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The Nuclear Electrical Engineer

An educational resource for electrical engineers in the nuclear power industry

Here you can find design tips on technical skills like cable and breaker sizing, short-circuit evaluations and more, PLUS deep-dive analysis of nuclear-specific topics like design basis, Tech Specs, UFSARs, and safety-related SSCs — built from primary source documents.

The Engineer's Life · Feature

Outages and Leadership

John Livingston
September 5, 2026 · 4 min read

From Tip of the Week, 9 February 2019. I’m currently supporting a plant outage on the night shift…

Six nights a week.

The outage makes me think a lot about leadership, and what defines effective leadership.

With all the work going on, and the risky activities in terms of both personnel safety — lifting heavy equipment — and nuclear safety — critical buses tagged out to implement mods — it’s important that everyone communicate and coordinate.

It requires responsible leadership to keep all these moving parts in motion without grinding the gears or jamming the works.

And if you’ve ever been on a critical path job, then you can really appreciate the difference between good leadership and bad. There’s little margin for error when on critical path.

Our leaders are carrying something

Our bosses and supervisors are under a lot of pressure. Good leaders want to serve well, and providing excellent service is a challenge, with constant threats coming in from every angle.

But as it goes with human nature, it is often easier to be a fault-finder than a positive example.

And our leaders in positions of authority become easy targets for imputing all the reasons behind our misfortunes, whether they are responsible or not.

Representation goes both ways

Good leaders need good help. Leadership is hierarchical. Our leaders represent management to us, but they also represent us to management.

And we represent ourselves and those beneath us to our leadership, and vice versa. Up and down the ladder, representation goes both ways.

If you have a bad boss, is it because he is reflecting the character of those under his care?

Leaders can benefit from responsible, thoughtful and patient subordinates and team members. This isn’t a one-way street. We all want good bosses, but we must also recognise and admit that bosses need good help, too.

Six ways to support your boss

The six tactics in this article are ways you can support your boss, supervisor or leadership. They are sensible:

  • Lighten your boss’s load. His job may look easy to you, but your assumption that you could do it better will only lead to demotion or disunity. Find every way you can to make life easier for your boss. He is carrying pressures you know nothing about. Look for ways to make his job easier.
  • Make her as much money as you possibly can. This doesn’t apply the same way if you work for a non-profit or church, but for everyone else, your job is to put as much money in the pockets of your boss and owner. Those who are focused on the success of the company will also be rewarded.
  • Stand up for him. He will have to make some unpopular decisions—some that you may not agree were the best decisions. It doesn’t matter. He has information you don’t have. Believe the best, and stand with him in those decisions. Help make life easier for him, especially when he has to deliver bad news.
  • Give her credit. This is a hard one. Sometimes you must swallow your pride and give your boss credit even when she wasn’t directly involved. Maybe she planted the idea, but you did all the work. Get used to using the word “we” instead of “I”. Rather than celebrating “my team” – put the focus on “our team.”
  • Minimize his faults or weaknesses. I promise you…your boss isn’t perfect. His weaknesses will likely surface quickly, especially if you are in a high-pressure or fast-paced work environment. Use your strengths to cover for his weaknesses. Use your integrity to model respect toward him, even when he messes up or lashes out. 
  • Defend publicly, confront privately. Make sure you have your boss’s back in public. Let there be no light of separation between you and your boss with your team or your customers. However, don’t be a “yes” man or woman. When you are with your boss one-on-one, lobby strongly for what you believe in. Make your case. When necessary, speak truth to power. But then stand together when you walk out of the room.

Though your senses may be repulsed by the suggestions, at first.

See if they make sense to you. I think they will. After all, in everything, you want to treat people the same way you want them to treat you, right?

And if you are put in charge over others — is there anything in that list you would not want them to implement under you?