Quality Safety Edge: In Memory of Wanda Myers

I knew Wanda Myers for over twenty-five years and worked with her for the last twenty. At various stages, she was my teacher, boss, mentor, employee, and friend.

Teaching people how to relate to one another more effectively was her passion – whether dealing with parents, business leaders, or employees.

Wanda was largely a unrecognized pioneer in our field. She was the first woman to start a consulting firm teaching applied behavior analysis to business leaders. Recognizing the value of what she was doing, DuPont retained her and her firm Behavioral Consultant Services for over ten years while incorporating much of what she had to offer into the way it manages its business. I worked for Wanda for five of those years.

For the last fifteen years, she worked with us at Quality Safety Edge. She took great pleasure in telling people that I used to work for her and that she taught me all I know – a comment with more than a grain of truth.

In her time with Quality Safety Edge, she sold our first safety project and managed our most successful and long lasting project – CITGO, Lake Charles – while helping the company establish a new record of over 6 million work-hours without a serious injury. In addition, she made significant contributions to our approach to safety improvement. Our standard approach uses many elements of her lessons, including many of her exercises as well as stories that help us connect with employees of the clients we serve.

Among Wanda's strengths were her passion for teaching, her sincerity, and her love for people. She formed stronger and more lasting friendships with employees of her clients than anyone I have ever known. “Ms. Wanda” as they often called her, seemed to work particularly well with hourly employees – miners in Jamaica, refinery workers in Lake Charles, rice-processing employees in Louisiana and Houston, and too many others to mention.

I worked with Wanda on many projects and the stories are too many to relate, but I must include one. On our first trip to Jamaica to work with a mining company, the airline lost Wanda's luggage. It included her clothes, make up, hair spray, etc., and those of you who knew her can imagine her state. I loaned her a pocket comb, some men's deodorant, and a few toiletries. The next day we started the class and though of course self-conscious, she was still well-dressed and groomed by Jamaica standards. Also on that first day, we learned that on our safety committee were three local ministers who worked in the mines during the week. On that day we began a routine of starting and ending every meeting with a prayer, something that would have been difficult for us ever to consider here in the U. S. I don’t think she ever knew the grace she demonstrated that day.

But that was the thing. If you worked with Wanda it was ALWAYS more than business, and she was always your friend.

Those of us she touched will ever remember what she brought to our lives. We will all remember her and always appreciate the lessons she taught us.