(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)

Welcome everybody out to podcast number 1302. In this podcast, I'm going to talk to you about an interesting couple of subjects that have been in my mind lately. I don't know that all of them separately would make for good podcasts.

So I'm going to give you three universe bursts of insight. So stay with us. And companies and construction wanting to take their next step.

Get ready to step out of your comfort zone with Jason Schroeder as he encourages you to do better, live a remarkable life and expect more. Let's go. Welcome everyone. 

I hope you're doing well and I hope you're staying safe out there. I have about eight or nine points of feedback left that I want to read to you. And I'll try and get some more here pretty soon.

Dear Jason, I sincerely appreciate your valuable insights and educational content which has been beneficial. I recently stepped into the role of MEP superintendent, but my experience in this position is somewhat limited. I'm eager to enhance my knowledge and perform at my best.

If you could recommend materials or resources that would help me get up to speed, I would be truly grateful. Your guidance and expertise mean a lot and I truly appreciate all that you do. Thank you for your time and support best regards.

Okay, I do have some advice here. I don't know of any books that you can read to be a good MEP superintendent. Really what you're going to want to do is study Jaco Willink and how to win friends and influence people.

What you want to do is get into a mode of asking as many questions as you possibly can of your MEP trade. So this is all about relationships and start to be really effective at visualizing planning and helping your MEP trade partners to visualize that as well so you all can plan together. So it's really all about build the team, like the Jaco method, the laws of combat, build the team, simplify what you're attempting to do so keep things goal focused, and then prioritize and then decentralize command, making sure that you're all on the same page with everything.

So let me give you an example. One time I was an MEP superintendent and I had to build the team, so I got really close with the utility contractors, the electrical contractors, the mechanical plumbing contractors, and fire sprinklers and the others, and especially the ones that interface with them, concrete and framing, and really built the team. Second, simplified the mission and also made sure that there was a focus there.

And the focus for us was being able to go from utilities to the entry rooms up through the chases, through priority walls and early rooms like electric rooms and calm rooms. And like I said, chases up to the central plant so that we could blow hot air and cool air inside the building and then visualizing things on a plan allowed us to prioritize and detach from emotions and basically attach to a plan. And then we decentralized command and we started working together as a team.

And I was probably one of the best MEP superintendents I've ever been around because I knew that it wasn't about me knowing a lot of things. I knew that it was about me building the team and leveraging the people that knew things. It was my job to be a rhythm keeper.

See, most MEP superintendents think it's their job to be an MEP expert. That's the mistake that everybody in the industry makes. An MEP superintendent needs to have a good basis in construction, but mainly needs to know how to ask questions.

And so that would be my advice and I give it to you for what it's worth. OK, let's go ahead and get into a couple of these I wrote down this morning. Number one, this might seem a little bit silly, but I'm having epiphanies as I get older.

Now that I'm out of what they call your fluid or active intelligence and into your more crystallized intelligence where you understand what things mean, I'm starting to have little bits of realizations of why I think the way I do and I'm able to question it quite often and see if I'm right about certain things. And I've really enjoyed that, although sometimes it's hard to change. And one thing that that has struck me, I have had some difficulty with different types of personalities and I don't know why.

And like like sometimes it will almost seem I think the word would be capricious. It seems random why some things like really annoy me. I remember back to one of our first employees that we had and why he annoyed me so much and still annoys me to this day.

And I realized that he wanted things that he didn't earn. And I see in some employees nowadays, one employee will ask for something and it doesn't bother me at all. And then another employee will ask for something and it just annoys me to no end.

And I've just been like, what is wrong with you, Jason? And I realized that it comes down to people that are not willing to earn things like not saying I'm right about this. But I do think there's so the universal law is whatever you get, you have to earn. Now, everything that I have is not because I earned it solely.

You know, I grew up with good parents in a middle income home with a good mindset. Obviously, I didn't have a lot of the difficulties that some people have based on where they were born. So I was lucky when that when it comes to that. 

Right. But everything that I have, the house, the kids, the marriage, the business, the books, like every I worked, I earned those things. Now, did I earn them by myself? No, it would be foolish to not credit a universe or a God for much of that and other people and parents.

But I didn't not work for it. Right. I worked for it.

Or you could even say just worked with it, meaning it wasn't done in haste. It wasn't done without gratitude and it wasn't done without effort. Right.

And I remember back to our first employee and he just had this sense of I want everything that you have, Jason. And I don't want to have I want all the fame for it. And I want all the credit for it, but I don't want to have to do the work to earn it.

I want this position in this pay, but I don't want to earn it. I want to be on the leadership team, but I only want to work 32 hours in a week. It just rubbed me so wrong.

And I realize now today that it's because he wanted something without earning it. Right. And let's go back to the example of another employee.

Employees working hard during their best are like, hey, I want to go to training. Oh, my gosh, you can go to two because you're working with it. You're you're you're there's effort there. 

