In this episode, Dr. Mark French explores the importance of onboarding new safety professionals through a leadership-focused lens. Reflecting on his experience guiding a newly hired safety team member, he emphasizes that onboarding should go beyond teaching technical safety skills. The real value lies in mentoring new professionals on how to apply their knowledge through effective leadership and influence, rather than relying on authority.

Mark shares his personal leadership development journey and underscores that true leadership success is realized when one can help develop others into capable leaders. He explains that his approach centers around influence, empathy, and understanding workplace culture before initiating action. Central to his onboarding philosophy is the 30-60-90 day framework: in the first 30 days, get to know the people; by 60 days, understand the risks; and by 90 days, begin crafting a risk-reduction plan.

He argues that these early days are critical for building trust and gathering context, not solving everything immediately. Leadership starts with listening, being present, and learning about the organization and its people before implementing change. Mark notes that even seasoned professionals typically require six months to a year to reach full effectiveness in a new role. By encouraging authentic relationship-building and observation early on, leaders set the stage for sustainable influence and long-term impact.

The episode closes with a reminder that leadership onboarding should be intentional, people-centered, and focused on developing both trust and strategic insight.

This episode of the Leading and Learning Through Safety podcast, hosted by Dr. Mark French, explores the use of euphemisms in leadership communication. Inspired by a recent article from the Journal of Applied Psychology, Dr. French discusses how euphemistic language—used to soften or reframe harsh realities—can diminish the perceived severity of serious issues like fraud, negligence, or safety violations. While euphemisms can serve a respectful purpose, overuse may lead to reduced accountability and weaker corrective actions.

Dr. French warns against leaders defaulting to either extreme: being overly blunt and personal, or excessively soft and indirect. Both styles, when misapplied, result in ineffective leadership. Instead, he advocates for balanced communication—one that names problems clearly while preserving respect and engagement. Using real-life safety and leadership examples, he emphasizes the importance of addressing problems, not people, and adapting communication to the audience and context. The ultimate goal is to foster constructive conversations that solve problems and improve safety without degrading team members.

The episode concludes with a reminder: effective leadership communication is situational. Sometimes, softening helps understanding. Other times, urgency demands clarity. Either way, always target the issue—not the individual.

In this episode, Dr. Mark French dives deeper into the psychology of listening, reflecting on how powerful it is to be truly heard—and the responsibility that comes with listening effectively. He explores how our personal biases, distractions, and assumptions can distort communication, and stresses the value of active listening, including recapping and confirming understanding to ensure clarity.

French highlights the importance of meeting people "where they are" in conversations, especially when emotions or urgency are involved. Drawing from a tragic safety incident in North Carolina, he shifts focus to organizational listening—questioning whether warning signs or complaints were previously overlooked and whether leaders truly listen to feedback from internal and external sources. He emphasizes that listening must be paired with action and closure—even if the action is simply acknowledging the concern.

The episode continues with a candid story about a minor workplace complaint (a fish oil smell) to underscore the need to validate all feedback, even if the issue doesn’t warrant major change. French reflects on the importance of closure—not just acting on feedback, but following up to ensure people feel heard and see results. He admits personal missteps in communication follow-through and discusses rebuilding trust.

Ultimately, the episode encourages leaders to view listening as a two-way commitment: hearing, understanding, taking appropriate action, and looping back to ensure closure—all while striving to improve through imperfection and empathy.

In this episode of the Leading and Learning Through Safety podcast, Dr. Mark French explores the critical role of listening in leadership, particularly within safety-focused environments. The episode opens with a reflection on how genuine listening is often overlooked yet essential to inclusive and effective leadership. Dr. French emphasizes that active listening fosters open communication, trust, and ultimately, safer workplaces.

He shares a personal story about his child’s long-standing eye issues, which were finally addressed when a provider truly listened—leading to a proper diagnosis and treatment. This moment sparked deeper reflection on how often concerns are voiced but dismissed or inadequately addressed, especially in professional settings. He recounts a safety leadership debrief where communication gaps became apparent, reinforcing the idea that hearing without action is not truly listening.

French discusses a tragic incident where a worker voiced feeling unsafe, only to be ignored by a supervisor—resulting in a fatality. This example underscores the moral and operational importance of responsive listening in safety leadership.

He introduces the concept of "closing the communication loop," where leaders acknowledge concerns, clarify understanding, and take visible action—even if the outcome isn’t perfect. Through humorous and humble examples, he illustrates both successful and failed listening efforts from his own career.

The episode concludes with a call to action: leaders must intentionally listen without bias, verify understanding, and engage meaningfully. True leadership begins with making others feel heard and safe, creating a foundation for trust and organizational growth.

