132: Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Jill James:

This is the Accidental Safety Pro, brought to you by HSI. This episode is recorded May 30th, 2025. My name is Jill James, HSI's Chief Safety Officer, and our guest today is Dana Dawsey. Dana is Vice President of Environmental Health and Safety at Pentair. Dana is also an industrial engineer, a certified safety professional, and she's been an executive leader for several Fortune 500 companies and is also a John Maxwell certified speaker, teacher, trainer, and coach. Dana joins us today from Houston, Texas. Welcome to the show.

Dana Dawsey:

Thank you so much for having me, Jill. I appreciate just the great introduction and also the opportunity to speak with you and others.

Jill James:

Wonderful. Dana, how does an industrial engineer end up being an EH&S professional? How did things get started from you? And you can start however you'd like, if it's from little kid times or jumping off in college or points between.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, so I really didn't know what I wanted to do when I went to college. I just knew that I wanted to make an impact and I wanted to make money. So as a first generation college graduate, I saw my parents work hard every day. They had laborious jobs. And I know one of the things that I said is I want to be able to make an impact for them, to take care of them, but also, I always had a passion for people. And I didn't know what that was. I was just thinking, oh, it's a doctor. And so, again, I didn't know where to start. I just knew I wanted to go to college. I didn't do the research and look at medical schools. I just went to Northern Illinois University and I'm like, "Hey, I want to be a doctor." And they're like, "This is not a medical school." I'm like, "Okay, what is going to make money and do something that I want to do?" And they're like, "Well, why don't you check out engineering?" And engineering just sounded like a lot of math to me, but I'm like, okay, I'll check out engineering. And I went to, and I found industrial engineering. And some of the emphasis or concentrations that you can do was environmental health and safety. And because environmental health and safety had more of the people side of engineering, that was my concentration as well. So I did industrial engineering with a concentration in environmental health and safety, and I love that part where you can mix a lot of the processes with the soft skill and people side to be able to influence change management and so on. And so that's initially how I got into industrial engineering and occupational health and safety.

Jill James:

Wow, that's a really great story. And you were leading with the I want to make a difference in people's lives, and you end up becoming an engineer, which of course engineers do make a difference in people's lives.

Dana Dawsey:

I try to explain what I do to my 7-year-old daughter, and I say, "I'm an industrial engineer," and I'm like, "Industrial engineers make everything better." That's how I tell her, because that's our job is to improve processes and make efficient and processes better. And so that's how I tell her.

Jill James:

My son always was trying to figure out how to explain what I did as well. And I mean, eventually it got snarky with my mom will tell you how you can lose life and limb doing just about anything. And it's a worst case scenario, mom. But then he would also ask me when he was little, and still does to this day, "What's the emergency plan for that, mom?"

Dana Dawsey:

Absolutely. That's good.

Jill James:

They know we've got a plan.

Dana Dawsey:

That's right.

Jill James:

That's good. So you finished college. Where did you land first?

Dana Dawsey:

So while I was in college, I always knew I wanted to work at Caterpillar Tractor Company, because I used to always see the big yellow tractors going down the street. We had one of the bigger facilities in Aurora, Illinois, and I went to school in DeKalb, Illinois, which is not too far. And I just knew I wanted to be there. At that time, I believe it was in the Fortune 50, right, at that time. So it was a big deal, and I'm like, I just want to work there. I never worked in a factory before, but I knew I wanted to work at Caterpillar. And so actually, it was hard for me to get a job right out of college. And I was concerned. I didn't do an internship and didn't really have a lot of experience. I worked at Olive Garden pretty much 11 years while I was going through high school and in college to pay for my college. So [inaudible 00:05:41] really-

Jill James:

Yeah, that's a lot of food service years.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah. [inaudible 00:05:45]-

Jill James:

It's good work. You learned a lot.

Dana Dawsey:

I learned a lot of soft skills from it. A lot of hangry people I had to calm down. So after I graduated, I couldn't get a job, but I actually got a break in networking, and that's why I always talk about the importance of networking. I went on a mock interview at Northern Illinois University and one of the mock interviewers was an alum, and he was a vice president for Baxter International. And I interviewed with him, and I guess I did pretty well. I'm like, "I'm not sure what's up. Can you give me some feedback? Is it something that I'm doing wrong?" And he's like, "No, your interview was great." He's like, "Actually, can I have your resume?" He's like, "I golf with the vice president of Caterpillar, Aurora-"

Jill James:

No way.

Dana Dawsey:

"And I just will talk to him about you and see if he has any interest." And two weeks later, I got a call.

Jill James:

Oh, that is awesome synchronicity. I love it.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes, yes.

Jill James:

Had you told this person that you did the mock interview with, that you had your site set on Caterpillar, or was that just happenstance that he brought that up?

