Elevate Construction

Jason reveals one of the four moments that changed his life: learning about giving first. He shares the Silent Squares game where teams can only solve the puzzle when they give first, not take first. Then he unpacks The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, the book that shifted his mindset from climbing the ladder (take take take) to giving first, which skyrocketed his career in three years. You'll learn the five laws of stratospheric success that work in marriage, business, and life.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Silent Squares game: Teams struggle until they switch from take first to give first, then solve the puzzle instantly
• Law of Value: Your real worth is how much more value you give than you get paid
• Law of Compensation: Your income is decided by number of people you serve and how well you serve them
• Law of Influence: Focus 100% on helping others, build an army of personal ambassadors
• Law of Authenticity: The biggest gift you offer is yourself, be genuine not pretending
• Law of Receptivity: To give effectively you must be open to receive, they're two sides of same coin

When you focus on giving value as a way of life, the money will naturally follow, and you live after the manner of happiness.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason starts with a somber note, his friend just passed from COVID-19, reminding us life is fragile. Then he dives into Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller, revealing how he used this framework to win a major proposal by making the customer the hero instead of talking about his company. You'll learn the seven-part story structure that wins work, why people buy solutions to internal problems not external ones, and why you're losing customers if you're not clarifying your message through story.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The book in one sentence: Make your customer the hero, not your brand
• Why customers buy solutions to internal problems, not external problems
• The guide principle: Customers trust someone with a clear plan
• People avoid loss more than they seek gain, use this ethically
• How Jason restructured proposals using story: hero wants something, villain blocks them, guide helps them win

The day we stop losing sleep over our business success and start losing sleep over our customers' success is the day our business starts growing again.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason and Katie get deeply personal about the month Jason was suspended without pay for not reporting an inappropriate comment to a female colleague. Katie shares what it was like driving home for four days in a company rental after he was suspended, watching him spiral in guilt and shame. This vulnerable conversation reveals why we all have unconscious biases we don't recognize, how diversity makes teams statistically better, and why it doesn't cost us anything to support women and protected classes, but it will cost us everything if we don't.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The suspension story: Jason didn't report inappropriate comments, got suspended for a month, hated the director for years until realizing it changed his life
• Hospital study proves diversity wins: Mixed gender, race, ethnicity teams statistically outperform homogeneous teams every time
• How to handle harassment: Contact HR, legal, supervisors immediately, don't try to smooth things over or sweep under rug
• Fear drives bias: Scarcity mindset makes us fear loss, abundance mindset recognizes there's plenty of opportunity for everyone
• It doesn't cost anything: Supporting protected classes costs nothing but makes teams better, refusing to costs everything

When we see protected classes winning and women being promoted, we should celebrate, there's plenty of room for all of us.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason gets brutally honest about two career moments that changed his safety mindset forever. First, a safety manager threatened to fire him if he didn't take inspections seriously. Second, he was suspended for a month without pay for not reporting an inappropriate comment to a female colleague. These stories reveal why your safety set point isn't high enough yet, and why developing a safety-everywhere mentality now will save you from the butt chewing later. Safety isn't just physical, it's mental, emotional, and about protecting the innocent from harassment and discrimination.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Jason's safety wake-up call: Threatened with termination for blowing off inspections, became a safety fanatic overnight
• The suspension story: Month without pay for not protecting the innocent, not reporting inappropriate workplace comment
• Why safety is a value, not a priority: Priorities change, values remain constant
• The safety-everywhere mentality: At work, at home, at church, driving, protecting people from COVID, appropriate behavior
• The challenge: Amp up your game now, take training seriously, develop safety mindset before you become someone's nightmare

Your mental set point needs to be set a lot higher for a safety-everywhere mentality, or you'll have that moment where you get your butt chewed to get your mind in the right spot.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Jason wraps up the Field Engineer Boot Camp series with his final thoughts on the entire four-day experience. He walks through each day from team building and fear elimination to the final concrete placement under intense time pressure, revealing how laser scans prove that high-functioning teams produce accurate work. Then he makes his boldest claim yet: the field engineering position exists for one reason only, to train future superintendents. Superintendents are leaders, organizers, and planners. If you skip the FE position, you skip the builder experience, and you'll never be as successful as you could be.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Day-by-day breakdown: Team building and repelling, complex engineering math with garbage drawings, traversing and layout under stress, concrete placement time crunch
• Why laser scan results prove team performance: High-functioning teams with good communication produce accurate footings, dysfunctional teams are off by feet
• The bold claim: Field engineers exist only to train future superintendents, not for layout or lift drawings
• Why skipping FE is a mistake: Workers, foremen, and college grads who go straight to super miss the builder experience of detailing, reading plans, RFIs, submittals, and layout
• What boot camp really does: Eliminates victim mentality, neutralizes fear, creates goals for massive action, and becomes a trigger for excellence

The field engineering position is the Rosetta Stone between the builders of old and what we're training builders to be today.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Raino brings you back to boot camp for Part 3, where field engineers are learning through stress, failure, and hands-on struggle. You'll hear raw reflections from teams who learned that no matter how right you think you are, you can still make mistakes. They discovered how much they take survey and FE roles for granted, why best practices aren't overdoing it when you see the numbers match, and how lift drawings that required printing over and over taught them that due diligence prevents massive rework. Brandon closes with a powerful speech on standardizing your day, controlling your morning with routines, and why you standardize your evening to love life, not just work.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why boot camp is effective: Learning under stress, doing things with your hands, practicing in context creates faster retention than classroom theory
• The connectedness lesson: How lift drawings tie to building, coordinates tie to traversing, traversing ties to radio staking, everything teaches context
• Brandon's morning routine: Up at 3:45, gym, 10 pages of personal development, study drawings, five task to-do list before chaos hits at 7am
• Why best practices aren't overdoing it: Taking proper steps prevents mistakes, hitting checkpoints with right data means you proceed correctly
• Standardizing your evening to love life: Put "tell wife I love her five times" and "read book with kid" on your to-do list, create time for what matters

