The Two People You (Must) Meet in EHS

Many people come through our lives, in both our personal and professional roles. But the two people that you must meet are sometimes either forgotten or dismissed upon a chance encounter.

Who are these two people?

Although I had had chance encounters before, the first time I recognized their immense value was my first week in Afghanistan. As part of an emergency response and planning team for the base, we were called to respond when a tanker truck, filled with aircraft fuel, slid on ice and flipped over into a minefield. The local truck had no markings of any kind and was (most likely) built without the safety features we take for granted elsewhere in the world.

The base commander needed to know how much fuel was in the truck, how many mines (unexploded and unmapped) were in the field, and how many people were in the possible blast range.

I sat at the planning table and opened my notebook. Somehow, the calculator that I’d used for the ASP and CSP exams (just 4 months previous) had traveled with me in the notebook to this far end of the earth. How to figure out the amount of fuel? That was easy. I’d been studying a nearly exact problem in preparation for the ASP exam earlier in the year.

Back to the two people.

That night, I met, and was radically thankful for, the past Josh. The one who woke up early to study subjects he was horrible at (math and ventilation). The one who wondered if it was worth it. The one who persisted through the pain of late nights and early mornings.

I also met the future Josh. That night in Afghanistan I knew I was building a skill set that he would need to succeed in future years. The skill to work out a difficult problem and yet somehow remain calm (despite mines, fuel, and potential catastrophe). The perspective to step back from a problem and choose to focus on the most important task. The ability to push ego aside for the mission and the team.

Do you know your past self (and do you show them gratitude for getting you to where you are) and your future self (are you showing them you care and will do everything in your power to make life a bit better for them)?

As an aside, although I did help with the fuel, I was absolutely no help with the mines.