Calumet “K” – Chapter 2 – BONUS

When Superintendents Run to Their Comfort Zone Instead of Leading

Every once in a while, a story cuts so close to the bone that it forces you to look in the mirror. Chapter 2 of Calumet K did exactly that for me. When I first read how Charlie Peterson told the story of his rope drive job with pride and then watched him struggle with basic superintendent responsibilities, I recognized something uncomfortable. Peterson was running away. He was staying busy. He was doing laborer’s work. And he thought that made him valuable. But Bannon saw through it immediately. Peterson was not leading. He was hiding in his comfort zone.

That realization is painful for many superintendents. We have all been there. We have all had moments where we gravitated toward what we knew instead of stepping into what we should be doing. We grabbed a tool instead of planning the work. We ran to Home Depot instead of solving the supply chain problem. We made excuses about the railroad or the weather or the office instead of taking ownership. And in those moments, we were not superintendents. We were just busy.

The Pain Point Every Project Team Knows

You walk onto a jobsite and the superintendent is everywhere. Running between trades. Fixing problems in real time. On the phone constantly. Operating the forklift. Moving materials. Looking exhausted. And everyone on the team thinks, “Man, that super is working so hard.” But the project is behind. The schedule is a mess. The trades are frustrated. Materials show up late. Coordination does not happen. And nobody knows what is coming next because the superintendent is too busy firefighting to plan anything.

It is a painful pattern. And if you have been in the field long enough, you have probably seen it dozens of times. I have too. I have watched superintendents who were brilliant craftsmen completely fail as leaders because they could not let go of the work they knew and step into the work they were hired to do. They ran to their comfort zone instead of running toward the hard things that nobody else wanted to tackle.

The Failure Pattern: Hiding in Busyness

Here is the pattern that destroys project teams everywhere. A superintendent gets promoted from the trades. They were the best carpenter, the best electrician, the best finisher. They knew their craft inside and out. And then they get handed a clipboard and told to run the project. And suddenly, everything feels uncomfortable. Scheduling feels foreign. Coordination feels overwhelming. Supply chain management feels impossible. And so they retreat. They go back to what they know. They do laborer’s work. They fix things. They move materials. They stay busy. And they call that leadership.

But it is not leadership. It is avoidance. And the project suffers because nobody is doing the real work of a superintendent. Nobody is planning. Nobody is preparing. Nobody is solving the supply chain issues. Nobody is coordinating the trades. Nobody is steering the project toward the deadline. The system failed them. They did not fail the system. They were never trained to be a superintendent. They were trained to be a craftsman. And when the project started falling apart, they did the only thing they knew how to do. They worked harder. They stayed busy. They ran faster. And the project kept falling behind.

A Field Story From Calumet K

The story of Charlie Peterson in Chapter 2 is a masterclass in what not to do. Peterson tells Bannon about the rope drive job with pride. He worked through brutal conditions. He wheeled two 500-foot coils of rope over a mile of cross ties in the mud. He completed the job alone in the middle of the night. He caught the freight train at the last second. And when Brown woke him up the next morning to send him back to Stillwater, Peterson had already finished the job. He was a hero. He was tough. He was relentless.

And yet, when Bannon arrives at the Calumet K site, Peterson is two weeks behind on cribbing and has no plan to catch up. He is out on the jobsite doing laborer’s work. He is laying corbels. He is checking lumber. He is staying busy. And when Bannon asks him about the cribbing, Peterson says he has been waiting on the railroad. He makes excuses. He plays victim. He does not take ownership. And Bannon sees it immediately. Peterson is not a superintendent. He is a carpenter pretending to be a superintendent.

That moment in the book left a mark on me. It reminded me that being tough and being effective are not the same thing. Peterson was tough. But he was not effective. He could complete a rope drive job in the middle of the night, but he could not manage a supply chain. He could work harder than anyone, but he could not lead a project. And the painful truth is that many superintendents fall into the same trap. They confuse busyness with leadership. They confuse effort with effectiveness. And the project suffers.

Why This Matters for Superintendents and Project Teams

This matters because projects depend on superintendents to lead, not to stay busy. When a superintendent is doing laborer’s work, nobody is planning the next phase. Nobody is tracking materials. Nobody is coordinating the trades. Nobody is solving problems upstream. Nobody is steering the project. And when nobody is doing those things, the project falls behind. Deadlines get missed. Penalties stack up. Stress increases. And everyone suffers.

Behind every failed project is a crew depending on leadership that never showed up. When superintendents run to their comfort zone, they abandon their real job. And their real job is not to work harder than everyone else. Their real job is to prepare the work so everyone else can work effectively. Their real job is to remove roadblocks. Their real job is to track the supply chain. Their real job is to coordinate the trades. Their real job is to plan aggressively and steer the project toward the deadline.

This is not just about efficiency. This is about respect for people. When a superintendent fails to lead, the trades suffer. They show up to unprepared work. They wait for materials. They deal with coordination failures. They work in chaos. And they go home frustrated. That chaos follows them. It affects their families. It affects their health. It affects their ability to show up the next day with energy and focus. When superintendents lead well, projects stabilize. When projects stabilize, people win. And when people win, families are protected.

What Real Superintendent Leadership Looks Like

Real superintendent leadership is not complicated. It is uncomfortable. It requires stepping out of the comfort zone and doing the hard things that nobody else wants to do. Here is what it looks like in practice:

• Stop doing laborer’s work and start planning the work
• Track the supply chain aggressively instead of waiting and hoping
• Coordinate trades daily instead of letting them figure it out themselves
• Hold hard conversations instead of avoiding conflict
• Solve roadblocks upstream instead of reacting downstream
• Visit suppliers and track materials personally instead of trusting someone else to do it
• Prepare the work so crews can execute smoothly instead of throwing them into chaos

Real leadership means getting uncomfortable. It means making phone calls you do not want to make. It means having conversations that feel awkward. It means visiting suppliers in other cities to track down materials. It means holding people accountable when they fall short. It means planning aggressively even when you would rather just work. These are the hard things. And leaders get to do the hard things. Not because they are fun. But because they are what the project needs.