When you standardize your day so it becomes monotonous and thoughtless, you become perfect at it and move on to the next thing that makes you better.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Dr. Steve Grennan challenged Jason with a simple question: "Show me that people are your most valuable asset." This off-script, under-five-minute message cuts straight to the heart of what we say versus what we do in construction. Jason confronts the lie that employees should be "loyal" to companies or do multi-billion-dollar corporations "favors" by ruining their families and health. We work to live, not live to work. Family is eternal. Buildings are temporary. If a company claims people are their biggest asset but doesn't prove it, they're lying.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Dr. Grennan's challenge: Show me through actions, training, mentoring, leader standard work, knowing families, that people truly matter
• Why loyalty to a company is a lie: You're loyal to family, God, and health, not to corporations making billions while you get divorce and heart attacks
• The eternal vs. temporary question: When you're dying, will the building be there? No. Your family will be.
• When to fire your company: If they marginalize people or aren't safe, you 86 them, they're not good enough to employ you
• What "show me" looks like: Personal development, one-on-ones, protecting families over customer demands

There's no such thing as doing a multi-billion-dollar company a favor, if they say people are their asset, make them show you.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

You just finished a perfect $100M project on time, under budget, safest job in Arizona, passed every audit. Your neighbor finished a year late, $3M over, a total nightmare. Who gets the next job? The neighbor. Why? Because they created more moments. Jason breaks down "The Power of Moments" by Chip and Dan Heath to show you how defining moments not flawless execution determine what customers remember and who they choose. You'll learn the four elements that create memorable experiences (elevation, pride, insight, connection) and how to strategically build peak moments throughout your projects so you stop being the unsqueaky wheel that gets ignored.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why doing great work isn't enough: Customers remember moments, not details, and the team with more frequent mental moments gets selected
• The four elements of defining moments: Elevation (rise above routine), Pride (commemorate achievements), Insight (deliver realizations), Connection (bond people together)
• Real examples: Popsicle hotline at Magic Castle Hotel, trial lawyer graduation ceremony, Signing Day for college athletes, Brinker Capital work anniversaries
• How to apply this in construction: Creating moments when solving design issues, tracking down permits, handling big problems for owners and designers
• Why organizations dramatically underinvest in building peaks and instead just fill potholes

Are you creating strategic moments throughout your projects, or are you the unsqueaky wheel doing perfect work while your competitor gets the next job?

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

In this bonus episode, Jason narrates Chapter 5, Part 1 of Calumet "K" and unpacks the razor-sharp difference between Bannon's relentless execution and Peterson's passive waiting. When 200,000 feet of cribbing arrives by boat and the CNSC railroad threatens to shut everything down, you'll see how Bannon uses diplomatic firmness, productive paranoia, and strategic night shifts to keep momentum while Peterson continues to hesitate. Jason also addresses the book's outdated attitudes toward women in construction and explains why supporting diversity costs us nothing but statistically increases our chance of winning.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why Bannon immediately ordered lights for night shifts before leaving townproductive paranoia means anticipating problems and getting ahead instead of becoming a victim
• How to handle railroad representatives, inspectors, and difficult stakeholders with diplomatic firmness instead of throwing hard hats and being jerks
• Jason's take on women in construction: Supporting and celebrating their success costs nothing and statistically increases your team's chance of winning
• When to terminate non-performers: After you've provided training, support, structure, and a healthy system, protect the team by removing cancer
• Why early strategic moves (shifts, night work, additional crews) prevent late-project chaos where workers become unsafe and disorganized

Are you making strategic moves early in the project to prevent the crash landing at the end, or are you waiting and hoping it works out?

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw

Why won't superintendents go home, and what system actually gets them there? In this episode, Jason reveals the team health and balance system that works, proven by a general superintendent who said after two divorces and 30 years in construction, this was the first time anyone showed him how to actually go home on time. You'll learn why team coverage must be intentional with a visual weekly coverage schedule, how the weekly meeting agenda prioritizes PTO and coverage before anything else, why the day plan from foreman and worker huddles is the key to releasing control, and how grading contractors on site with A and F players creates accountability. This is about ending the babysitting, getting operational control, and creating capacity for training.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The weekly coverage schedule: draw your hours Monday through Friday so the team knows who's covering orientation, safety walks, gate closing, and natural disasters

• Why does the weekly meeting agenda start with a lightning round, then PTO coverage, Saturday coverage, and weekly coverage reminders

• The day plan components: shout-outs, safety focus, permits, deliveries, training topics, key activities, and weather all visual

• Supporting systems for operational control: remarkable bathrooms, decent lunchroom, perfect cleanliness, zero tolerance safety, scheduled deliveries, just-in-time staging

• How to grade contractors weekly and post A players, F players, and the Circle of Trust on the conference room wall

Training is good. Babysitting is bad and should be stopped at almost any cost. Get this system implemented first, then your team will have time to do training.

If you like the Elevate Construction podcast, please subscribe for free, and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like the Elevate Construction podcast, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (Maybe even two 😊).

Also, here are links to our YouTube Channels:

· Jason Schroeder YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4xpRYvrW5Op5Ckxs4vDGDg

· LeanTakt YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/leanTakt

· LeanSuper YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQDevqQP19L4LePuqma3Fg/featured

· LeanSurvey YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ztn3okFhyB_3p5nmMKnsw