Crab Mentality: Why Workers Sometimes Pull Each Other Down

Question:
Brian from North Carolina writes: “I’ve heard you talk about competition and machismo affecting behavior on Hispanic crews. Sometimes it feels like workers compete with each other instead of helping each other. Is that cultural—and how should a super handle it on the jobsite?”

Answer: 
Brian, great question.

Let me start with a conversation that caught me completely off guard.

I had just exited the TEXO Latino Safety Superintendent Forum—a monthly safety meeting designed for Spanish-speaking workers in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.

As we walked out, Marco Villasana, a safety coordinator working on the DFW Airport expansion project, turned to me and said:

“You know what you’ve got to watch out for?”

I waited.

“The crab mentality.”

I blinked.

Crab mentality?

I quickly searched my mental filing cabinets for anything related to crab cognition.

Nothing.

Nada.

Trying to save face, I switched to Spanish.

“¿La mentalidad de cangrejos?” I asked.

“Sí,” Marco nodded. “Exacto.”

Then he explained.

“Imagine a bucket full of crabs,” he said. “When one crab climbs toward the top trying to escape, the other crabs pull it back down.”

He shrugged.

“It happens on jobsites too.”

Marco said he sees it often with Hispanic crews.

“These guys survived a lot just to get here,” he explained. “They’re proud. They’re competitive. There’s a lot of machismo.”

Which brings us to another cultural dimension that affects behavior on the jobsite:

Competitive vs. collaborative cultures.

Crabs or horses?

Some cultures operate with the belief that life is a competition.

Resources are limited.

Someone wins.
Someone loses.

In those environments, people compete hard—even with members of their own group.

That’s the crab mentality.

Other cultures lean more collaborative.

People believe there is enough success to go around.
The goal becomes finding true win-win solutions.

Understanding the mindset of those you want to follow you changes your leadership.

How this shows up on the jobsite
On construction crews, competition often shows up in subtle ways.

For example: New hires sometimes don’t receive the full training they need.

Not because the crew dislikes them—but because workers may feel threatened by someone new learning the job.

Sometimes information gets held back.
Sometimes coaching turns into teasing.

Sometimes machismo kicks in and workers push themselves to prove toughness—even when safety is at risk.

I once heard a safety manager describe a situation where a worker showed signs of heat stress and was escorted to a cooling station.

Other workers yelled across the jobsite: “Hey! Want me to bring my old lady to do your job?”

They were joking.

But that kind of pressure—fueled by machismo—can lead workers to ignore safety warnings just to prove toughness.

What should leaders do about it?
First, understand the behavior.

If you assume everyone approaches teamwork the same way, you’ll misread what’s happening on your jobsite.

Second, adjust your leadership.

When coaching Hispanic crews, remember this principle:

Praise in public. Correct in private.

Direct criticism in front of peers can cause someone to lose face—especially in cultures influenced by machismo.

A better approach is often to speak privately with the respected leader within the crew and allow that person to help correct the issue.

Finally, keep competition focused in the right direction.

Competition against unsafe behavior.
Competition against poor quality.
Competition against yesterday’s performance.

There’s no time for competition against each other.

Managing people isn’t easy.
Sometimes it feels like herding cats.

Other times it feels like managing a bucket full of crabs.

But the better you understand the cultural forces shaping behavior on your jobsite, the better leader you become.

And the safer—and stronger—your team will be.

Thanks for reading.
We’ll see you back here in two weeks.

Subscribe here to get the next edition of Good to Excelente straight to your inbox—cultural intelligence insights and practical advice to help you communicate more effectively, lead inclusively, and build stronger relationships.

If you lead people, this podcast is for you.

Subscribe to The Construction Leadership Podcast for practical leadership ideas that strengthen teams and organizations.

Subscribe here: 
Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Copyright © 2026
Bradley Hartmann & Co.
All rights reserved.

Contact Bradley Hartmann:
bradley@bradleyhartmannandco.com