I had the opportunity to attend my hometown summer festival this past weekend. It makes me smile just to think about it. There’s nothing like a small-town festival to remind you of your roots…… But that’s another post….. Someday.
One of the events at the festival this year was bull-riding. Now, I have to admit that I don’t know a lot about bull-riding. But I also have to admit that I really enjoyed watching it in person. And yes, I know that you are wondering what in the heck this has to do with the new executive….. I’ll get to the point.
I was interested to see one of the safety measures that had been implemented in the sport. About ¾ of the bull riders wore the traditional cowboy hat. But about ¼ of them wore a helmet. Think in terms of the helmet that a catcher in baseball wears. After my initial surprise, I realized that it is a pretty darned good idea. Bull-riding is a dangerous sport. Broken arms, legs, or clavicles hurt like heck but they DO heal. A broken head? Not so much.
Yeah, you're still wondering… “so what”? Getting there……
I got to pondering why in the heck the PBRA doesn’t mandate the helmets for all riders. I mean, really, aren’t they responsible for the safety of the men that participate in the sport?
And that is where the executive comes in. In each of our industries and businesses, there are dangerous occupations. It is the responsibility of the executive in charge to ensure that 1) the proper safety procedures are in place, 2) that he/she follows those safety procedures, and 3) that his/her people follow those safety procedures.
I lead in a factory environment for several years. Two of our safety procedures were to wear safety glasses and to wear ear plugs. I never had a problem with the safety glasses. They weren’t pretty and they were often heavy, but I always wore them in the factory.
The earplugs, on the other hand, I despised. I had a hard time, when people tried to talk to me in the factory, hearing them with the ear plugs in. So I would reach up and yank them out, have my conversation, and then stuff them back into my ears before moving on -- repeating that many times during the shift. By the end of my shift, the inside of my ears would be raw from the rubbing of those dang ear plugs.
But I did it anyway. Why? Because it was my responsibility to set an example. AND, I never asked my people to do something that I wouldn’t do. So how could I get on someone for not wearing their personal protective equipment when I felt that I was exempt from it. Not the right way to do business in my opinion.
As an executive, give some thought to the relevant safety measures for your area. Then follow them. And then…… make sure that your people do as well.
Cheers!
Showing posts with label Safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safety. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
7-30-10 Loose Lips
The latest news about the leaking of sensitive information within the Army got me to thinking……
Have you ever heard the phrase, “loose lips sink ships”? The phrase was actually created as a slogan during World War II by the US Office of War Information. It was part of an ongoing effort to warn people about inadvertently giving useful information to enemy spies.
This is how it looked back then……
Since I worked for a military contractor for many years, I am very familiar with the need to protect the data within your company, project, etc. And it was drilled into us, over and over again, that ANY conversation we had outside of the office could potentially be overheard. And used to the detriment of our customer. So I “grew up” in business being well aware of the need to protect information.
In today’s environment that is even more important. Not only for military contractors but for commercial business as well. You think I’m kidding -- relative to the commercial business? Nope, I’m not. Think about how valuable the information you carry around is. For example, wouldn’t your competitors like to know that you are planning to compete on “x” contract? Or wouldn’t your customers like to know that you are working on a new product -- one that will obsolete the product that they are preparing to spend millions on?
Your competitors (and others) are constantly on the lookout for information that will give them an advantage over your business. Most firms don’t resort to industrial espionage -- mostly because they don’t have to. All they have to do is to hang out in the places that you and your staff frequent. Think about it. How many lunch-time conversations have you had about sensitive business with your colleagues? And did you know who sat at the tables next to you? What information did you and your colleagues inadvertently give away?
Of course, I’m not suggesting that you succumb to paranoia. Only that it is prudent for any executive to remember how valuable the information they carry around in their head truly is.
Cheers!
Have you ever heard the phrase, “loose lips sink ships”? The phrase was actually created as a slogan during World War II by the US Office of War Information. It was part of an ongoing effort to warn people about inadvertently giving useful information to enemy spies.
This is how it looked back then……
Since I worked for a military contractor for many years, I am very familiar with the need to protect the data within your company, project, etc. And it was drilled into us, over and over again, that ANY conversation we had outside of the office could potentially be overheard. And used to the detriment of our customer. So I “grew up” in business being well aware of the need to protect information.
In today’s environment that is even more important. Not only for military contractors but for commercial business as well. You think I’m kidding -- relative to the commercial business? Nope, I’m not. Think about how valuable the information you carry around is. For example, wouldn’t your competitors like to know that you are planning to compete on “x” contract? Or wouldn’t your customers like to know that you are working on a new product -- one that will obsolete the product that they are preparing to spend millions on?