Dana Dawsey:

I did. I told him that I was interested in Caterpillar because I think maybe that came up in conversation or something. I told him that would be my dream job. And it's funny because when I got into Caterpillar, and it's a factory, but I'm looking at the ceiling like, oh my gosh, I'm here. And I think about that now, this older factory, and I'm just like, wow, I made it.

Jill James:

And did they hire you in an EH&S role or were they more interested in your engineering background or a little bit of both?

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, so they hired me in an EH&S role. I was an EH&S associate, I believe that was my title, like an entry-level EH&S role. And I started on second shift. [inaudible 00:07:46] called the second shifters.

Jill James:

Oh, man, Dana. Wow.

Dana Dawsey:

So it was pretty fun. And also Caterpillar was pretty great. Because I was on second shift, they let me go back, they actually paid for my master's degree. So I was able to work second shift and go get my master's degree in the daytime.

Jill James:

Oh, man. Yeah because you were working second shift, so you're starting, you did 3:00 to 11:00 or whatever.

Dana Dawsey:

Absolutely. Yeah. So I got my master's in-

Jill James:

And what's your-

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, I got my master's in industrial management. So a master's in science and industrial management. So more of the project management and strategic management portion of it. So I like to mix little project management, Six Sigma and things of that nature and treat all of my EH&S initiatives like a project.

Jill James:

I love it. Yeah, that's a great combination.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah.

Jill James:

If someone's listening and they're like, I think I might want to go back to school, take notes. Those are good ideas from Dana. That's awesome. Yeah. So was Caterpillar, was it as magical as your mind had made it up to be when you set your sights on it?

Dana Dawsey:

I would say so. I enjoyed Caterpillar. I was there for 10 years and started off in environmental health and safety as an EH&S associate, got promoted many times within Caterpillar. So I went from EH&S associate to EH&S engineer, got to first shift. And I also was able to, once I got my master's degree, I'm always curious. So I asked the question, I want to be able to learn how to put my Six Sigma, all this project management into the business and understand the business a little bit better. So they actually gave me a position within supply chain, and I was a supply chain engineer, and I was able to do lean Six Sigma projects, plan for every part, understand how do we get the parts safely and efficiently, effectively from the supplier and all the way to building the tractor and shipping it out the door to the customer. And I was able to understand the business from the beginning to the end, understand how to make safe practices, make it with less waste, less ergonomic issues, all of those things. So for that, it helped me to understand that piece of it, not just the secondhand piece, but understand how can we design EH&S into this whole process from beginning to end. So that was exciting. And for me, I always went back to environmental health and safety. So after I got that understanding and experience, I went back into environmental health and safety as an ergonomist at a foundry. So again, another challenge. Yeah.

Jill James:

Yeah. I mean, oh, the first time I was in a foundry, I thought, oh my God, this is hell on earth. I mean-

Dana Dawsey:

When I left, it's funny, when I left supply chain, one of the executives, the leaders said, "Who pissed you off?" Or, "Who did you piss off?" No, they said, "Who did you piss off?"

Jill James:

Right.

Dana Dawsey:

[inaudible 00:11:25].

Jill James:

Right. I mean, and if listeners have never been into a foundry, I mean, it's hot, liquid metal with flames. So when I say hell on earth, framing it up as who did you piss off, I mean, that's hard, hard work.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes, it is.

Jill James:

Hard environment. Hard environment. I mean, I just want to back up for a second to your supply chain job. I mean, gosh, that makes you so powerful in EH&S, to be able to speak to leadership when you have that STEM to stern knowledge that you honed there, that's fantastic. I bet you know how to spin up a story that explains and convinces really well, from a multifactorial perspective.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes. And I would say that the credibility piece is key when you're able to speak the language or say, "Yeah, I know I've done it. I've been there." Even when I was at EH&S, I, because like I said, I never had been in a factory before. When I came to Caterpillar, I started in a welding fabrication shop, and most of the workers had been working there for 20, 30 years. They were all men. And I'm coming in there, this lady from college and trying to tell them how to be safe. And they're looking at me like, how are you? I've been doing this for 30 years. I've been doing this longer than you have been alive. And so I knew that. I was a little intimidated. So one of the things that I did too is, understanding what environment I was coming in, is I actually, again, I never welded, never really seen a weld before. I'm from the city, suburbs of Chicago, so I'd never been in that setting. So I actually took a couple day welding class. I said, "Hey, can I understand this? I want to understand the risks and how this works, when I talked to the team." And I did that, and one of the things I didn't realize that, because this was a union facility, that when we were preparing for strike, they saw that as, I didn't know they documented it. They saw that, and they actually called me out to be a welder.

Jill James:

No.

Dana Dawsey:

So I actually am a certified welder. Well, I don't know if I am anymore, but ...

Jill James:

Wow. What kind of welding did you learn, Dana?

