Welcome

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of speaking at the ASME Pride in Engineering Social in Washington DC, marking 50 years of Pride in the capital. Hosted by ASME and the ASME Foundation, the evening brought together LGBTQ+ engineers and allies to celebrate identity, inclusion, and innovation in STEM.

In my talk, I reflected on:

• What it means to lead with both safety and authenticity

• Why inclusion isn’t a ‘nice-to-have’, but core to innovation

• How LGBTQ+ stories are reshaping what leadership looks like in engineering

It was a night of storytelling, connection, and courage, and a powerful reminder that while engineering builds the systems we rely on, we must also design those systems to work for everyone.

A small but moving moment: while walking through the airport on my way to DC, I spotted a wall display featuring the Stonewall Inn, a site of deep historical significance for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Dame Judith Hackitt on Values-Led Leadership

This week’s podcast guest is Dame Judith Hackitt, one of the UK’s most respected voices on safety, regulation, and leadership.

From her early life in a mining village surrounded by industrial risk to leading national safety reform, Dame Judith shares a deeply personal story about how values, courage, and clarity must anchor leadership in uncertain times. We explore why embedding health and safety into culture is non-negotiable, how inclusion must mean everyone, not just some, and what it looks like to lead without compromising who you are.

This is a conversation for anyone navigating resistance, culture change, or responsibility at scale. Dame Judith’s insights are clear, bold, and grounded in decades of experience.

The SAFE Leader Featured in The Chemical Engineer

This month, I was proud to see The SAFE Leader reviewed by Karin Wolff in The Chemical Engineer magazine. Karin describes the book as “a timely, accessible and deeply practical guide” that helps professionals understand how safety and inclusion intersect, and why that matters for leadership today.

She praises how the book speaks directly to engineers and technical leaders, using language familiar to them, while also calling for a shift toward more empathetic, reflective, and human-centred approaches to safety. Karin also highlights how the SAFE framework (Share, Act, Feel, Empower) creates space for leaders to look inward, to consider their personal stories, and to build trust through authenticity.

If you’re an academic, department head, or educator, and you’re interested in embedding The SAFE Leader into your curriculum, whether for leadership development, safety culture, or professional ethics, I’d love to explore ways to make that happen.

Not Safe Enough to Stay Silent

This week’s article in my Safety on the Edge series spotlights the incredible keynote delivered by Rodney Rocha, former NASA engineer and whistleblower.

In the piece, I explore how Rodney’s reflections on speaking out after the Columbia shuttle disaster carry vital lessons for every industry, not just aerospace. His story reminds us that:

• Safety isn’t just about systems, but the people inside them

• Silence can be more dangerous than failure

• And sometimes, safety leadership means breaking ranks to speak the truth

If you missed earlier pieces in the series, you can find them all on my Beehiiv homepage.

Let’s connect

Please reach out and connect with me on LinkedIn if we are not already connected.

I love helping organisations where the angle I take with the work I do might help in someway have you make traction in your culture.

Feel free to get in touch here.

Stay SAFE!