Your competitors (and others) are constantly on the lookout for information that will give them an advantage over your business. Most firms don’t resort to industrial espionage -- mostly because they don’t have to. All they have to do is to hang out in the places that you and your staff frequent. Think about it. How many lunch-time conversations have you had about sensitive business with your colleagues? And did you know who sat at the tables next to you? What information did you and your colleagues inadvertently give away?
Of course, I’m not suggesting that you succumb to paranoia. Only that it is prudent for any executive to remember how valuable the information they carry around in their head truly is.
Cheers!
Friday, February 26, 2010
2-26-10 Are Safety and Growth Mutually Exclusive?
I don’t personally believe that they are, but in reading current headlines, one has to wonder if Toyota (a venerable company) has demonstrated that, yes, they are mutually exclusive.
If you have followed the news, Toyota says that the problems stem from taking their eye off of the quality (and hence, safety) ball as they rapidly grew. Now this is a company that has been in business for 50 years. They’ve been growing for a very long time….. And have had good quality for a very long time. And when you think about the criticality of a safe car in all of our little worlds, you have to wonder how they could let it happen.
Perhaps I’m biased because of the industry where I spent most of my working life. In the aerospace industry, believe me, we ALL take it personally when a plane falls out of the sky, regardless of the cause. When we design and build airplanes, safety is our first, middle, and last thought of the day. Oh yea, I used to get aggravated with the engineers when they would add in what we factory guys called “chicken rivets” to an area of the plane we were building. They were there “just in case” something adverse happened say, 30 years down the road. But then I would remind myself that my mom or my brother might be getting on that airplane during its service life. All of a sudden the chicken rivets would seem like a very good idea.
So how does the aerospace industry do it? Companies like Airbus and Boeing have been in business for a looong time, and having been growing during a majority of that time. And still they manage to build quality into their products every day. Interestingly enough, in the past 15 or so years, they have both learned a lot about quality and safety from Toyota and the car industry. And it all comes down to process. Establishing reliable, repeatable processes for every step of the way --- from engineering to manufacturing to in-service support. Then once the processes are established, following them religiously. And when the processes break, learning what went wrong and updating them to make them better. And when the processes aren’t broken? Analyzing and updating them to make them better.
The processes are designed to not only improve the airplanes but also to assure that they don’t fall out of the sky, and also to ensure that the company can produce them faster (hence growing). And when they aren’t followed, it has the potential to create a massive stain on the entire industry.
So my take on this whole Toyota problem isn’t that they grew too fast. It was most likely because they took their eye off of their proven processes or didn’t recognize that they had broken processes. My belief is that you can have growth without sacrificing quality and safety.
Cheers!
If you have followed the news, Toyota says that the problems stem from taking their eye off of the quality (and hence, safety) ball as they rapidly grew. Now this is a company that has been in business for 50 years. They’ve been growing for a very long time….. And have had good quality for a very long time. And when you think about the criticality of a safe car in all of our little worlds, you have to wonder how they could let it happen.
Perhaps I’m biased because of the industry where I spent most of my working life. In the aerospace industry, believe me, we ALL take it personally when a plane falls out of the sky, regardless of the cause. When we design and build airplanes, safety is our first, middle, and last thought of the day. Oh yea, I used to get aggravated with the engineers when they would add in what we factory guys called “chicken rivets” to an area of the plane we were building. They were there “just in case” something adverse happened say, 30 years down the road. But then I would remind myself that my mom or my brother might be getting on that airplane during its service life. All of a sudden the chicken rivets would seem like a very good idea.
So how does the aerospace industry do it? Companies like Airbus and Boeing have been in business for a looong time, and having been growing during a majority of that time. And still they manage to build quality into their products every day. Interestingly enough, in the past 15 or so years, they have both learned a lot about quality and safety from Toyota and the car industry. And it all comes down to process. Establishing reliable, repeatable processes for every step of the way --- from engineering to manufacturing to in-service support. Then once the processes are established, following them religiously. And when the processes break, learning what went wrong and updating them to make them better. And when the processes aren’t broken? Analyzing and updating them to make them better.
The processes are designed to not only improve the airplanes but also to assure that they don’t fall out of the sky, and also to ensure that the company can produce them faster (hence growing). And when they aren’t followed, it has the potential to create a massive stain on the entire industry.
So my take on this whole Toyota problem isn’t that they grew too fast. It was most likely because they took their eye off of their proven processes or didn’t recognize that they had broken processes. My belief is that you can have growth without sacrificing quality and safety.
Cheers!
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