Dana Dawsey:

I did MIG welding, did a little bit of TIG.

Jill James:

Holy [inaudible 00:14:16].

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah. So I had to be actually trained and certified on how to properly weld, just in case they had a strike and the engineers and leaders had to go to the shop floor and make tractors. Luckily, the negotiations went well, and I did not have to go full-time. Because it was about to be summer too. That was going to be pretty hot.

Jill James:

Hot. Yeah.

Dana Dawsey:

But yeah, I did learn how to do that.

Jill James:

Wow. Dana's a welder. That is a hard job. That is a hard job.

Dana Dawsey:

It is.

Jill James:

And I mean, it's a skilled, hard job.

Dana Dawsey:

It is.

Jill James:

What did you learn about people when you were at Caterpillar?

Dana Dawsey:

The main thing, especially in that understanding, when I'm coming into a facility that was mostly men and I didn't have the experiences, I learned how to build relations with people because at the end of the day, people, they want you to listen to them. They want to know, like and trust you. And so for me, I realized that. And once I spoke to them, not just about work sometimes, but how's your family? I made it personal for them. And so it wasn't just more so the police cop Dana coming out to tell me to put my safety glasses on or tell me to make sure I have my PPE on or what have you. It was someone that they trusted, someone that they knew was looking out for the best for them, and they would do that, not only when I was around, but also when I wasn't around. I had to do that a lot, especially on second shift, because a lot of leaders were not, that's not where a lot of leaders, they're going home at 5:00 in the afternoon. So that's where I had to learn a lot of that, where you build that trust, you make it personal for them, where they want to do it, not just are forced to do it.

Jill James:

Yeah. I mean, that's such a hard challenge for us when we're, same thing for me, Dana, coming in as a first generation college graduate, going into an industrial setting. I started with OSHA, walking into factories and every place where human beings work, and I'm like, how am I going, without getting eaten alive?

Dana Dawsey:

I know.

Jill James:

Because I'm a young woman and pretty much all men everywhere I went and I had to teleport myself into, my dad worked in a factory and I just place myself like what would he think was an affront if someone came? Because you grow up hearing that stuff from your parents, like, "Oh, that smarty-pants, college person, blah, blah, blah." So I'm just carefully framing whatever was coming out of my mouth would be my dad on my shoulder thinking, okay, how would he receive this message? How would I say it so that he ... [inaudible 00:17:30].

Dana Dawsey:

That's right. Absolutely.

Jill James:

Yeah. Funny, funny. Okay, so then you're in the foundry. You found your way into a foundry somehow.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes.

Jill James:

I mean, I bet the engineer in you was like, wow, this is interesting.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah. It was interesting. A lot of manual labor going on. I'm like, oh my goodness, why are they beating that steel thing with just a mallet?

Jill James:

A mallet. Yeah.

Dana Dawsey:

A sledgehammer.

Jill James:

Yeah. Wow. So how-

Dana Dawsey:

So-

Jill James:

Go ahead.

Dana Dawsey:

That was the challenge. The foundry, it was a lot of manual work and some things that were old school. And so we were replacing shoulders at least once. Someone was going out to get their shoulder surgery about once a month. So that's one of the reasons why we were able to change the environment there. We were able to implement, and I used my background in a Six Sigma project management to do Kaizen events. So we called them, at that time, it was a week long Kaizen event where we'll go in, find it, fix it, work with the team, a cross functional team, including the operators, and find something to fix and make an ROI opportunity to make an implementation. And so we took this process where they were knocking steel fins off of an engine block with the sledgehammer and see how we can take that manual process out and make it where it's some type of automated way to do it without a person actually manually doing that. And we were able to find the cost savings in that over time because of the fact that if a shoulder is expensive, if we're doing this and we can take that out and show the cost savings and also the people, where we're saving people, it's also the right thing to do, and show that to the leadership. I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned is, at the end of the day, these are businesses. We do want to do the right things, but we also want to make sure that we can stay in business because we want to do the right thing by our people by keeping them employed as well and staying in business. So we have to be able to show both sides. We need to show the people side as well as the financial cost savings and speak the language of the business. And so that's what we were able to do in making improvements at the foundry. And that foundry, actually, it was slated to move to Mexico because of all the issues that were going on with safety and quality, and we were able to keep it. It's still, today, in Illinois, and it was actually slated to move to Mexico because of all the work comp and all those issues

Jill James:

Congratulations.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, so it was a good turnaround.

Jill James:

How was it received by the employees? I mean, I'm thinking about all the shoulders you saved, I mean, which are absolutely debilitating injuries and a replacement of a shoulder is just, it's just the hardest joint. How did people receive you, the workers? Were they like, "Huh, you're an angel, thank you?" How did that go?

