Author Archives: Chet Brandon

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About Chet Brandon

Chet Brandon, CSP, CHMM, is a global EHS and sustainability executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience across complex industrial organizations. He writes about EHS leadership, artificial intelligence in occupational safety and health, operational integrity, serious injury and fatality prevention, enterprise risk, sustainability, digital transformation, and the future of the EHS profession. Explore more of his work at LeadingEHS.com or learn more about Chet Brandon.

Information-Rich, Command-Poor: The Emerging Executive Risk in the Age of AI

Artificial intelligence is giving executives unprecedented access to information, but more information does not necessarily produce better leadership. Drawing on firsthand executive experience and emerging research, this article explores the Information-to-Command Gap—the challenge of converting AI-assisted research into genuine understanding, sound judgment, and organizational influence. It introduces the Executive Command Protocol, a practical framework for ensuring that AI expands human capability without undermining the independent thinking required for consequential decisions. Continue reading →

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Executive Information Command Drill

From Information Available to Information Commanded About the Executive Information Command Drill The Executive Information Command Drill is a reusable AI prompt designed to help professionals move beyond gathering and analyzing information to developing the personal command necessary for effective … Continue reading →

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Why Decision Rights Are Critical for EHS Success

Effective EHS leadership depends on more than accountability—it requires clearly defined decision rights. Explore how aligning authority, expertise, and operational responsibility strengthens risk management, improves business performance, and prevents costly governance failures. Includes a real-world case study and a downloadable EHS Decision Rights Assessment Tool. Continue reading →

Posted in EHS Management, EHS Management Systems, enterprise risk management, Leadership, Leading at Scale | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Earning Executive Influence: Six Lenses for EHS Innovation and Payback

What if your EHS team had to earn the business before it could earn the influence? EHS leaders frequently talk about wanting greater influence with executive management. We want to be involved earlier in business decisions, have operating leaders seek … Continue reading →

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AI Won’t Need to Become Evil to Become Dangerous: What the AI Doomsday Debate Means for EHS

Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from a tool that provides information to systems that can make decisions, take action, and interact with other agents. For EHS professionals, that shift should raise a familiar question: are capability and autonomy expanding faster than the controls designed to manage them? This article examines the AI “doomsday” debate through an EHS lens, connecting emerging AI risks to Management of Change, SIF prevention, human factors, inherited risk, and defense in depth. Continue reading →

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If Everything Still Comes to You, You Haven’t Scaled Leadership

As leadership responsibility grows, working harder and staying involved in everything stops working. Drawing on experience scaling an organization from 15 to 300 people, this article explores how EHS leaders can multiply their impact through people, management systems, governance, delegation, digital tools, and AI—and build an organization capable of making thousands of good decisions every day. Continue reading →

Posted in Business Accumen, EHS Management, enterprise risk management, Leadership, Leading at Scale, operational integrity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Inherited Risk Ecosystem: How Upstream Decisions Shape Human Error at the Point of Work

Serious injuries and fatalities are often shaped long before a worker reaches the point of exposure. The Inherited Risk Ecosystem provides a practical way to identify how upstream decisions, organizational conditions, and interacting risk factors combine to influence the real risk of work—and where leaders can intervene before an event occurs. Continue reading →

Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Culture, Design for Safety, EHS Management, enterprise risk management, Innovation, operational integrity, psychological-safety, risk management, Technical Skills | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Leonardo’s Lesson: Harmony Begins With Observation

I have been reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci, and it has caused me to think about leadership, observation, and the way human beings fit within the larger order of nature. Leonardo’s genius is obvious, but what interests me most is his method. He studied the world with uncommon curiosity. He observed water, light, motion, anatomy, plants, machines, and the human form with the discipline of both an artist and a scientist.

That is the inspiration for this article. Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man gives us more than an image of proportion. It offers a lens for thinking about harmony, structure, humanity, and the systems we live and work within. For leaders, especially in complex operating environments, there is a practical lesson here: observe deeply before acting, understand the pattern before changing the work, and make sure strategy survives contact with operational reality. Continue reading →

Posted in Career Skills, EHS Management, Leadership, Personal Growth, Professional Skills, Sustainability Leadership | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Beyond the Factory Fence: Why Scope 3 Defines the Next Generation of Sustainable Operations

Most organizations focus on reducing emissions within their own operations, but meaningful decarbonization requires looking beyond the factory fence. This article explains the differences between Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, explores why Scope 3 is the most challenging—and most important—part of an organization’s carbon footprint, and outlines practical strategies for managing value-chain emissions through operational integrity, supplier collaboration, AI, and executive leadership. Continue reading →

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Harnessing the Process Digital Twin: Building Live Operating Models for Foresight, Control, and Safer Work

Most organizations are still managing safety and operational risk by looking in the rearview mirror. A Process Digital Twin gives leaders a way to see risk forming early enough to act.

In our new article, “Harnessing the Process Digital Twin: Building Live Operating Models for Foresight, Control, and Safer Work,” Emmanuel Winful, CSP, MPH, MS and I explore how digital twins can move from concept to practical operational control.

Emmanuel was a great collaborator on this work and brought strong technical depth to the discussion.

The article covers where to start, what data matters, how to avoid false confidence, and why validation, MOC, cybersecurity, and governance cannot be afterthoughts.

The future of safety will not be built on better dashboards alone. Continue reading →

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