrong outputs.
Example 3: Jordan Peterson’s public arguments. His data set focuses on male-driven environments and toxic religious underpinnings, excluding diverse and equal-opportunity contexts. He’s intelligent and persuasive but his inputs bias the outputs.

Why Inputs Matter

Our beliefs, experiences, and learned habits form our “inputs.” These shape our actions, attitudes, and results, our “outputs.”

The good news? Inputs can be changed.

I learned this firsthand. Early in my career, I believed I could work endless hours, boss people around, use them like resources, and skip education and structure. That mindset nearly got me fired.

Then I replaced my inputs:

The Hensel Phelps philosophy
Construction Surveying and Layout by West Crawford
Moral and ethical standards
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Tony Robbins, Jim Collins, Patrick Lencioni

Better inputs led to dramatically better outputs.

Seeing Others Through Their Inputs

When someone is failing, struggling, or even being difficult, ask:

What are their inputs?
Are they doing their best from a flawed or limited starting point?

If you can identify the wrong inputs and help change them, you can transform the outputs without manipulation, always aiming for a win-win.

The Big Picture

Human brains aren’t fixed-code computers, they’re advanced learning machines. They reflect the environment, systems, and beliefs they’ve been exposed to.

That’s why the woman raised in abundance may see stealing as immoral, while a woman in poverty may see it as a necessary act to feed her children. Different inputs. Different outputs.

Our job, if we want better teams, better projects, and better relationships is to engineer the right inputs for ourselves and for others.

Key Takeaway

You can work hard and still fail if your inputs are wrong. Success comes from consciously replacing flawed beliefs, habits, and information with better ones and helping others do the same.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

They Clean up When We Show up

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 6 min

When a Job Site Only Cleans Up for Visitors, How to Turn It Into a Win

In this blog, I’m going to talk about a commonly perceived situation: when the bosses stop by the job site, everyone cleans up, and then it reverts back to its normal state. Basically, “clean up when they show up.”

I want to make the point that this can actually be turned into a good thing.

I saw a post recently that sparked this thought. It asked, “What does your job site look like on a normal day versus when leadership visits?” If a leadership team only visits once every few years and the site is clean only on that day to showcase a lie, that’s bad. But from a system and human behavior standpoint, this scenario can actually become a positive.

Human beings are social creatures. Culture eats strategy every time. If a team cleans up and organizes when leadership or a visitor shows up, they know what’s expected. The problem isn’t the behavior, it’s the frequency.

How to Make It Work

If visits happen once every three years, there’s no habit formed. But if leadership or a respected authority figure comes by regularly, say once a month,something changes:

They clean up for the visit – even if it only lasts three days.
Next time – maybe it stays clean for five days.
After a few cycles – people start to question why they can’t keep it clean all the time.
The clean-up becomes a habit – and the culture shifts toward continuous organization and operational stability.

The key is regular, meaningful visits from someone with both influence and a touch of authority, enough to set expectations without creating a rigid, stifling environment. I call it “a gallon of influence and a teaspoon of authority.”

Instead of mocking the “clean up for visitors” mindset, we can use it as a cultural lever. Social groups already influence behavior, whether in gangs, clubs, religious organizations, or political movements. Why not harness that same social dynamic for something positive, cleanliness, organization, respect, kindness, service, and growth?

So, if your job site cleans up every time the bigwigs arrive, great. Let’s make it a habit. Combine consistent leadership visits with a clear standard, and over time, you’ll embed cleanliness and organization into the culture itself.

On we go.

Key Takeaway

If a job site cleans up for visitors, that’s a sign they know the standard. Increase the frequency of visits, add a touch of authority, and you can transform a reactive behavior into a lasting cultural habit of cleanliness and operational stability.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Red Flashing Lights

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 7 min

Blinking Red Lights, Why Projects Fail Without Them

In this blog, I’m going to talk about blinking wow blinking red lights. Stay with us. Just to clarify the topic for today, Kevin gave me a really neat analogy about the control panel on a vehicle, and I wanted to share it here. It was so good. Before we dive in, I want to share some feedback from a reader: “I’m a struggling assistant superintendent because I feel like I got in the door with very little qualifications. I don’t have much field experience and zero collegiate backing. What I do know is God put me in the position, and I am to do something great with it. I’d like to talk with you more about how I can excel in this industry. I plan to start reading more books and listening to your blog in the morning, but I know I’d benefit from a mentor.” First off, Yes, I super love mentoring. Anytime somebody needs help or a mentor, let me know. I’m not more important than anyone else, I’m just doing my best to share what I’ve learned and help where I can. On another note, we’ve just reached 40,000 subscribers on LinkedIn and are almost at 40,000 on YouTube. It’s been five years, a lot of investment, and countless hours of work. Is it worth it? Yes, for the impact. Easy? Absolutely not. But I’m committed to pushing through the current economic challenges, keeping LeanTech strong, and proving we can take care of people, stay profitable, and do it the right way.

