What Is Field Leadership Program?

We Have Not Elevated Above the Craft. We Have Elevated as a Support System.

Here’s the deal. I was recently invited to speak at a field leadership program graduation for Robins and Morton, a company I have genuine admiration for, run by people like Jen Lacy and Steve Moore who treat their craft workers remarkably well. I do not fly around much anymore, since my schedule is full and I love being present with my own kids. For this, despite a grueling multi-hop itinerary getting there and back, I said yes without hesitation. By the end of the talk, I was genuinely emotional, and I want to explain why this program matters so much to me.

Where My Own Belief in This Comes From

I did not come up through college. From about thirteen and a half years old until I was nineteen, I worked every break I had at a company called Conco Construction, technically working before I was legally old enough to, as a form setter, equipment operator, and cement mason finisher. I genuinely grew up inside this industry.

My own path forward opened up because of my dad, who worked at Service Rock Products and helped me get a union apprenticeship at Hensel Phelps, working as a cement mason on a federal prison project in Victorville, California. I was working hard, maybe a little chaotic, and I strained my shoulder on the job, likely something that runs in my family more broadly rather than a pure workplace injury. Instead of simply setting me aside, the leaders on that project kept me working, moving me into a role as a rodman supporting the field engineers. I fell in love with that work immediately and never wanted to go back.

From there, I worked my way up to a full field engineer, then lead field engineer, reading Wesley G. Crawford’s book on construction surveying and layout along the way. I even bought my own computer on credit and taught myself AutoCAD, using a copy I should not have used, something I genuinely do not recommend to anyone else, but it reflects how committed I was to learning everything I possibly could. From there, the promotions kept coming. Field engineer, lead field engineer, VDC, assistant superintendent, superintendent, project superintendent, senior superintendent, general superintendent, field director, project director, and eventually owning my own businesses, now employing over a hundred people across consulting, training, project support, and manufacturing, plus our own construction company.

Why This Story Matters Beyond My Own Career

Every time someone gets a genuine chance like the one I was given, this industry gets better. I do not believe we have a labor shortage. I believe we have a training shortage and a hiring problem. There are plenty of capable people out there. What they need is real development, not another posting nobody with real potential ever sees.

I think about the version of me who strained a shoulder on a jobsite at nineteen years old, with no college degree and no obvious next step. If the leaders on that project had simply let me go rather than finding a way to keep me working and growing, none of what came after would exist. The businesses, the books, the training programs, the people we now employ. All of it traces back to a handful of leaders choosing development over convenience at exactly the right moment.

Our workers and foremen are genuinely smart and capable. What they actually need is somebody willing to work shoulder to shoulder with them and open a real door. That path can start through college, through another industry entirely, or directly as a craft worker, the way mine did.

Watch for these signs your own organization is treating this as a hiring problem rather than a development problem:

• Genuinely capable people passed over because they lack a specific credential rather than because they lack real potential.
• No structured, multi-month development path for craft workers who show genuine leadership capability.
• Promotion decisions made without real mentorship or shoulder-to-shoulder investment behind them.

What Robins and Morton Is Actually Doing

Robins and Morton genuinely puts real money behind this belief. Their program uses our books, Elevating Construction Superintendent and Elevating Construction Foremen, as part of a real multi-month development path. They take some of the best people already in the industry, invest in genuine mentoring and shoulder to shoulder development throughout, and at the end of that process, actually promote them into senior level positions. That last part matters enormously. A development program that never actually leads to real advancement is not a genuine investment. It is a gesture.

Plenty of companies run training sessions or hand out a manual and call it development. Very few commit to months of structured mentorship followed by an actual promotion at the end. That follow through is exactly what separates a program that genuinely changes careers from one that simply looks good on a company’s website.

The Line That Moved Me Most

Here is the concept I shared at that graduation that I could barely get through without becoming emotional. We have not elevated above the craft. We have elevated as a support system.

That distinction changes everything about how leadership should actually think about its own role. It is our job to make sure workers and foremen have full kit, because they are our first customer. The building owner is our second customer. Once you accept that order, everything about leadership positions changes meaning. Moving into a support and enablement role does not mean rising above the people doing the physical work. It means taking on the responsibility of serving them well enough that they can earn any salary they want, support their families, and preserve their bodies over a long career, all while genuinely supporting the craft that actually builds the project.

Why This Deserves to Spread Across the Industry

If you ever get the chance to visit a Robins and Morton jobsite, or observe their field leadership program directly, take it. What I witnessed there reflects exactly what this industry needs far more of. We do not have a labor shortage. We have a training shortage, and companies like Robins and Morton are genuinely leading the way in closing that gap.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your organization build this same kind of structured, shoulder to shoulder development path, so genuinely capable craft workers and foremen get a real route into leadership rather than being overlooked for lacking a credential that was never the real measure of their potential.

So here is the challenge. Look at your own organization’s craft workers and foremen and ask honestly whether any of them show genuine leadership potential that has never been given a real development path. If you find even one, that is exactly where to start building the kind of program that changed the entire course of my own career.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “We have not elevated above the craft. We have elevated as a support system.” Build your leadership development around that principle, and watch what happens to the people who finally get a real chance.

On we go.

FAQ

Why does the article argue construction has a training shortage rather than a labor shortage?

Because there are genuinely capable people available who want to work in this industry, but many organizations are not investing in the structured development that would actually turn that potential into promoted leadership. The gap is not a lack of willing people. It is a lack of genuine mentorship, training programs, and real advancement paths for the people already showing up and doing the work.

What made the Robins and Morton field leadership program specifically stand out?

The program combines structured curriculum with genuine, sustained mentorship over several months, and it actually leads to real promotions into senior positions at the end. Many development programs stop at training without following through on advancement, which makes them feel more like a gesture than a genuine investment. Following through on the promotion is what makes the entire program credible.

What does it mean for leadership to be “a support system” rather than positioned above the craft?

It means the actual purpose of a leadership role is to ensure the workers and foremen doing the physical work have everything they need, materials, information, and genuine support, treating them as the first customer rather than a resource to be managed. Leadership roles still carry real responsibility and compensation, but their fundamental function shifts toward enabling the craft rather than simply directing it from above.

Can someone genuinely advance into construction leadership without a college degree?

Yes, and the article’s own career path, starting as an underage laborer and working through cement masonry, field engineering, and eventually executive leadership without a college background, illustrates that directly. What actually determines advancement is genuine capability paired with real development opportunities, mentorship, and a company willing to invest in someone’s growth, rather than a specific educational credential alone.