My name is Jason Swaim and I am a reader of your magazine. I read an article you wrote entitled "Leadership- The rest of the story.” The company I work for sent the whole company leadership, including myself, to "Dave Ramsey's Entre-Leadership program."
I’m currently working with an outrage management issue and would to ask you what you would do. The majority of people in a local community I am working with would like us to do a fuel reduction burn to reduce the fuel hazards surrounding their township. There are a small group of “fanatics” that are quite passionate about stopping the burning in this space.
Butterflies in your stomach. Dry mouth. Fantasy of escaping through the back door. It’s inevitable: at some point in your career, you’ll need to speak in front of an audience. Whether at a small meeting, a conference, a general session, on a panel, or on your own.
There is no “I” in the word “team,” but according to one of our customers there is an “I” in safety – four of them, in fact. Four “I” words sum up what this customer believes it took to get his organization to begin the safety culture improvement journey.
Without clear, strong sponsorship from executive leadership and other management teams, a change process is unlikely to [a] secure the necessary resources, [b] have the means to obtain and retain the support of others, and/or [c] overcome the tendency of many to resist change.
Editor’s Note: ISHN presents to you this excerpt from a speech on leadership given by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover in 1982. It is more evidence to the fact that much about “leadership” is timeless. The speech has nothing to do with safety, but its principles apply to workplace safety leadership in the most precise way.
It’s no secret speakers sometimes go out of their way to come up with a catchy title to fill a room with attendees. This is much more common in the safety field than say industrial hygiene, where many session topics are narrow and technical. Anyway, at this year’s Congress & Expo, speakers are again playing games with their presentation titles. Here is a selection of them:
Over the years I have met a number of interesting people. One of my favorites is a person whom I consider to be a Canadian National Treasure, retired Major General Lewis MacKenzie.
Senior leadership is an easy target for most any complaint. Politicians, hourly workers, organized labor, front-line supervision and middle management all seem to blame “rich, uncaring upper management.”
Take just a minute to reflect on what you believe are the characteristics that describe a transformational leader, and by the same token take another minute to reflect on the characteristics that describe a transactional leader.