Dana Dawsey:

It's funny because when I first came in, we were talking about the Kaizen event that we were going to do, and it's like, "Hey, I'm Dana from," and I was actually coming in from corporate. "I'm Dana from corporate EH&S and I'm coming here to save," I didn't say come to save you, but, "I'm coming here to help." And everybody was trying to be very pleasant, but you always have that one heckler in the group that's been there 30 years, been there, done that. It's been told to him before and nothing happens. And so he-

Jill James:

Back of the room, arms crossed. Yeah.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, that's exactly, his name was Dale at the time. And he basically told me just that. And everybody else was just, they knew the same thing, but they were just like, "Dale, don't mind him." And I'm like, "No, it's okay." And what I told him, I said, "You know what Dale," because you're embarrassed at that time and everything, but I'm like, "You know what, Dale, how about this? How about we make a deal?" I said, "If we're able to make improvements with this Kaizen event, then you owe me a Christmas present. But if not, and we're not able to make any improvements, then I'll owe you a Christmas present." And so it softened that whole thing. And after a while, and he was still kind of, because he was Dale, he's been there 30 years, he's seen it all. He actually worked in the pit of the foundry. It was not a pleasant job and he's heard it all. People have come there and said they're going to do something and never did. But I would say after it's all said and done, he was involved in that Kaizen event as well. When Christmas came, we were able to actually get an Andromat, an automated tool to knock off fins and save that process from being done manually. He was excited about that. He didn't think that we were going to actually put money into a project. And he saw that, and he seen that we were putting our money where our mouth was, and he was excited. He's like, wow, you really actually did something about this. You really do care. So come Christmastime, I came to my office and across from my office was the shower room, because he worked on third shift. So he would go there before and I would be coming in when they're leaving, third shift is leaving. And I come on my desk and it's a bracelet, like this antique bracelet. And I went out and I'm like, "Hey, who put this on my desk?" I'm like, "Dale, did you put this on my desk?" And he's like, "Yeah, me and my wife actually went to this antique store and we saw this bracelet and we wanted to give it to you, and thank you for your contributions." And at that time, it was, for me, and I still have that bracelet. It reminds me-

Jill James:

I bet you do-

Dana Dawsey:

Of that. And it reminds me, it's not just him. When you think about it, it's about our families. His wife went with him to buy that as well. So it's not just him. If he's hurt or not able to work, this also impacts his family. And so for us to think about not being able to make improvements, it impacts the person as well as their family. So that was enjoyable. I always think about that memory.

Jill James:

I can't think of a greater gift.

Dana Dawsey:

Exactly.

Jill James:

That's precious.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes, I agree. I agree.

Jill James:

Wow. That's a great story. Yeah. Ergonomics in a foundry. Way to go big or go home.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes. Exactly.

Jill James:

Wow. Yeah. So what was your next stopping point?

Dana Dawsey:

So with all the great things that happened there, I actually was promoted to environmental health and safety director for the engines division. So that was Maple foundry is one of our engine facilities, and the next step for me was the environmental health and safety for the engines division. So that was cool. I got to partner with a general manager of all the engine division and have a strategy for environmental health and safety and get more into the strategic part of it and a little bit away from the tactical. And so we were able to create a strategy to make a step change in safety and to make improvements and proactive improvements in how we facilitate. At that time, we had 10 facilities for the engine division and how do we improve in that area? And so that was really fun. I loved that. It was a global role, so I was able to do things on a global stage.

Jill James:

Wow. I mean, isn't that, I don't know. Dana, it sounds like you and I grew up in maybe a little more humble beginnings. First people that went to college in our families. Don't you sometimes look back and go, how'd this little girl from this place end up doing all these things?

Dana Dawsey:

All the time. I always just say-

Jill James:

Me too.

Dana Dawsey:

I'm just a girl from the suburbs of Chicago. [inaudible 00:26:51] Chicago. And it's funny because my dad, when he was living, he would always brag about me all the time, and I'm like, "Dad, don't do that." He would be in the hospital, telling all the nurses about his, oh, that she's a boss. And I'm just like, "Dad, just-"

Jill James:

My mom does that still. And I'm like, oh God. You walk into somewhere with your parent and they're like, "This is my daughter." And then they'll be like, "Oh yeah, I heard about the," I'm like, oh, man.

Dana Dawsey:

Exactly. It's funny. Pretty funny.

Jill James:

So I said in the introduction that you have some John Maxwell certifications. When did all of those pieces come together? As I'm listening to you tell your story and you're on a global stage now, when did that piece come in? Or is that still yet to come in your story?