Bannon’s Response: Attack, Attack, Attack

When Bannon realizes Peterson is two weeks behind on cribbing, he does not accept excuses. He does not blame the railroad. He does not play victim. He immediately starts problem-solving. He tells Peterson to wire the site for arc lamps so they can run night shifts the minute the cribbing arrives. He tells Peterson to stop doing laborer’s work and start managing the project. And then Bannon does what Peterson should have done weeks ago. He goes to Ledyard to track down the cribbing personally.

That is leadership. That is ownership. That is what separates proficient superintendents from inexperienced ones. Bannon does not wait. He does not hope. He does not wishfully think it will all work out at the end. He attacks the problem immediately. He goes upstream. He takes control. And he does it with urgency because he knows that every day matters. The project has penalties. The deadline is fixed. There is no such thing as “I can’t do it.” There is only problem-solving.

As General Patton said, “A good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan next week.” Bannon understands that. Peterson does not. Peterson is still waiting. Still hoping. Still doing laborer’s work. And the project is falling behind because nobody is leading.

The Victim Mentality Trap

One of the most painful moments in Chapter 2 is when Peterson pushes back on Bannon. He says, “Perhaps you think it’s easy.” That sentence reveals everything. Peterson is playing victim. He is defending his excuses. He is resisting accountability. And Bannon shuts it down immediately. Bannon does not think it is easy. But he expects Peterson to figure it out anyway. That is the job. That is what the office is paying him to do.

The victim mentality is a trap that destroys superintendents. When things go wrong, victim mentality says, “It is not my fault. The railroad didn’t deliver. The weather was bad. The office didn’t help me. The trades didn’t show up.” And all of those things might be true. But none of them matter. The project still has a deadline. The owner still expects completion. The penalties still apply. And the superintendent’s job is to figure it out anyway.

Leaders do not play victim. Leaders take ownership. Leaders solve problems. Leaders attack roadblocks. Leaders go upstream. Leaders hold the line. And when leaders do those things, projects win. When leaders play victim, projects fail. It is that simple.

Productively Paranoid Leadership

Bannon is productively paranoid. He does not trust that things will work out. He does not assume the cribbing will arrive on time. He does not hope for the best. He tracks it down personally. He visits the supplier. He goes to Ledyard to see where the materials are and solve the problem at the source. That is what great superintendents do. They are productively paranoid. They assume nothing. They verify everything. They go upstream. They solve problems before they become crises.

Peterson is the opposite. He is wishfully optimistic. He assumes the cribbing will arrive eventually. He waits. He hopes. He stays busy doing other things. And when the cribbing does not arrive, he is shocked. He makes excuses. He blames the railroad. And the project falls behind because nobody was tracking it.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

A Challenge for Superintendents

Walk your project this week and ask yourself whether you are leading or hiding. Ask yourself whether you are doing laborer’s work because it feels comfortable or doing superintendent work because it is what the project needs. Ask yourself whether you are tracking the supply chain or hoping it works out. Ask yourself whether you are solving problems upstream or reacting downstream. If the answer makes you uncomfortable, that is good. That discomfort is the first step toward better leadership.

Conclusion

Stop running to your comfort zone. Stop doing other people’s work. Stop playing victim. Start leading. Start planning. Start tracking. Start solving. Start attacking problems with urgency. That is what great superintendents do. And that is what your project needs.

As Bannon shows in Calumet K, leadership is not about being the toughest person on site. It is about being the most effective. It is about stepping out of your comfort zone and doing the hard things that nobody else wants to do. That is how projects win. That is how teams stabilize. And that is how leaders grow.

As General George S. Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” Stop waiting. Stop making excuses. Start attacking the problems in front of you with urgency and ownership.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean when a superintendent is doing laborer’s work? 

When a superintendent is doing laborer’s work, it means they are performing tasks that should be delegated to the crew instead of focusing on their real job of planning, coordinating, tracking materials, and solving problems upstream. This is often a sign they are avoiding the uncomfortable work of leadership by retreating to tasks they already know how to do.

How can superintendents avoid the victim mentality trap? 

Superintendents avoid victim mentality by taking ownership of outcomes regardless of circumstances. Instead of blaming the railroad, the weather, or the office, they attack problems with urgency, go upstream to solve supply chain issues, and refuse to accept excuses. Ownership means figuring it out even when conditions are difficult.

What is productively paranoid leadership in construction? 

Productively paranoid leadership means assuming nothing will work out automatically and verifying everything personally. Instead of hoping materials arrive on time, productively paranoid leaders track the supply chain aggressively, visit suppliers, and solve problems before they become crises. This approach prevents delays and protects the project schedule.

Why do experienced craftsmen struggle when promoted to superintendent? 

Experienced craftsmen struggle as superintendents because the skills that made them great in the trades do not automatically transfer to leadership. Scheduling, coordination, supply chain management, and planning require different skills. Without proper training, they retreat to what they know—doing the physical work—instead of stepping into the uncomfortable work of leading.

What should a superintendent focus on instead of doing laborer’s work? 

Superintendents should focus on planning the next phase, tracking materials through the supply chain, coordinating trades daily, removing roadblocks upstream, holding accountability conversations, and steering the project toward deadlines. Their job is to prepare the work so the crew can execute smoothly, not to execute the work themselves.