From Pain To Purpose

What if the reason you care so deeply about safety didn’t start on a job site, but at home? Joe opens up about growing up in the shadow of addiction, becoming the family protector before he had the words for it, and how that early vigilance turned into a calling. The journey moves from sales floors to factory floors to the safety director’s seat, revealing how skills like persuasion, trust-building, and systems thinking quietly prepared him to lead with empathy and clarity.

We dive into the difference between compliance theater and human-centered safety, and why culture beats policy when pressure hits. Joe shares how a layoff at forty cracked open the path to safety leadership, how walking 20 facilities taught him to see risk the way workers do, and why training became the craft that changed everything. Instead of telling people what to do, he learned to connect safety to the work they already take pride in—making it real, relevant, and repeatable. Along the way, we talk about burnout, boundaries, and the invisible weight protectors carry, and how faith stitched meaning through seasons that felt scattered.

This story challenges tired assumptions: safety isn’t checklists; it’s care. It’s about recognizing vulnerability, designing for how people actually work, and building programs that stick because they’re rooted in lived experience. If you’ve ever felt called to protect others, or if your past feels like a liability, you’ll hear a different truth: nothing was wasted. Pain, when understood, becomes purpose. Subscribe, share this with a fellow protector, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—what shaped your why?

Hosted by: Joe Garcia, Safety Leader & Culture Advocate
New Episodes Every Other Tuesday
Safety on Purpose

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Chapters

• 0:00 A Personal Why Revealed
• 3:56 Growing Up As The Protector
• 8:07 The Cost And Calling Of Protection
• 12:50 Detours Through Sales And Factories
• 17:36 Laid Off And Led Into Safety
• 22:46 Finding Purpose In Training

