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Me and the Guys Outside a Cummins Engine Factory
I’ve previously written about why safety culture differs between the US and Europe, and followed that up with looking into the numbers to see what the data is saying.
Both great pieces, if I don’t mind saying.
This week I’m focusing solely on one company to show that great safety cultures are indeed achievable here in the States, when leadership is aligned for the benefit of their people - in more than just words.
But first, what does a march on Washington and beautiful architecture have to do with Safety Culture?
Continue on to find out……
Supporting the March
In 1941, labor leader A. Philip Randolph proposed a bold idea: a mass march on Washington to protest racial discrimination in defense jobs and the military. But the world had other plans.
That summer, FDR issued an executive order to head it off, and months later, Pearl Harbor disrupted most everyone’s plans.
Then the war.
The assembly never happened. Until…
Two decades later, he revived the idea. This time, the march was for jobs and justice. It became one of the most iconic demonstrations in U.S. history: the 1963 March on Washington.
While planning, to widen the reach into Christian communities and the political middle, Randolph tapped a trusted ally.
A businessman from Indiana.
J. Irwin Miller.
Modern Midwest Design
Drive into Columbus, Indiana, and it feels like you took a wrong turn into an architecture professor’s dream.
The fire station is by Robert Venturi.
The elementary schools are by Eero Saarinen, famed architect of the St. Louis Arch.
Mail a letter at the Post Office here and you half expect Frank Gehry to stamp it!
But this is the midwest - it’s Indiana for crying out loud!
It’s a town of machinists. Diesel techs and Engineers. Blue jeans not black turtlenecks.
Yet, the reason it looks the way it does is because of one man.
J. Irwin Miller.
Longstanding Commitment to Integrity
Miller was CEO and later Chairman of Cummins $CMI ( ▼ 1.33% ) . The engine company now has a market cap north of $46 billion dollars.
Under Miller’s leadership, annual revenues grew from $26 million to over a Billion. With profits and dividends flowing, Miller built more than a bigger company.
He built a better town.
Through the Cummins Foundation, he made a bold offer. For any new public building in Columbus, he would pay the architect’s fee. The only condition was that the town had to choose from a list of the world’s leading modernists.
Miller believed design was a form of dignity. That school kids deserved beauty. That firehouses and libraries should inspire. That public space was a mirror for civic trust.
And the town felt it.
Columbus, Indiana is a company town in many ways, but this isn’t Pullman, Illinois, or Kohler, Wisconsin. The city earned the nickname "Athens of the Prairie."
Let’s be real for a second….
I’m pausing this narrative to call out the elephant in the room. Miller was loaded. Like, never needed to work a day in his life kind of money.
Born into wealth, Cummins was already extremely profitable, and was the family business.
Did he go to Indiana State? No. College was at Yale and Oxford.
He could have spent his life racing sailboats, rearranging the spice rack, and complaining about high taxes.
Instead, he put his privilege to work.
Long before anyone talked about DEI, Miller was building inclusive systems. In the 1950s, he believed in hiring across lines of difference. He encouraged opposing viewpoints. He created a workplace where people were heard. Respect was a standard, not a perk.
And this management philosophy worked!
While at the helm, Cummins delivered a 13-percent compounded, top-line, annual growth rate for 30 consecutive years.
Not because of free Kind bars and Spindrift in the break room. Because people knew they mattered.
So what does this have to do with safety?
Everything.
Safety and Pride Go Hand in Hand
Architecture and nice buildings, that was a visible form of trust. Inside Cummins, safety eventually took on that role.
The company had built its reputation on engineering excellence.
But, like many firms of that era, the safety culture lagged behind.
Miller never centered safety in the way we would today. That focus came years later.
In the early 2000s, a fatal workplace accident shook the company. Then-CEO Tom Linebarger reflected on it:
"We had a fatality in the company… and I began to think about the humanity of that person’s loss in much more tangible terms."
The company responded. Quickly and with purpose.
Because the culture already valued people. That foundation was already set. Focusing on safety was simply a continuation of the culture began by Miller.
Today, Cummins:
• Reports serious incidents to leadership within 24 hours
• Empowers workers to stop unsafe operations
• Runs the "Live it, Lead it" program to align safety at every level
• Maintains a recordable incident rate under 0.80, well below industry norms
• Received the Robert W. Campbell Award for HSE excellence from the National Safety Council
Safety is more than compliance. It reflects how much a company values its people. Because isn’t that was Safety Culture is all about? Respect.
The Quiet Force Behind Civil Rights
Miller was one of the most civically engaged business leaders in American history. His many achievement include:
• First layperson to lead the National Council of Churches, a group he co-founded
• Advocated for more female and minority inclusion as a Yale Trustee
• Lobbied Presidents Kennedy and Johnson for the Civil Rights Act
Dr. King spoke at the March on Washington. You know that speech!
Miller and King respected one another. King called him "the most socially responsible businessman in the country."
Lady Bird Johnson wrote it was a “personal self-indulgence” to discuss matters of the country with Miller.
And this wasn’t an easy path. Columbus wasn’t Berkeley. Cummins worked with global partners and conservative clients.
Miller made clear where he stood.
Dignity was the expectation.
The Takeaway
Drucker is famous for saying the bottleneck is always at the top. Well, safety culture starts at the top, too.
The legacies that stick are built on mindset, not market share or margins.
Miller brought conscience to Cummins. He believed in beauty, justice, and respect. A future safety culture was born, based on the same blueprint.
The company still faced tragedy. But when things went wrong, it didn’t look for a way out. It looked inward. And it acted.
That’s what culture does.
And it can’t wipe out all tragic incidents. There was a death at a Cummins plant this earlier this year.
But we know they take safety seriously at Cummins, and have for a long time.
In my experience, most companies are closer to this reality, and none are perfect. Some are better at it than others. All, striving to grow and improve each and every day.
Stay in touch
If you enjoyed this piece, please reach out, I’d love to hear from you. You can contact me at [email protected] or LinkedIn.
Stay safe out there!