Have you read the book “If You Give a Cat a Cupcake”? I have one similar for you. “If You Give a Safety Person an Audience.” It goes like this. If you give a safety person an audience, they will want a stage. Once they have a stage, they will ask for a microphone. WithContinue reading “Mentorship Part 2: Listen”
Category Archives: Blog
Mentorship Part 1: Be Available
It has been interesting in the last few weeks how many times I have had to recount how I chose the safety field (or how the safety field chose me). I owe so much to have great mentors early in my career. At one point, I was able to host a summer intern and haveContinue reading “Mentorship Part 1: Be Available”
Why Me? Why not me!
You might have noticed that I have not posted a blog in a month or so. I felt that in the new situation we are in with COVID19, the discussion of “world class safety” should be paused for a while. That left, though, a void of what I would discuss. I gave it a monthContinue reading “Why Me? Why not me!”
World Class Safety Metrics
In this journey to better understand world-class safety, I feel there has to be some talk of metrics. Being perfectly honest, I have an extreme love-hate relationship with safety data. I am never in between. I either love what they are showing me or I hate the entire idea of tracking it at all. Hopefully,Continue reading “World Class Safety Metrics”
World Class Begins with Attitude
This year, I am dedicating my blog posts to exploring what is world-class in safety. As I we closed 2019, the discussion was about how some organizations like to throw the term “world-class” around when it comes to safety. They use the term as a part of marketing safety without really thinking about what itContinue reading “World Class Begins with Attitude”
Culture Cannot Exist without the People
When someone says safety culture, what comes to mind? Methods? Systems? Behaviors? People? Standardization? I was recently at a conference with some peers and a great discussion started about global, organizational culture. I do have to note, I loved the way they talked about their company culture, not just safety culture. Safety was conveyed asContinue reading “Culture Cannot Exist without the People”
Communication is about the who
My own arrogance gets in the way of my objectives much more than I would like to admit. This post will take some time to explain. But if you make the journey with me, I promise that I will make a point 🙂 Throughout my career and life, a common theme continues to emerge. Yet,Continue reading “Communication is about the who”
Preventing and Overcoming Burnout
Have you ever been in a work position where only absolute perfection was accepted? Yeah, I have been too in both a safety role and in other positions. This is both the requirement for success, the punishment for failure, and the fast track to burnout. As people, we can only handle this type ofContinue reading “Preventing and Overcoming Burnout”
Making Success the Focus
Success and failure seem like such simple ideas, but the way that we engage those two terms as safety people and as leaders make a big difference in the way our organization functions. The views in which the leaders take toward success and failure drastically shape the landscape in which we operate. It is aContinue reading “Making Success the Focus”
Success vs Failure and a Method of Reflection
When it comes to internal motivation for a professional, I feel that safety has some unique aspects. The discussion last month was about Success vs Failure. I had a lot more questions than answers. When it comes to working in the safety industry our customers are varied and sometimes have very different ideas of whatContinue reading “Success vs Failure and a Method of Reflection”
Mark A French, Ph.D, CSP, EMT 