The concept of taking ownership and accepting responsibility is sorely lacking in today’s generation.
You’ve surely seen it. Kids living with their parents well into their thirties… playing with their devices and browsing instagram rather than going out and earning a living.
The sense of accountability seems to be missing.
I know I’m old school, and I’m not judging anyone. Raising kids is a challenge to be sure.
I was fortunate enough to have parents I respected – not because they demanded it, but instead commanded it. I was raised to be held accountable and to not get pushed around by anyone.
It’s for this reason that I’ve made it my mission to call out anyone that doesn’t hold these values, and this is seen to no greater effect than in the construction industry. Discover how to side-step the major pitfalls of large scale construction projectsFree e-book
DON’T GET SCREWED
Blame Game
When I was a kid, if I didn’t live up to expectations, I’d suffer the consequences. Nobody bailed me out when I missed the bus.
No, I had to walk the 2.5 miles uphill, with my books in one hand and my trumpet in the other.
As a result, I can count on one hand the number of times I missed the bus.
Nowadays, if kids miss the bus, they probably either ask their parents for a ride, or get them to pay for an Uber®.
I can’t even imagine.
I would have been laughed right out the door, with a kick in the ass since I was now going to be late.
These days, society has made it acceptable, maybe even beneficial, to dodge accountability and pass the buck.
My Dad
My dad was an insurance salesman. And when I asked him what he did for a living, he said, “I protect people”.
And he didn’t just mouth the words. He felt it. He breathed it. He LIVED it. He was a protector.
He was on a mission to help people avoid victimization of a flawed, cruel system. It was more than a job.
It gave his life meaning. He felt this need to his core.
After 30+ years of being in this industry, seeing owners, architects, and engineers getting screwed over again and again due to a broken process, my own instinct to protect has never been stronger.
I am tired of contractors walking away from a project with dollar signs spinning in their eyes, with a completely gutted owner wondering why his project cost him just less than an arm and a leg.
The Industry Culture
No industry is more riddled with a lack of accountability than construction.
The checks and balances are subverted. A bad reputation means little. Bids are underbid with the intent of taking the owner for all he’s worth.
Where else can you still get away with being two years late on a project and get paid in full.
(Often extra)
Where else can you totally screw up and then blame the designer, an easy target whose insurance company will likely settle the case rather than go to trial?
The industry culture has created a systemic lack of accountability. Putting a Band-Aid or even giving the system a makeover isn’t enough either.
The entire industry culture needs to be purged.
In the meantime, I’ve made it my mission to protect owners from this broken system.
No More Cheating The System
To be fair, we all tend to play the system when it can be gamed. We’re all looking for ways to escape a government fee or pay less taxes.
So, I don’t necessarily blame contractors. They’re taking advantage of a system to their benefit.
We see athletes and celebrities who break the law, cheat the system, and get away with it.
We see it with politicians who live by different rules than the rest of us.
Yet, if it’s the system that’s broken, then it’s the system we’re going to fix. Not by adjusting one or two of the problems…
But by driving the message of accountability so vigilantly, without reserve, that the system is uprooted.
So I thank my dad. The values he taught me have given me what I need to protect people, in the same way he did.
And for me, that’s protecting owners from a broken construction system that lets contractors get away with far too much.
Grab a copy of my book, “Don’t Get Screwed,” to learn what we’re doing about this.