The Analogy

Kevin’s analogy is this: Not having a macro-level takt plan for your project is like driving a car without headlights or a dashboard. Think about it:

Headlights let you see ahead, like a long-range, strategic plan.
Dashboard indicators (speed, RPM, fuel, temperature) are your KPIs. They tell you if you’re overburdened, underpowered, or in danger of breaking down.
Blinking red lights are your warning signals, procurement problems, missed constraints, unresolved roadblocks.

Without them, you’re blind. I had a real-world reminder of this recently. My Ford truck didn’t display the oil-change warning light, and when my son checked it, we were four quarters low, one quart away from engine damage. On a project, that’s the equivalent of running your team into burnout without realizing it.

The Lesson for Construction

Your macro-level takt plan, normal takt plan, and supporting KPIs are those “blinking red lights” for your project. They warn you before problems escalate. Without them, you’re driving or building blind. If you don’t see your problems early, you’ll crash-land the project, burn people out, and fail to deliver. We’ve got to have those red lights. On we go.

Key Takeaway

A well-structured takt plan and clear KPIs act like a car’s dashboard your project’s early-warning system. Without these “blinking red lights,” you risk running blind and damaging both your people and your project.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Focus on your Good Jobs more than your Bad Jobs

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 7 min

Why “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” Is Holding You Back

In this blog, I want to share something that’s been weighing on my mind lately especially as I’ve crossed into my 40s and realized just how much energy and time it takes simply to maintain your physical and mental health. The truth is, by the time you hit 40–45, you’ll spend at least a few hours every day just taking care of your body. And that’s if you kept up with your health before then. If you didn’t, you’ll spend even more catching up.

So if you’re younger, take it from me: start taking care of yourself NOW. Don’t let it get bad and then fix it because digging yourself out of a hole is much harder than never getting into it.

All of that ties directly into the main mindset I want to challenge in this blog:

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Honestly? I think that’s one of the most destructive phrases in leadership and life.

One of our listeners sent in a great message. He’s working at a company that insists everything stays standardized no changes, no improvements, just “do it the way we’ve always done it.” He’s trying to innovate (even built his own Canva weekly report), but he’s reluctant to bring it up because management might reject it in the name of “consistency.”

That mindset might feel safe, but long term it kills progress.

Whether you’re religious or not, both perspectives point to the same truth:

If you believe in heaven, you believe in eternal growth, service, and progress not sitting on a cloud doing nothing.
If you’re an atheist, you believe the human race must keep evolving, solving problems, and improving if we want to survive long term.

In both cases, progress is required.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ignores that reality. It stifles innovation, discourages creativity, and ultimately leads to stagnation. Blockbuster said “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We all know how that worked out.

The better mindset is:

Meet the minimum standard but never cap the maximum.

Tap into innovation after you meet the baseline. Encourage growth above the minimum requirement.

That applies to how we run projects too. Companies often rush straight to fix their worst jobs, assigning their best people to “save the day.” But that ends up hurting the best jobs and slowly brings everything down to mediocrity.

Instead:

Focus on your good jobs first.

Support them. Resource them. Reward them. Grow them. If you do that:

Year 1 – 50% good, 50% bad
Year 2 – 60% good, 40% bad
Year 3 – 70% good, 30% bad

Why? Because what you focus on is where you go.

If you spend all your time fighting fires, that becomes your culture. But if you spend time strengthening what’s already working, that becomes your standard and the rest of the organization will eventually follow.

So whether it’s your health or your projects or your career, stop waiting for something to break before you fix it. Improve while things are working. That’s how you create momentum and long term success.

Key Takeaway

Improve while things are going well. The best time to grow is when your health, projects, or career are already on solid footing because progress made from a position of strength creates powerful momentum. When you pour your energy into what’s already working, you not only elevate results in the short term, you also establish a culture of excellence that naturally pulls everything else upward. Don’t settle for maintaining the status quo intentionally move it forward and let that momentum shape the future.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Fake Quality Checks

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 5 min

Stop Checking the Box: Why “Fake Quality” Hurts More Than It Helps

In this blog, I want to talk about something that’s becoming more and more common in construction and it’s driving me crazy:

Fake quality:

I’m talking about the kind of reviews, inspections, and audits that look like “quality control” on paper…but in reality, add zero value. In fact, many times they actually slow progress down.