Dana Dawsey:

So that piece came, well, I'll say it actually came, I've always been a fan of John Maxwell, so I would read all the books. A lot of the principles and things that he talks about or that he writes about, he teaches about is just common things and values that I hold dear, just about leadership in general. I talked about people want to know I can trust you. Those are things that I have a value for, that I realized that you have to be able to gain the trust. When I was at Caterpillar, a lot of the sites that I was working in were union facilities, and it was a lot of the union did not trust the company. And it was a lot of history between the conflicts. And so for me to come in and actually, if I want to make a change or influence people, whether it's on the shop floor or the leadership, I need for them to be able to know, like and trust me. And so those are some of the principles that John Maxwell talks about. He talks about leadership as influence, nothing more, nothing less. In EH&S, one of, I guess, the key things that you need to be able to do is influence others, whether it's the shop floor or the key leaders. And so those are the principles that I've always read about and studied while I was in my entry level phase or as I was going through my career. And so I actually did not really go into John Maxwell team trying to get more of a certification until 2020, I got certified at 2022. And actually one time I looked and I'm like, "I want to be, John is getting ready to retire." I'm like, "He needs a protege," is what I said.

Jill James:

I love it. You manifest what it is that you want.

Dana Dawsey:

Manifest it. But I thought, I'm like, John would not. I'm like, if I think about it, John would tell me that I needed to do the things that he did to get to where he is today. And so that's what I did. I said, well, John would say I need to do the things that he did, so that's what I'm going to do, and I'm going to get certified and I'm going to practice, and I'm going to make this something that I do as my career, learning and development. And so that's what I did.

Jill James:

That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Yeah. I want to hear more about what you do with that, in practice, but do you want to go back to you're on the global stage at the foundry. Do you want to continue with your story? Yeah.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah. No, that's pretty much it. I went to that and I was able to go to environmental health and safety as a director. But I will tell you, one time, I love Caterpillar. I was moving up the ladder really well, but at that time, I do have a husband, and my husband is actually from Florida. And he's like, "Why are we still in Illinois with all this cold?" So I wanted to have, they always say, happy wife, happy life. I'm like, well, I need to have a happy husband at this time. So we actually, I started looking for other options because at that time, Caterpillar had not moved the headquarters or a lot of the jobs to the South. Now they are. They're in Dallas area, but at that time, they didn't. And so I started looking for other jobs and other companies and wound up Dow Chemical. I'm like, who is Dow Chemical? I don't know who they are, what they do. And I did an interview and they hired me over the phone. So Dow Chemical, they make chemicals and as a supplier of different chemicals and materials for companies in Houston. Well, one of the largest sites in the Western Hemisphere is in Houston, Texas. Their headquarters is in Midland, Michigan. And I decided, okay, I got this job offer over the phone, but I still don't know. I was like, "Can I come to the Dow Chemical site?" And they said, "Sure." So once I came to the Dow Chemical site, I immediately could feel the culture there. Everyone knew EH&S. They knew how, they were all part of this EH&S. It was immaculate. You wouldn't see any paper on the floor, anytime. That was innate. That was embedded in everything that they did. And they said as a funny joke is, "We're a safety company that makes chemicals," because they needed to be safe because of the risk that they have. And so that's one of the reasons why I said, "Okay, I can do this. I'd love to have a company where I don't have to make people be safe. I can go in and try to make things better." And I learned a heck of a lot, process safety and especially environmental, a lot of environmental regulations. So we actually moved, that was one of the hardest decisions that I made because I've lived in Illinois all of my life at that point, and Caterpillar was my first job. I've been there for 10 years and I was just doing so well. But we made that decision, not just for me, but for my family. Wanted to make sure that I didn't want to just put my career first and things. I wanted to put family first. But it was a great opportunity and I wouldn't change it for the world. I did a lot of things at Dow Chemical, I started off as a EH&S R&D director for EH&S, and that was a different opportunity as well. R&D is much different than manufacturing, so learned a lot there. And then after about four years I went into, they actually tapped me on my shoulder and asked me to run a chemical plant.

Jill James:

Wow.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes. This industrial engineer, I'm not a chemical engineer, that's what I said, "I'm not a chemical engineer." And they're like, "Well, what we need is a leader. We know you have the leadership qualities to come over and help to structure the leadership and lead our team in the way for our next generation." So that is, who'd have thought that I would run a chemical plant.

Jill James:

That's amazing. And that's what brought you to Texas?

Dana Dawsey:

That's what brought me to Texas. Yeah.

Jill James:

When you said you walked in and you could feel the safety culture, I'm wondering if listeners might want to know more about what that felt like. You've been in your career now, how many years are you into this career, Dana?

Dana Dawsey:

About 20 years.

Jill James:

Yeah. And so when you feel a culture, what does it feel like? I just love the framing of that you could feel it.

