Influence, Not Authority, Defines Leadership

Here’s where I found myself: riding high and feeling mean, one of just four people selected to lead the implementation of an exciting new process throughout a nearly one million square foot facility with close to a thousand employees. What an incredible opportunity for a kid who barely graduated hig...

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Why Feedback Fuels Growth (and Leadership)

Shortly after accepting a spot on the behavior-based safety process steering committee, I had the chance to sit in on and help with a small portion of the training for new observers; the same course I had squirmed through less than a year prior. I can’t pretend that I actually offered anything of va...

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The Role of Mentors in Closing the Gap

If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t like Terry Ward very much when I first met him. The limited interaction I had prior to his portion of the behavior-based safety observer training was adversarial at best and I thought his delivery as a trainer was incredibly annoying. Looking back, I know my ...

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When Hard Work Hits a Ceiling

I grew up in a rural area, about ten miles outside the town the high school I graduated from was located. I used to joke during the hundreds of new hire orientation sessions I did over the years that my hometown only had two stop signs, and we rarely used those. The majority of the groups I was part...

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The Hidden Power of Professional Relationships

Just a few months before accepting the position I started immediately after getting married, I interviewed for a role with responsibility for the behavior-based safety process that I had been involved with for a year or so prior on a volunteer basis. In addition to performing the observations that p...

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