Let me give you an example. When we publish books through Kindle Direct Publishing, the system makes us go through seven or eight “quality reviews.” That sounds good, right? Except none of the revisions are meaningful. They’re not correcting spelling or grammar. They’re not improving user experience or adding clarity. They’re just nit-picking meaningless formatting issues so the reviewer can feel like they “did something.”

It’s fake quality an activity that looks productive but isn’t.

And unfortunately, we see that same thing happening in construction all the time:

A “constructability review” that just redlines formatting
A “schedule review” that ignores strategy and only picks on fonts or layout
A field engineer “inspecting” the job but only focusing on paperwork and checkboxes instead of real installation details

None of that drives real improvement.

Quality isn’t about checking a box or catching people for tiny mistakes.
It’s about helping the team build it right.

That means:

Asking meaningful questions
Confirming critical dimensions
Walking the work with trades and actually improving what’s being built
Reviewing plans so the job is clearer, safer, more productive

There’s a big difference between reviewing to add value and reviewing to look busy.

So any time you’re doing a review, audit, or inspection, ask yourself:

Am I actually improving the outcome…or just going through the motions?

Let’s get rid of fake quality. Let’s replace it with meaningful, value-adding checks that make the work better.

Key Takeaway

Real quality comes from meaningful reviews that improve the work not from checking boxes or enforcing arbitrary rules. Don’t fall into the trap of looking busy. Focus on value-added quality checks that actually help your team build better.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here)
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here)
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Morning Foreman Huddles are just Team Huddles

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 6 min

Why Morning Foreman Huddles Don’t Work (And What To Do Instead)

In this blog, I want to finally settle something that’s been debated in lean construction circles for years.

Should you do your foreman huddle in the morning or the afternoon?

Here’s the truth and some people won’t like this:

If you’re doing a “foreman huddle” in the morning, it’s not a foreman huddle at all. It’s a team daily stand-up… and you’re dragging your foremen into it to make up for a lack of planning the day before.

Let me explain.

Planning has to happen the day before.

Your foremen need to know the plan, the manpower, the tools, and the materials before they show up to work the next day. Otherwise, you essentially start the day by scrambling.

When you pull all the foremen together in the morning and ask “how many people do you have/what’s your biggest issue?”, that’s not planning that’s triage.

And yes… there is value in a team daily stand-up where the project team huddles for a few minutes each day to talk about problems and priorities. That absolutely should happen but that meeting should involve the PMs, engineers, and superintendent… not the foremen.

Here’s how an effective daily rhythm should actually flow:

Time	Purpose
Afternoon (prior day)	Foreman huddle to plan the next day and stage material
Morning	Worker huddle to communicate the plan to crews
Immediately after	Team daily stand-up (PM, PE, Supers) to remove larger roadblocks
Throughout the day	Zone control walks + field support

If you try to combine all of that into a single “foreman huddle” in the morning, you end up:

Changing the plan at the last minute
Taking foremen away from their crews when the crews need them most
Making decisions without proper preparation or materials
Wasting time solving problems that should have been prevented

So no a morning foreman huddle doesn’t work.

What you’re really looking for is an afternoon foreman huddle + morning worker huddle + team daily stand up.

Call things what they really are. And do them at the right time so they actually add value.

Key Takeaway:

A true foreman huddle belongs in the afternoon when you still have time to plan the next day, stage materials, and solve problems before work begins. A “foreman huddle” in the morning isn’t planning at all it’s a reactive team stand up. Plan the day before, communicate to the crew in the morning, and let the project team remove roadblocks during a short team stand up.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Superintendent Commandments: 10 Rules You Can’t Break

Posted on August 15, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 7 min

The 10 Commandments for Superintendents: Rules You Can’t Break

This blog was inspired by a request from one of our readers on our YouTube channel, LinkedIn, and podcast community. It’s also a topic I get asked about all the time.

The idea for these commandments comes from years of research and a survey of 50–100 superintendents. The goal? To uncover the most crucial habits and rules every superintendent must follow to succeed not just for their projects, but for their careers and teams.

While there are more than ten in the full list, this blog distills them down to the Top 10 Superintendent Commandments – the essential practices you must embrace to excel in this role.

Always Have a Plan:

A superintendent never starts the day like an accident. Begin with a strategic plan for the next six weeks, the upcoming week, and the day ahead. Be prepared with time-blocked schedules, resources ready, and a clear end goal in mind. Don’t start anything until you’re ready to finish it with a full kit for yourself, your crew, and the job.