There's progress. There's growth. Another employee comes.

They're barely working 42 hours a week, which is fine with me if they get their job done. But they're not necessarily performing. They're not going out of their way.

They're rebelling a bit and they're just asking for things that they didn't earn. And it just rubs me the wrong way. And I realized that and it's helpful to realize these things, what bugs people.

And it helps. This will help if you if you teach it to people who are up and coming. It's do not ask for anything or expect anything that you didn't at least work for earn.

Maybe isn't the best way to say it because it really comes down to effort. Don't expect anything that you didn't work for. That's the problem.

That's what these old timers are trying to tell the younger generations is you expect a ping pong table and treats and fruit snacks and flexible hours and working from home and all of these benefits and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year in a corner office and all these things. And that would all be fine if you work for it. But the problem is, is people expect these things like it's a human right without effort.

And that is something like if like if you hear you hear and I'm not being political. You hear Republicans say things like health care is not a right. You hear Democrats say health care is a right.

I would probably merge the two and say in a society having the basic forms of human necessity and decency is a right for those who work for it. I know that sounds really dismal, but that's probably my. You know, you can't use and not give back.

The law of the universe is to give more than you take. I saw a quote that I love that really brought this home for me this morning. And this is the quote.

We must. Oh, by the way, I'll give credit. The Peterson Way by Peterson Incorporated.

We must develop a culture where change is expected, embraced and rewarded. And complacency and casualness are vigorously attacked. And I love that.

And that's really what the difference has been for me. So my message here is if you want something, you have to earn it. Let me go on to the second topic.

Oh, yeah, I have a better one now. You don't work hard because it makes sense. You work hard because that's how it works.

Let me explain. There are people which it's fine to be this way as long as you are hard worker and get there eventually. But there are people that are like, why would I follow that part of the process? It doesn't make sense to me.

Why would I work hard? It's it doesn't pay enough. Why would I put in the effort here? I don't see the immediate return. Why would I go take an internship? I don't have a guarantee of being promoted and hired full time.

You don't work hard because it makes sense and you can see the immediate next step. You don't work hard because it makes sense and you have justification for it. You don't work hard because it makes sense and you feel like it's a noble enough because you don't work hard because it makes sense and you have a high enough pay or a high enough position.

You work hard because that's how it works. If you want to get anywhere, the universe or God or our society rewards people that work hard no matter what they're doing. Now I'm not talking about idiots.

I'm not talking about being an idiot. Obviously do things the right way, better ways and do them smartly. But arguing and nitpicking about every little thing isn't humble and it's not hungry and it's not smart.

So you don't work hard because it makes sense. You work hard because that's how it works. And I've always worked hard no matter what I was doing, whether it was cleaning the back of the truck or cleaning my house or brushing my teeth or being an engineer or running a podcast or whatever the case may be and the universe gives me so much stuff I can barely take it in.

So I just want to leave you with this thought. You don't work hard because it makes sense. You work hard because that's how it works.

Third concept. I had a call this morning from an amazing individual who is a military veteran and trying to find work and not having very much luck getting hired. I gave him different bits of advice including on your resume don't put the technical titles but describe what you did so you can properly explain your experience, submit your application to 50 different locations, come in with a humble and open mindset and be ready to interview properly.

But one of the most important things I said to him was I said getting a job is like breaking into a building. I know that sounds like a silly analogy but if you're trying to get into a building and you're trying to get into construction, try going through the front door if that doesn't work. Try calling the receptionist if that doesn't work, trying setting up an appointment.

If that doesn't work, try going into the back door. If that doesn't work, pretend you're a delivery driver. If that doesn't work, pretend you're one of the interns or become an intern at the facility.

You get where I'm going here. Even if somebody scaled the building and broke through a window, you could almost reward the effort. If people want in construction, by the way, I have to say construction does not have a lack of people problem.

Construction has a pickiness problem. Construction has a we're not willing to train problem. Right now, if I had, I could even say 500 more open positions, I could find all of them and for myself, I could train all of them because I know how to train.

The problem that we have is companies don't know how to train anymore and so they'll only hire people with experience and so they're not hiring anybody because nobody has experience because nobody's training. We do not have a we don't have enough people problem. We have a training problem.

If you're trying to get in, once you get in, you can go as far as you want but once you get in, just remember it's like breaking into a building and go through that analogy and see if I'm wrong. It takes that kind of effort and if you show that kind of effort, I promise you somebody's got to be out there that's willing to hire you and if not, then the whole thing is for not because then nothing's going to work. Anyway, those are my three little concepts.

I hope you've enjoyed them. On we go. Please join us next time in elevating the entire construction experience for workers, leaders, and companies coast to coast.

If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to share with your construction colleagues and help us spread the word by rating, subscribing, and leaving a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate it. We'll catch you next time on the Elevate Construction Podcast.

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