Why are our most important leaders, responsible for driving improvement in performance, culture and results, often our most inexperienced, undertrained, underdeveloped and incapable? Most of us have seen the situation when the super employee becomes the supervisor without ever being taught how to be an effective leader.

The regulation-oriented data tells us a part of the story with respect to training, incident records, safety meetings, work orders, policies/procedures and the like. Observations add a bit more insight to what our people are actually doing when they are occasionally being watched/evaluated by others.

Certainly the average person desires to be both liked and respected. While a gross oversimplification of behavioral sciences, we behave in a way consistent with seeking out what we desire and avoiding what we don’t. Leaders of all kinds are often put in positions to make decisions that impact the lives of others.

A great leader has passed, Chuck Noll, Hall of Fame coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Coach Noll impacted the lives of many, many people. Chuck Noll is the only NFL head coach to win four Super Bowls and may be the greatest NFL coach ever.

These words keep surfacing at safety conferences, speeches, articles and conversations and paint a picture of the issues and trends important to the profession here in 2014: Value– as in, “What’s the value of having a safety professional around here?”

 The very recent passing of Chuck Noll, Hall of Fame coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has stirred the emotions and thoughts of many. Chuck Noll is the only NFL head coach to win four Super Bowls and may be the greatest NFL head coach of all time. 

Way back in time I had the distinct opportunity to join a military service branch and go through the boot camp experience. “Young and stupid,” physical fitness at its peak, “10 feet tall and bullet proof” – all these and other attributes, like adrenaline and testosterone, made each of us raw recruits confident we could take on the world and come out unscathed.

ISHN conducted an exclusive interview with Mike Williamsen, of Caterpillar Safety Services, who presented a talk at ASSE Safety 2014 on “Culture of Correct: Developing a Worldwide Safety System.”

ISHN conducted an exclusive interview with John Drebinger of John Drebinger Presentations, who presented a talk at ASSE Safety 2014 on “The ‘How To’ of Watching Out for the Safety of Others.”