William Reilly News

Offshore Oil Spills & A Culture of Complacency

The dictionary defines “complacency” as tranquil pleasure or self-satisfaction, especially when uncritical or unwarranted. Groups are prone to complacency when events occur as expected over an extended period of time. They let their guard down, assuming that events will continue to turn out as they have in the recent past. It is one of the most important jobs of leaders and managers to prevent their groups from falling into a culture of complacency. Otherwise, the group will be set up for failure, perhaps catastrophic.

Obama Commission to Investigate Oil Spill

According to a May 22 report from Reuters, U.S. President Barack Obama said that offshore oil drilling could only go forward if there were assurances that a disaster like the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill would not happen again. Obama officially unveiled a commission to investigate the accident. Former Democratic Senator Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly will co-chair the panel. Obama also made his first reference to the possibility of a separate criminal probe into disaster. (Source: Reuters)