Sean M. Lyden

Sean M. Lyden
Sean M. Lyden is the editor of Utility Fleet Professional magazine.

Shop Talk: Developing Your Continuity of Operations Plan in a COVID-19 World
If you were to lose one-third of your workforce in the fleet department at any given time due to COVID-19, what would your continuity of operations plan look like? What adjustments would you make? Dale Collins, fleet services supervisor at Fairfax Water, which serves nearly 2 million customers in Northern Virginia, began posing these “wargaming” […]
Becoming a Steady, Highly Effective Leader in Uncertain Times
In his “Meditations” nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius gave us a powerful picture of what it looks like to be a leader during a crisis. He wrote, “To be like the rock that the waves keep crashing over. It stands unmoved and the raging of the sea falls still around it.” As […]

What’s New in Truck and Van Upfits for 2020?
The industry’s leading body manufacturers and upfitters in the truck and van sector are developing new products that equip your crews to get more work done in less time and with less strain. Some companies are incorporating lighter-weight materials in their product designs so that you can increase a truck’s payload without bumping up to […]

Women in Utility Fleet: Mariela Perez
In 2016, when Mariela Perez and her husband visited the exhibits while attending a national fleet managers conference, very few equipment vendors knew who she was: the head of the fleet department at Duke Energy, one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S. So, you can imagine the awkward surprise for many of those […]

Leadership Strategies: Creating the Connections that Produce High-Performing Teams
If you’re like many utility fleet leaders right now, you’re bracing for a significant brain drain in your organization as experienced technicians and other key people in the fleet department get ready to retire in the next few years, with fewer younger workers in the pipeline to take their place. So, how can you get […]

Shop Talk: Creating Consistency for Dielectric Inspections Across a Global Enterprise
As a utility fleet professional, you’re well-versed in ANSI’s requirement for annual dielectric inspections on aerial equipment to verify the nonconductivity of electricity through the boom. These inspections help you and your team identify and fix potential issues before they can cause injury or downtime. But if you have bucket trucks, digger derricks and other […]
Building – and Maintaining – a Strong Professional Network
A common trait I’ve seen in interviewing numerous successful fleet professionals over the years is that they’ve all learned how to cultivate a strong network. Relationship-building is a critical skill for professional success because you never know when you’ll need to call on someone to help you get out of a jam, make an important […]

Women in Utility Fleet: Michele Davis
Michele Davis has loved cars for as long as she can remember. So, when her father bought her a 1968 Chevy Camaro for her 16th birthday, “I lost my mind,” she recalled. “I didn’t expect anything like that. I mean, I just wanted a car to drive to school, go to work, see all my […]

Driverless Vehicles are Closer Than They Appear
You know the label on a vehicle’s sideview mirror that reads, “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”? Perhaps something similar could be said about autonomous vehicles (AVs): They’re closer than we expect. Now, most industry experts agree that full SAE Level 5 driverless vehicles – which can drive themselves anywhere, at any speed, […]

3 Pitfalls to Avoid When Purchasing Automotive Lifts for Your Garage
When operating heavy lifting equipment, like forklifts and cranes, there should be no one underneath the lifted load. But there is one exception to that rule: automotive lifts. “The automotive lift industry is the only one where operators are encouraged to go underneath a lifted load,” said R.W. “Bob” O’Gorman, president of the Automotive Lift […]