Paul Leonard Keynotes & Speakers

About Paul Leonard About

I’ve spent more than 40 years in chemicals, manufacturing, and electric utilities trying to solve one stubborn problem: how do we stop serious events before they change lives forever?

My passion has always been S-I-F—Serious Injuries and Fatalities. I’ve learned that great safety performance is not about slogans, posters, or chasing numbers. It’s about building operational capacity, creating trust, and helping people make good decisions when the pressure is on.

Over the years, I’ve worked in more than 50 countries, led major operations and construction projects, and held executive EHS leadership roles across utilities and global manufacturing. Somewhere along the way, I also learned that the people closest to the work usually have the best answers; if we actually listen to them.

I’m a huge believer in lifelong learning. Lately, I’ve become especially interested in the power of debriefs and after-action reviews. Some organizations treat them as paperwork. I think they may be one of the most underused learning tools we have for improving reliability, teamwork, and preventing future S-I-F events.

My approach is usually pretty simple: keep it practical, keep it understandable, and keep it useful for the front line. That’s why I naturally connect with ideas centered on simplicity, speed, exact fit, and results. In my experience, when systems become too complicated, people stop using them, and when people stop using them, risk goes up.

I still believe zero is possible.

Maybe not because perfection exists, but because caring, learning, and improving never stop.