Jeff Spatz (107:31)
the reason I'm asking is because we make these sacrifices, and I'm not suggesting everybody has to go through an existential crisis, but I do think that it's worth pausing, and I think it's worth pausing, I'm going to say, for the, for all sides now, you know, the pipe proof foreman, who is maybe living paycheck to paycheck, maybe doesn't have the luxury of having an existential crisis. But at the same time, I think when we look at the situation, it's better to ask the question now than it is to have that question hit us at the end. And it's changed for me the way I look at things, because once the financial security part gets taken care of, To me, and I'm going to go so far as to say it's got to be for you too. For me, I want to look back and know that my presence, my efforts, my work mattered. So if, if you can look back and, and you can now but imagine then, because you're still going to continue right. Until some point at which you go, I'm so good right now that there's nothing, there's nothing more I can do. But I see that you've got, and this, this mission that you're on has, has years and Years and years ahead of it, you're making a difference in the industry. But isn't that what we want? We want our lives and our, and our efforts and our purpose to have counted for something. And it's one of the, I think one of the worst things a person can have happen is if they disappear from the stage, they walk off the stage, they get pulled off the stage, whatever thrown off the stage. And people look at it and go, what was the purpose? What did they even do? What was the accomplishment? What was the effort? I do believe that there are more construction executives who have the financial luxury of having that question posed to them or asking themselves that question of, of what does success look like? If I had sacrificed and I came close, if I had sacrificed my marriage and my child for what I do, there's no way, even if I had another marriage and another child, there's no way I'm going to consider that success. I'm going to consider that some sort of personal failure on my part. So I think that when we get to all of this, because if we're looking at, again at the well being of people in this profession. I know I sound like I'm someone who has no idea about schedules and about productivity and about profitability and about everything that goes into, to a construction business. Humor me here though and assume that I do just from the amount of years that I've been around it. I believe if we're going to really talk about well being, health in the workplace and that that takes safety into account, all of it, everything that we've talked about, we've got to ask the question, what does success look like? I would have trouble retiring knowing that I had built my financial well being and success on the backs of those that never had an opportunity. In other words, where I've, I've kind of had people grind it out for me to put me where I am today. I get, I get capitalism, I get all of it. You know, I get it. But I think, I think the question should be asked more often, what does success look like in the end? There's. I could take you on a tour of buildings just in Philadelphia where I could go, well, that building there, they lost one person. That one was two persons. That one cost a guy his ability to walk, this one, whatever. And the one thing, the one absolute certainty is that every one of those fucking jobs got built. They all got finished maybe a little bit after, you know, a little bit over schedule, a little bit over, but they all got finished at a cost that at Least for some families, was too much. So I. We're not going to change it. You're not going to change the industry overnight, but your influence is already making a difference. I'm not going to change the industry overnight, but I've gotten a larger stage thanks to you, thanks to others, I've gotten a larger stage where I can reach more people. I believe that we are not me, not you alone, but we collectively, people of like mind, are starting to, to turn this, this, this, if you want to call it a glacier, whatever, change its direction, turn the ship. However, whatever, whatever analogy you want to use or metaphor you want to use. We're. We're changing things and we're making a difference. Even if we stay at this level of energy and on this trajectory, it's going to take a lot of long, long time to start to bring those numbers down in a meaningful way. But I went from wanting to save the world to, I'm willing to go after one at a time if I can. If I can change the trajectory of one person. Just like you said, a comment, a conversation can, can knock that person from a path of destruction to a different path, a path that's going to lead to a better outcome. If I can make a difference. And this isn't where I'm, oh, my gosh, thank God we have Jeff as a hero to say, no, no, that's. That's bullshit. Even I know that's bullshit. But if I can make a difference in one life, that's enough for me. I've made a difference in more than that, But I'm willing to change the industry one person at a time. As ridiculous as it sounds, as nutty as it sounds, if, if, if you would have said when you first posted a picture on LinkedIn, and I went, man, who's that nerdy guy? And I'm, look who's talking, right? Who's that nerdy guy with the really cool construction photos? Yeah, if somehow we would have connected and you would have said, hey, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to change the industry. Like, you know, you take cool pictures, but I don't know how you're going to change the industry. So we need more people, though, right? We need the. We need. It's a movement. It's not individuals, It's a movement. But I went from trying to wrap my arms around the entire industry. I want to save them all. I want to people I don't even know, I've never met to when I go out on a job Site. So next week when I'm out on. On, on projects, I'm okay if I make a difference in one life. If I. If I just kind of. I love what you said, you know, just kind of change that trajectory. Just shift that a little bit.
