Safety (and in Life) More is Caught Than Taught

If you’re not modeling it, don’t be surprised if your team isn’t doing it…

And then don’t be surprised to find out their children aren’t wearing their bicycle helmets ( or whatever).

“I want to be like my daddy’s/mommy’s boss, who doesn’t have to wear a helmet.”

Helmet after impact

Expect slippage in other safety habits also.

Safety isn’t for the times you think you might get hurt.. It’s for all the time.

My first concussion was seriously hurt was from a bicycle accident pre-helmet days (I don’t think they even made helmets back then. Barely past horse and buggy days). I remembered waking up in the hospital, seeing the curtains around the bed, and literally pinching myself to see if I was awake. (The front wheel of my bike locked, luckily I broke the fall with my hand (snapped collarbone in two spots), face planted next (they had to reconstruct my upper lip), I was unconscious for nearly 24 hours.

My second serious head injury was when I went headfirst into the panels of a round pen riding a colt I had no business being on (old timer “there’s a day that you stop riding colts”), but with a helmet on. Without the helmet I probably wouldn’t be here.

My old-timer used to say “What would you do if nobody ever knew?” as the standard for your own internal measure of excellence.

As a leader, you have to assume someone is watching all the time. Someone will always know. Even if it’s just you.

Be brave. Be the odd one out. Model it.

Community Outreach: What are your “I always” and your “I nevers” around safety? I’ll share mine in a future post and we can compare (and compile a list!)

Til next time…

p.s. And remember, if any protective headgear takes impact, replace it. For horseback riding helmets, it’s also recommended to replace them every 5 years.