Skip to main content

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

Sean M. Lyden

Sean M. Lyden

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

Never Split the Difference

| Sean M. Lyden |
Negotiation is a significant part of your job as a fleet professional. You have to negotiate new supplier contracts, the fleet budget with senior management and job offers with top talent. So, if you haven’t read “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It” by former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss, […]
Read more
Web-New-Truck-3.jpg

Fairfax Water: Overhauling Crew Truck Specs to Improve Safety and Productivity

| Sean M. Lyden |
In his classic bestseller, “Thriving on Chaos,” management expert Tom Peters put it best when he wrote, “Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change.” Perhaps the same could be said about excellent fleets, where you never ultimately arrive at a destination called “excellence.” Instead, you remain on a […]
Read more
Web-cover-image---The-10-Stories-Great-Leaders-Tell.jpg

Recruiting for Fleet in a Tight Labor Market

| Sean M. Lyden |
Ask utility fleet professionals about their biggest challenge, and many will say that it’s recruiting – and keeping – good, young mechanics. That’s because you have to compete with OEMs, local truck centers and other types of fleets for access to a shrinking pool of highly skilled mechanics. So, how do you gain an edge […]
Read more

What are Your Stories? Share Them.

| Sean M. Lyden |
A couple of months ago, Dale Collins, the fleet services supervisor at Fairfax Water in Virginia, emailed me about four new crew trucks he had ordered. He and his team were proud of the final product – and of the nearly three-year process they went through to get the spec right. Collins thought there might […]
Read more
Web-Holly-Giffrow-Bos.jpg

Women in Utility Fleet: Holly Giffrow-Bos

| Sean M. Lyden |
In 2006, when Holly Giffrow-Bos applied for the open fleet position at East Central Energy in Braham, Minnesota, she wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting into. “Automotive is what I knew, but I really didn’t know what fleet was all about because it’s a completely different animal than the retail automotive business,” she said. […]
Read more
Web-Xcel-Energy.jpg

The State of Drones in the North American Utility Market

| Sean M. Lyden |
Line inspections using helicopters cost about $1,500 per mile compared to around $200 per mile with a drone. That nearly 90% reduction presents a compelling business case for utility companies to use drones, while also being able to improve safety by putting fewer lineworkers and helicopter pilots in harm’s way. But drone sales in the […]
Read more

How to Get Buy-In on Your New Fleet Initiative

| Sean M. Lyden |
You’re planning to roll out a new telematics deployment or ask senior management for a bigger budget, expecting to encounter some resistance. How do you position your proposal to get buy-in from stakeholders? The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle offered insight into this topic with his work “The Art of Rhetoric,” which was published about 2,400 […]
Read more
Web-shutterstock_657839185.jpg

Lessons Learned from a Telematics Deployment

| Sean M. Lyden |
Cut fuel costs, promote safer driving behaviors and improve storm response – these are just a few examples of how fleet telematics that captures and tracks vehicle data can help you run your department more effectively. But deploying telematics across hundreds or even thousands of fleet assets can be a daunting task if you don’t […]
Read more
Web-DSC00179.jpg

The Low-Hanging Fruit for Greening Your Fleet

| Sean M. Lyden |
What if you could convert the majority of your fleet to run on a cleaner-burning, renewable fuel with minimal capital investment. Would you do it? According to NTEA’s 2019 Fleet Purchasing Outlook, a growing number of fleet professionals are saying they would, with survey participants naming biodiesel as their top alternative fuel choice – and […]
Read more
Web-Waymo.jpg

The State of Self-Driving Vehicles: Proceed with Caution

| Sean M. Lyden |
Norman Vincent Peale, author of the classic self-help book “The Power of Positive Thinking,” put it like this: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Peale’s message is clear: Aim high. That way, even if you miss your target or it takes you longer than you had hoped, you’ll […]
Read more