Paul Leonard
Vice President Enterprise Safety
Entergy
Building the Future: Embracing the Cathedral Thinking approach for High Reliability Organizations to deliver sustainable results that stand the test of time
Cathedral thinking is a concept inspired by the construction of medieval cathedrals, which spanned generations and required meticulous planning, a solid foundation, and unwavering commitment. In the context of building a HRO, cathedral thinking emphasizes the importance of establishing a long-term vision while focusing on sustainable and systemic improvements.
The foundation of this approach is trust. Visionary leadership is the cornerstone of our cathedral, articulating long-term objectives and instilling values of safety and excellence throughout the organization. Continuous learning represents the iterative process of refinement, encouraging adaptability and resilience. A focus on becoming an HRO ensures that the principles of cathedral thinking are embedded in daily operations.
HROs operate under the understanding that failures can have catastrophic consequences, aligning every decision with the overarching desired goals. This is cathedral thinking in action – a persistent, disciplined approach to building something enduring and remarkable.
Paul Leonard is Vice President Enterprise Safety at Entergy. He is originally from Ireland and is a Chemical Engineer. He is married with 4 grown children. He worked 27 years at Dow Chemical in France, Germany, Michigan, China and Texas. 26 years in operations and 1 year in Safety. In 2012 he moved to Paris to take a role as VP of HSE at Arkema. He stayed here for 7 years and lead the improvement of the TRIR from a rate of 0.95 to a rate of 0.2.
In 2019 he moved to Orbia in Mexico City as VP of EHS where he set up a 5 year safety strategy plan and lead the company efforts in managing covid. In 2021 he returned to France for a short period where he consulted with DSS+ and RMS on process safety and teaching classes on safety culture in German. He joined Entergy in The Woodlands in December 2021 where he leads the improvement in safety performance and change in safety culture to show that #zeroispossible while #keepingthelightsonsafely.
Paul enjoys sharing his experiences in global safety culture change and long term strategy methodology with his innovative Cathedral Thinking approach.