Study Like a Builder:

Spend 15–30 minutes daily studying the drawings. This deep familiarity lets you proactively address needs whether it’s adding items to the procurement log, checking trade partner readiness, or confirming orders. Your skill lies in turning plans into reality, and daily study is the foundation.

Walk the Job with Purpose:

A purposeful site walk helps you connect your plans to reality. You’ll spot upcoming needs, identify issues early, and trigger actions for the team. Whether it’s arranging safety steps, prepping for meetings, or capturing progress photos, your walk turns the theoretical into the practical.

Maintain Production Plans & Vision:

Keep the strategic plan visible and understood by everyone from the 120-day outlook to the weekly work plan. Use visuals, sketches, and logistics maps to ensure the entire team sees, knows, and acts as one. Clear vision fuels coordinated action.

Always Be Prepared:

Your role is more about preparation than execution. Equip yourself and the site with the right tools, PPE, resources, and information. Align labor, materials, and expectations before work begins. A well-prepared site runs smoothly.

Protect Flow & Safety:

Safety is a core value, not just a priority. Keep the site clean, organized, and stable so work can flow without bottlenecks. Proactively remove roadblocks, optimize material flow, and ensure everyone goes home safe each day.

Stay Connected:

Every stakeholder is your customer from owners and designers to trade partners and neighbors. Maintain strong communication, share updates, and nurture relationships. A connected superintendent can see the future of the project and anticipate needs before they become problems.

Ask Great Questions:

Don’t lead with assumptions or commands. Ask insightful, constructive questions to tap into the wisdom of your team and partners. Collaboration leads to better plans, stronger relationships, and smarter decisions.

Commit to Continuous Learning:

Read, attend trainings, tour other job sites, and explore new methods like Last Planner, Scrum, or Kanban. Learning fuels leadership, and leadership fuels project improvement. The cycle is simple: learn → share → improve.

Lead a Sustainable Life:

Reject the toxic hustle culture. Take PTO, protect your health, and maintain balance in your life. A burned-out superintendent can’t lead effectively. Model a healthy work-life balance so your team sees that success doesn’t require sacrificing well-being.

Final Thoughts:

These 10 superintendent commandments aren’t just rules they’re a mindset for sustained success. By applying them daily, you’ll protect your team, advance your career, and keep your projects running like clockwork.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Choice or Addiction?

Posted on August 14, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 7 min

Work Fewer Hours, Build Better Teams

I recently received feedback from a reader who said my focus on lean principles really resonated with them, especially in smaller projects under $100 million. They pointed out the lack of strong, well trained teams in the industry and I couldn’t agree more.

I owe a lot of my process driven mindset to my time at Hensel Phelps. They taught me how to build anything because I understood the process behind it. That background still shapes everything I do today.

Right now, some exciting projects are in motion updates to the Field Engineering Methods Manual, progress on the anti-CPM book, and the upcoming Elevating Construction Field Engineers book. But today’s blog is about something critical, working fewer hours without sacrificing results.

Why We Limit Hours at LeanTakt

At LeanTakt, our team in Guadalajara works under Mexican labor law, which caps hours at 48 per week, including for salaried employees. I like this approach because it forces efficiency.

If you constrain your hours saying, “I’m done for the day” you naturally start to:

Delegate more effectively
Become more proficient
Eliminate waste
Operate in a leaner way

When you don’t set those boundaries, you tend to hide inefficiencies under a blanket of extra hours and effort.

The Elon Musk Question

Some people push back, saying, “But what about the Elon Musk culture working all out to get things done?” While I agree with his focus on productivity and avoiding bureaucracy, I reject the idea of overworking human beings as a standard practice.

Elon Musk’s extreme schedule may be fine for him, but it’s not sustainable for the rest of us. If you want to work more because you’re passionate, that’s different. If you have to work more because you can’t finish your role within reasonable hours, that’s a sign of poor organization, lack of delegation, and inefficiency not dedication.

Passion or Addiction?

Here’s the test:

Passion: You can work fewer hours but choose to do more because you enjoy it. You don’t impose it on your team.
Addiction: You can’t work fewer hours because you rely on overtime to mask waste or inefficiency.

For example, as a business owner, I often work 55+ hours. But I love it. For someone in a superintendent or PM role, if you can’t get your job done in 48–55 hours without chaos, something’s wrong.

The Toxic Leader Problem

This discussion also ties to leadership behavior. Recently, I offered a free training on takt planning to a large project team. The two project leaders were unnecessarily rude and dismissive. If they treat an outside guest like that, I can only imagine how they treat their own team.