🎙️ Podcast Summary: Tennessee Safety Conference Recap & Lessons in Leadership

In this episode, Dr. Mark French reflects on his experience at the Tennessee Safety Conference, highlighting both inspiring takeaways and sobering moments. A major segment featured Tennessee OSHA’s annual fatality recap, a powerful session showcasing real-world tragedies to underline the importance of prevention, risk management, and leadership accountability.

Key incidents discussed included:

• A worker fatally injured slipping on a freshly cleaned floor.
• Improvised equipment use leading to fatal equipment failure.
• Makeshift scaffolding resulting in a fall.
• Cultural complacency and dangerous problem-solving in the field.

Dr. French emphasizes that strong safety leadership requires:

• Proactive hazard recognition.
• Cultural reinforcement of doing the right thing, even when inconvenient.
• Clear, honest, and empathetic communication.
• Recognizing that even “minor” risks can result in major consequences.

He closes with a humorous yet impactful anecdote of a supply chain attendee accidentally joining the OSHA session—and leaving profoundly impacted and safety-conscious.

🧠 Final message: Leadership rooted in safety and people-first values isn’t just compliance—it’s compassion and responsibility.

A podcast discussion led by Dr. Mark French about new safety legislation moving through the Kentucky House. The conversation centers on two key legislative changes:

1. State Plan Reversal: Kentucky’s OSHA program is under threat of being restricted to only enforcing standards that are as effective as federal standards, with no ability to exceed them. This change would strip the state’s power to address its unique workplace risks effectively, particularly in industries where specialized regulations have been beneficial.
2. Mining Safety Rollback: The second bill focuses on reducing the number of Mining Emergency Technicians (METs) required on-site for smaller mines from two to one. The previous law mandating two METs was established in response to a tragic incident where inadequate immediate medical assistance led to severe injuries that could have been mitigated with more personnel. Dr. French emphasizes the recurring theme of safety regulations being relaxed after a period of successful enforcement, only to be reconsidered when another tragedy occurs.

Dr. French stresses that reverting to minimum standards instead of proactively protecting workers is a dangerous approach. He draws parallels between corporate decision-making and state legislation, emphasizing how the same “good enough” mentality leads to repeated safety failures. The conversation ends with Dr. French advocating for continuous improvement and better leadership in shaping safety culture.

The podcast episode from "Leading and Learning Through Safety" hosted by Dr. Mark French focuses on the significance of ethics and values in safety leadership. Dr. French discusses how companies often face a disconnect between stated values and actual practices, leading to cognitive dissonance and weakened organizational culture. He emphasizes that true values must be lived and reinforced through actions, not just written statements. Trust is highlighted as a fundamental aspect of effective leadership, surpassing even high performance when fostering commitment and safety.

Dr. French references Simon Sinek’s principle about trust, noting that organizations must prioritize trustworthiness over mere performance. He also touches on the devastating consequences of treating employees as expendable resources, drawing a parallel to companies that only value profit over people’s safety and well-being. Using metaphors and real-world scenarios, he illustrates the impact of values that drift too far from actual behaviors, leading to breakdowns in organizational integrity.

The episode concludes by stressing the importance of aligning company values with individual values to create a thriving and safe work environment. Dr. French encourages leaders to actively hold themselves and their organizations accountable to their core values, urging them to continuously evaluate and reinforce their commitment to safety and respect for their employees.

The podcast episode discusses the relationship between ethical decision-making and workplace safety. Hosted by Dr. Mark French, the episode explores how distance from the work environment affects ethical judgment in safety-related decisions.

Dr. French references an article from the Journal of Applied Psychology (February 2025) titled Out of Sight, Out of Mind: How High-Level Controls Can Decrease the Ethical Framing of Risk-Mitigating Behavior. The research highlights how individuals making safety decisions—often executives or managers—tend to underestimate workplace risks when they are physically removed from the job site. This detachment leads to decisions that may prioritize cost and productivity over worker safety.

The discussion emphasizes how safety professionals frequently face ethical dilemmas, such as choosing between enforcing safety measures and aligning with corporate expectations. Dr. French underscores the challenge of instilling ethical behavior, noting that while organizations can promote accountability and structured procedures, individuals ultimately make their own ethical choices.

He provides examples of how ethical misjudgments have led to real-world safety failures, citing an incident where a supervisor disregarded a stop-work order, leading to worker fatalities. He stresses the importance of leadership engagement—actively seeing and understanding workplace conditions—to ensure informed safety decisions.

Drawing from quality management principles like Six Sigma and Toyota’s Gemba method, he advocates for leaders to observe work environments directly, rather than making abstract, detached decisions. The episode concludes with an invitation to the Tennessee Safety Conference in April, where Dr. French will discuss integrating values into organizational safety culture.

The key takeaway: ethical safety decisions improve when leaders engage directly with frontline work, reinforcing a culture where employees feel empowered to prioritize safety without fear of retaliation.