Dana Dawsey:

So for me, I go in and I observe. I observe how people walk down the stairs holding the handrail. I observe even the coffee maker machine. They have signs on the coffee maker machine. Do not take the coffee, all of those details. It's like they are serious about safety. How the environment looks. Is it cluttered? How's the housekeeping? Is everything in place? Is it [inaudible 00:35:47]? When you look into the labs when you're on the tour, are all the researchers wearing the right PPE? How do they introduce you? Before you do anything, they're like, "Hey, before we do anything, you have to go through this orientation," and how detailed. All of those things matter. If you've been to something like that, where they're very structured on this is the process, this is how I need you to do. You've been to factories like that, and then you've been to factories where you have to ask the question, "Do I need safety glasses?" That's the different cultures, and you can tell in that first 30 minutes when you walk in how that's approached.

Jill James:

Yeah, I agree with that. And also, I don't know about you, but I like to look people in the eye, just paying attention to the faces of people in a facility. What are their faces telling me?

Dana Dawsey:

Yes. Absolutely.

Jill James:

Do they look like they're carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders? Is there brightness? Is there lightness there? Is it heavy, looking in the faces of the workers? That's something that I paid attention to a lot as an investigator with OSHA and the things that made me feel like, oh, okay, I can walk away from this place and trust that they're going to take care of these things or I'm going to have to pay real close attention here because of what the weight was that I saw in the faces of the people.

Dana Dawsey:

Absolutely, Jill. I do that too. When you're walking through and you're doing the tour, are people, when you walk past, are they looking up and smiling and saying hi? Or are they just keeping their head down, like, okay, I don't want to get in trouble. You can tell what leadership culture is just based on how they look up or they feel like they just have to not look you in the eye and not talk to you, do their work and keep their head down. Yep. I agree with you.

Jill James:

Yeah, and we're not talking about the Dales of the world. That's a different level. That's a character. But we're talking about the people who are, like you said, they're scared. And you can see it. Yeah. Oh, fabulous. Okay, so you're running a chemical plant. Oh my gosh. Wow.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes. Yeah. And that's the thing. The big part of that is, especially having an EH&S, so I'm not only giving people the EH&S rules, policies, all that, I'm actually using those things that we created and actually going out in the field and making sure that they're done. So I would put on my blues, put on my Nomex, and go out, and I would be the one that would authorize the high risk work or the working at heights and things of that nature, making sure that it's done in the field. So I was actually on the other side, ensuring those things got done and training my team and telling my team how to do that and influencing them in those ways. They would have to take a procedure every time they went out to the shop floor, or I'm sorry, into the field and make sure that those are done. So it was actually in the process. Everything that we do in EH&S, we're actually able to get down and dirty and see it and make sure that it gets done and implemented. So it was just another side of that EH&S journey.

Jill James:

Yeah. One of the things that we talked about when we were preparing for this call is you said that you like to run after a challenge, and that's evident in your story. What do you think that is in you? What does it feel like when you're like, oh, you want to run a chemical plant? Yeah. Hey, I'm going to do, or whatever it is, because you've described so many things today. Tell us about what's that in you, to run after challenge?

Dana Dawsey:

It's funny because sometimes I ask myself, and I have this drive inside of me that it's hard to just keep in. And sometimes you put your hand over your chest and try to pack it down, like okay, no, let's calm down. And it seems like every time I do that, I get bored like, okay, what's next? Come on, let's learn. I have this learning drive in me. And again, I just realized that's how I'm created, to be able to have that drive, that impact, that curiosity. And I now am okay with it. At first, I thought it was, I have had people tell me that it can be intimidating, but I've had to learn, that's me. That's how I am, that's how I'm wired, and I'm okay with it. And so I will say that it is uncomfortable a lot of times. At first, it's fun and interesting, but once you get into it, I do ask myself, what was I thinking? Because you go through the storm and all of that, and-

Jill James:

The forming, the norming, the storming, however, that's, yeah.

Dana Dawsey:

All of that. Yes. Because at first you're on a high, it's a new role, you're learning. But after a while, for me, I usually say I go through this period, it's like a year curve. The first part is the high, and then I go down after three months, it's like, okay, I need to start learning this stuff. And you try to learn as much as you can to feel, I guess, credible and like you know your stuff a little bit, but I think that's the low part for me, because I don't know as much as everybody else. And so I have to learn. I don't like not knowing things. And so that is low, but it is part of the learning part. It's uncomfortable, and I've learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And then, after I get past that three to six months, at about nine months, I know enough to be dangerous. I know just enough to be dangerous. I think in about a year, I'm like, okay, I got this. In every role, every change that I have, I go through that. And I realize now that that is, and you just have to be comfortable being uncomfortable, because that's part of the learning process. John Maxwell always says, "Everything happens on the other side of your comfort zone." And so again though, that's the learning process.

Jill James:

Oh, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. And so good to know about yourself. You know what your pattern is and where you're at in that phase. Does your interest and drive for learning things, does that transfer into your personal life too? Are you in pursuit of knowledge?