Occasional stress and bad days happen. But constant toxicity, just like constant overtime, is not acceptable. Toxic environments destroy morale, efficiency, and project success especially on large, complex builds.

Closing Thoughts

Too many hours and toxic leadership share the same root problem: lack of control. If you can’t stop overworking or being toxic, it’s not just “how you are” it’s an addiction.

Working extra or getting frustrated occasionally is part of being human. But if it’s the norm, you need to make changes for your own health and for the good of your team.

Key Takeaway:

Sustainable success in construction comes from efficiency, delegation, and a healthy team culture not from endless hours or toxic leadership. If you can work fewer hours but choose to do more out of passion, that’s healthy; if you can’t without creating chaos, it’s a sign of inefficiency or poor leadership that must be addressed.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

Having vs. Performing

Posted on August 14, 2025August 15, 2025 by Danny Jiménez⁩

Read 6 min

The Danger of “Having” Over “Performing” in Construction

Lately, I’ve been thinking about a pattern I see far too often in construction and it’s hurting people more than they realize.

It reminds me of a line from the movie Lucy, where Morgan Freeman’s character says, “People have begun to focus on having more than becoming.” That stuck with me, and I’ve noticed the same dynamic in our industry, having versus performing.

When “Having” Takes Over

There was a talented individual I once worked with skilled, experienced, capable of great things. But over time, his focus shifted from doing to owning. He wanted the title, the salary, the perks, and the recognition but without the continued effort to perform and add value.

He began collecting things simply to have them whether it was a position, a resource, or a project without plans to develop or use them. It was about the accomplishment on paper, not the ongoing performance. And here’s the problem, when you hold on to something but stop improving it, it stagnates.

As my colleague Kate once said, everything we do at Elevate should be like water in our hands it should flow outward to benefit others, not be hoarded until it becomes stagnant.

Certifications: Tool or Trophy?

Another example is the obsession some people have with certifications. Don’t get me wrong training is valuable when you apply it. But I’ve seen people collect certifications like trophies, updating LinkedIn and hanging certificates on the wall, while their actual job performance declines.

One former team member spent more time chasing down where his OSHA card had been mailed than actually planning and managing work. In the end, all those credentials didn’t matter he wasn’t performing.

Personally, I’ve let certifications lapse if I wasn’t actively using them. I’ve never believed in keeping a title or credential for appearances’ sake. At Hensel Phelps, I was taught that if you pursue a certification, you must use it, implement it, and teach it otherwise, what’s the point?

The Root Problem

Chasing credentials, positions, or possessions for security is often fear driven. It’s an attempt to create the appearance of value rather than delivering real value.

Here’s a principle I believe in:

If you give more than you take, serve more than you’re served, and add real value to others, good things will come to you.

But when ownership, credentials, or appearances become more important than contribution, you’re heading down a dangerous slope. Things will stagnate, atrophy, and eventually be taken away because the universe rewards those who actively put value into the world.

Key Takeaway:

True growth and success in construction don’t come from titles, possessions, or certificates alone. They come from consistently performing, adding value, and sharing your skills. If “having” becomes more important than “doing,” you risk stagnation and the opportunities you’re holding onto may eventually slip away.

If you want to learn more we have:

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

On we go

How to Use Interns the Right Way

We Need People, So Let’s Treat Interns Like the Future

How to Treat Interns

Why the Old Boot Camp Mentality is Outdated

Key Takeaway

Doing Your Best with the Wrong Inputs

The Problem with Wrong Inputs

Why Inputs Matter

Seeing Others Through Their Inputs

The Big Picture

Key Takeaway

When a Job Site Only Cleans Up for Visitors, How to Turn It Into a Win

How to Make It Work

Key Takeaway

Blinking Red Lights, Why Projects Fail Without Them

The Analogy

The Lesson for Construction

Key Takeaway

Work Fewer Hours, Build Better Teams

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Norm Planning & Flow Optimization

day3

Advanced Tools & Comparisons

day4

Buffers, Controls & Finalization

day5

Control Systems & Presentations

faq

UNDERSTANDING THE TRAINING

VALUE AND RESULTS

PLANNING AND SCHEDULING TOPICS

APPLICATION & TEAM ADOPTION

VIRTUAL FORMAT & ACCESSIBILITY

faq

GENERAL FAQS

CURRICULUM & OUTCOMES

LOGISTICS & FORMAT

PRICING & VALUE

SEO-BASED / HIGH-INTENT SEARCH QUESTIONS

agenda

Day 1

Agenda

Outcomes

Day 2

Agenda

Outcomes

Day 3

Agenda

Outcomes

Day 4

Agenda

Outcomes

Day 5

Agenda

Outcomes