Dana Dawsey:

I would say so, because I always call myself an introvert, but everybody's like, "You are a total extrovert." But that's in my drive for knowledge, even at home or wherever. I'm always looking at different things that I could do to just learn or be able to make impact, whether it's in my community or whether it's, again, I have three girls, so I'm always trying to make a mark on them, to make an impact, whether it's themselves or someone else. And so that's where my drive is on a personal level, because I have to show them how to lead, how to make an impact, how to live out their values.

Jill James:

Yeah, it's a great responsibility. You feel that on the inside. I mean, at least I know I do. Yeah. All right, so you're with Pentairs. Was that your next stop after Dow, [inaudible 00:44:27]?

Dana Dawsey:

It's funny, no.

Jill James:

Oh, okay.

Dana Dawsey:

One more stop after that. One more stop, and that was Merck Pharmaceuticals, so another industry.

Jill James:

Very, very different. Oh my gosh, pharmaceuticals. Okay.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah. And so then the reason why, now, I'll tell you, when I was at Dow and I did the facility leader role, that was during COVID. Who knew? So I went in 2019, I'm like, oh, I'm going to learn some things. But guess what? COVID came, and it came even harder. I mean, it was exhausting during that because I had to lead, but I also was leading blindly. Everybody was leading blindly through that time. So it was a great opportunity. I did a great job in that. I didn't blow anything up, right? That's good, but it was exhausting because of everything else that was going on. I was in the plant most of that time there. I was, what did they call it? A ...

Jill James:

Essential worker.

Dana Dawsey:

Essential worker. But after that, I was ready to go back to EH&S, my comfort zone, just because it was that recovery mode. And at the time, it was two options. I could go back. My leader that was in R&D EH&S was retiring at that time, and she's like, "Hey, how about you come over here." I'm like, "Okay, I'll think about it." And I also had a job offer for Merck, and I just said, I told God, I said, "Well, whatever door you keep open for me first, that's the one I'm going to." And Merck sent the offer first, so that's where I went. And so I, Merck, what I loved about Merck, again, I think as I've gotten older, I said I wanted to work for companies that, and the other companies had my values as well, but Merck really had my value when they're making Keytruda. One of the area that I supported was the business was for Keytruda, which is a life-saving treatment for cancer. And I appreciated the fact, I even had a friend that had a real severe form of breast cancer, and she was, one of her treatments was Keytruda, and she's in remission to this day. And so it was personal to me. It was-

Jill James:

Beautiful.

Dana Dawsey:

Being able to save lives and work at a company and be a part of saving lives. It was impactful for me. So that was my next stop, was Merck. And a lot of the facilities that I had for Merck was in Ireland, so did a lot of global trips to Ireland and the Netherlands and things. And so it was really fun. And it was different because thinking about pharmaceutical, that is very highly regulated. And so it's just a little different. And as you look at, I guess, a chemical plant versus a heavy machinery plant, I think more so what I learned from the Merck plant, what they asked me to come there for was to help increase, not just the compliance, but the people, the behavior side. And so that's what I was able to bring to Merck in my position.

Jill James:

Yeah, fun work. And you got to learn about all of these different global compliance. I mean, that's a big deal and can be really overwhelming.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes, absolutely. It was fun too, though, because like I said, especially being remote and working with other people from in Ireland or overseas and understanding their regulations, their rules, and just the culture itself was great to be able to just learn and have in your tool belt.

Jill James:

Wow. Well, and so here you are today, Pentair.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes.

Jill James:

Back into industrial. Yes.

Dana Dawsey:

Back into industrial, yes.

Jill James:

Yeah. And does it feel like coming home, in a way?

Dana Dawsey:

It does. It's funny because when I toured, one of my first sites that I toured when I came back to Pentair was our north Aurora, Illinois facility, which was-

Jill James:

Oh my gosh. Home.

Dana Dawsey:

Right down the street from the Caterpillar, Illinois facility and it was very similar. And I'm like, whoa, I feel like I'm back home again. It was reminiscent. And what I liked too, about one of the reasons why I decided to come to Pentair, because I was doing great in Merck and learning a lot, and just a great company. That's a Fortune 100 company. But what I liked about Pentair was the opportunity to build a culture, strategy and a transformation from scratch, pretty much, and make it my own and leave a legacy there, building the team.

Jill James:

And where did you start? When you're wanting to build a culture, what was your starting point?

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, so when I've gotten there, they have already been partnering with another consulting company by the name of Milliken. Milliken is-

Jill James:

I've heard of that.

Dana Dawsey:

They're performance solutions. They actually use the same process to build their own safety culture, and now they do consulting work as well in that space. And so they'd already been working on that, having a bottoms up approach in the safety culture transformation. And so I came on and my boss was just like, "Hey, we'd like for you to make this," because consultants, they're there for a time being, but we wanted something more. So he asked me to start with the Milliken process and make something that's long-term. And so what I came up with is I've said, because when I first came in, we were focusing on about 20 priorities with the team, and they were all great priorities. And that's the thing, we always want to try to do as much as we can. But as we know, EH&S is pretty lean and it's only so many things that you can do or you don't get anything done because it's only so many resources. So I said, "Hey, you know what? Let's focus on the three things that are most important. And these are things that I got as I went around and I spoke with a lot of the leaders in the sites, my EH&S team stakeholders. And the three things that continued to come up was safety culture. The second thing was policies and procedures, having a consistent policies and procedures that we send out to the sites, not every site having their own policy and procedure. And the third thing was metrics and data in systems, having a user-friendly system that we're able to track all of our data, our metrics, and be able to proactively use it to see how we can, what spots do we need to tackle next? And so those were the three things that we focused on for now, to put into place as our baseline, our groundwork for a safety culture transformation.

Jill James:

Beautiful. And in the midst of that, you were earning your certifications with Maxwell, and I bet you put that right to work?

Dana Dawsey:

I did, yes. And I think a lot of the things, even when I was at Dow Chemical, I knew, and I like to focus on my strengths. And I remember one of my leaders said, "Your secret sauce is the way that you're able to connect and relate to people and influence people." And so again, what I've learned, and I continue to practice being on the Maxwell Leadership certified team member is those things, the people side of things, how do you connect with people? How do you build relationships? How do you influence? And I think, again, mixing the technical skills, because I am a CSP, so I continue to have those technical skills and learn those technical skills, but mixing that with the leadership principles and the soft skills is that secret sauce that I have had great success in getting results in EH&S.

Jill James:

It sure sounds like it. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Yeah. Before we end, I have a couple more questions, but one of them, when you're talking about your strengths, I mean, you know what your strengths are, but I'm curious, have you also taken the Strengths Finder assessment?

Dana Dawsey:

I have taken the Strengths Finder. It's funny-

Jill James:

Do you remember what your number one is? I mean, I've been listening to you this whole time, like, oh, I think I know, but I know I want to know.

Dana Dawsey:

If I can remember correctly, I believe my number one was futuristic.

Jill James:

Oh, yeah, that makes so much sense.

Dana Dawsey:

What did you think it was?

Jill James:

Well, I was thinking of maximizer.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes. That's one of them too.

Jill James:

And I was also thinking about activator.

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, no, that's good. I can't remember activator being in there, but maximizer was [inaudible 00:54:41] one.

Jill James:

Maximizer is. That makes a lot of sense. I'm sure that's in your top five. And futuristic, oh, yes. You're manifesting what you want to see for yourself and others, so that makes a ton of sense. Wow, that's great. Yeah. So Dana, when you think back on a 20-year career and you know these things about yourself and the things that you've learned, what is the impact and legacy that you'd like to leave?

Dana Dawsey:

Yeah, good question, Jill. So my impact and legacy that I'd like to leave is to be able to, my plan is to embed environmental health and safety within an organization where it's felt, where it's embedded in not just the operations side, but throughout the organization. Where, when you come in, everybody feels that EH&S, keeping people safe, keeping themselves safe is embedded in their role. It's not really something that's a second thought, it's something that they do on a daily basis, and not just when they're at work, but when they get home as well. They carry those to their home lives and to their children, and it's instilled. Those are the things that I love about EH&S, making an impact where it's a visible impact, where you can see from where you started to seeing that lasting impact to where we're going and seeing that vision and not just making an impact on just the shop floor, but even above me, we're able to coach and give guidance to senior leaders and CEOs and help them really feel that EH&S is a value and it's part of the company's value. I love to see that, where you go to a company and you can't mistake it. Even the CEO is singing about EH&S. They're setting tone. And so that's the impact and legacy that I'd like to leave, not only within my company, but within EH&S, where we're making an impact on lives, where it's embedded in the things, in our everyday lives.

Jill James:

Well, Dana, it sounds like you're doing it. It sounds like you've been doing it and you are doing it. What a fun career. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

Dana Dawsey:

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it, and continue to learn from you as well. Love to hear all your stories. Can't wait to talk to you on a personal basis so we can talk and share stories together.

Jill James:

I would love that. Hopefully we see one another at the conferences this year.

Dana Dawsey:

Yes, absolutely.

Jill James:

Very good. Well, thank you all for spending your time listening today, and more importantly, thank you for your contribution toward the common good. May our employees and those we influence know that our profession cares deeply about human well-being, which is the core of our practice. If you aren't subscribed and want to hear past and future episodes, you can subscribe in iTunes, the Apple Podcast app, or any other podcast player you'd like. Or if you prefer, you can read the transcript and listen at hsi.com. We'd love it if you could leave a rating and review us on iTunes. It really helps us connect the show with more and more EH&S professionals like Dana and I. Special thanks to Emily Gould, our podcast producer, and until next time, thanks for listening.