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:18

Welcome to Safety on Purpose. I'm your host, Joe Garcia. This podcast is about people who protect others. Not by accident, but on purpose. We talk about safety, human performance, leadership, and moments in our lives that shape why we do what we do. Now, today's episode, it's a little different. This isn't about regulations, it's not about programs, it's not about metrics, audits, or checklists. There's gonna be no guests. This one, this one's personal to me. Today is about why. Why I do what I do, why safety is personal for me, why protection isn't just my profession, it's my identity. Now I've shared little bits of pieces of my journey before, but today I'm gonna peel back the whole thing and tell you the whole story. The story that starts long before I ever stepped on their job site, wore a hard hat, or ever had the title of safety professional. It starts at home, it starts with pain, and it starts with becoming a protector before I even knew what that word was. This is a faith-based leadership episode. It's personal, it's honest, and it's rooted in a belief that God uses every season of our lives, even the painful, confusing, and messy ones, to prepare us for the work we're called to do. If you're listening and your life or your career feel scattered, if you feel behind or if you're still searching for purpose, well, this episode's for you. The Bible says in Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Now, for a long time, I couldn't understand that. I couldn't see that there was a plan. All I felt was being a victim. I was a victim of what my childhood brought me and what everything in life was giving me. I just felt like it wasn't fair. So I couldn't see what was being planned for me. Now, today, looking back on my life, I can see that there actually was a plan in place for me. So let me tell you the story. I grew up in a home where alcohol played a central role. My father, well, he was an alcoholic. He struggled with addiction. And when addiction enters the household, it doesn't just affect one person, it changes the entire atmosphere. It changes how you feel when you walk through the door, and it changes how safe you feel. It changes how your nervous system learns to operate. And if you've ever lived in that type of environment, well, you already know it's unpredictable. You never quite know what version of the person walking through that door is gonna be. Are they gonna be calm? Are they gonna be loud? Are they gonna be angry? Are they gonna be present? Or are they just gonna be simply there and absent? I became hyper-aware of tone, body language, mood shifts. I learned early how to sense when things might go sideways. That wasn't something I was taught, it was something I had to adapt to. At a young age, I stepped into a role I didn't consciously choose. I became the protector. I felt responsibility for my younger sister, for making sure my mom was okay, for stepping in, distracting, de-escalating, doing whatever I could to keep the peace. I didn't have language for it back then, but what I was doing was simply risk assessment. I was scanning situations, I was anticipating outcomes, I was intervening before things escalated. I was trying to prevent harm. That protector instinct, well, it never shuts off. It becomes part of who I am and who I was back then. And here's the thing that when you become a protector early in life, you never really stop protecting. Just because you grow up or just because you move out of the house, you just find different ways to do it. And I learned something powerful at a very young age. When people feel unsafe, nothing else matters. Scripture says in Psalm 34, 7, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Now I didn't know it then, but God was building awareness in me, situational awareness that would follow me for the rest of my life. The invisible weight of protection. Now here's the part we don't talk about enough. When you grow up as a protector, as I mentioned before, you never stop being one. Just because you grow up or you leave the home, that responsibility becomes part of your identity. You carry it into everything you do, your friendships, your relationships, your work, it carries with you. You become the person who notices what others miss, the one who steps in when something feels off, and the one who takes responsibility even when it's not officially yours. But there's a cost. Protectors often struggle with boundaries, with burnout, with feeling like it always is on them to keep things from falling apart. You notice what others miss, you step in when others hesitate, you feel responsibility deeply. That's leadership, not position, not authority, but care. Isaiah forty one ten says, So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not dismay, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Now for years I didn't understand why I carried this weight. I just knew I was wired to protect. And that brings me to my career path. Searching for purpose through work. Now, like a lot of you, my career didn't start with some grand vision. You know, I didn't wake up one day and say, you know what, I'm gonna be a safety pro for the rest of my life. Nope, that's not what happened with me. I actually started in sales. And it's gonna be ironic, I started in wine and liquor sales. Yeah, I understand there's a lot of irony there giving what I just told you, but sales taught me a lot of different things, taught me important lessons like communication, persuasion, relationship building, and understanding people's motivations. Sales teaches you influence without authority. It teaches you rejection and how to take rejection. And it teaches you resilience and trust. People, when you're in sales, you have to build that relationship. You have to build that trust quickly. There's a lot of times in sales that I had to figure out how to get this person on my side. Because let's face it, people will buy from people they either like or trust. Not just because you have the greatest product in the world, but because they like you and they trust you. All skills that safety professionals are eventually going to need is what I was learning from sales. Romans 8 28 reminds us, and we know that all in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Even the chapters that don't make sense at that time still matter. Next, I began selling machine components and electronics to different companies and factories. On the surface, none of this looks like it connects to safety in any way, but looking back now, I see something clearly. I was learning things. I was learning things that I had no idea I was learning. I was learning how systems worked, I was learning how people worked, and I was learning how decisions were made under pressure. And most importantly, I was learning how culture influences behavior. I didn't just know yet where I was all leading to, but I was going with the flow, right? I started walking these factory floors, seeing hazards, watching how people interacted with machines and noticing the shortcuts they were taking, the workarounds that they were trying to do, and the pressure they were facing. I find myself again asking questions like, what happens if this over here fails? What's the backup if this fails? What's protecting that person doing this job? Even before safety was my title, I was already in that mindset. Proverbs 2712 says, the prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. Now I wasn't a safety professional yet, but God, He was training my eyes. Eventually the path led me directly into safety leadership. The layoff. So I was laid off from the company that I was selling machine components for. And I was just about to turn 40. So for me, that was really a hard time because you think, man, I'm almost 40 and I don't have a job, man. I'm gonna have a hard time finding a job, especially in sales. So I started to look outside of sales because I just didn't feel like somebody was looking for a 40-year-old sales rep. So this time I was really uncertain about my future. I was very much humbled. And I was really wondering what was going to be next for me. Psalm 6610 says, For you, God tested us. You refined us like silver. Now that layoff, it definitely wasn't the end. It was simply the beginning for me. The unlikely safety job. Now, a safety job opportunity opened up at a company near me, a company that I had known quite a few people working at. I had interacted with a lot of people from there, so I knew a little bit about the company and a little bit about their history. But the interview I think I got, it was more of a favor for a family friend. They were just kind of doing me a favor, basically. The unlikely safety job. Now, a safety opportunity came up for me, which I really wasn't looking for safety because I had zero safety experience. I had zero safety knowledge, barely knew what OSHA was. But because a family friend had given me the opportunity to go interview, and let's be honest, I really think I was just given the interview as a convenience and not really as a true opportunity. But I went in there and I don't really know what happened because I can be honest with everybody and say that I don't remember that interview. I just remember walking in and then walking out. I truly believe that God took over and just kind of drove me through that interview, had me answer the questions the way that they wanted them answered, had me give information that they really were looking for. And then that turned into an opportunity that led me to where I am today. So I was offered the role, and I oversaw about 20 different facilities in across northern Indiana, and I stayed in that role for about five years, and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about safety, I learned a lot about culture, and I learned a lot about how to do things the right way, the efficient way, and that's where I started to grow. Colossians 3 23 says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord. So that's how I approached it. When I entered the safety profession, something really clicked for me. For the first time, my protector instinct had an aim. It had structure, it had purpose. Now I spent five years in that role. Five years walking job sites, doing different trainings, having tough conversations, responding to incidents, and trying to bridge the gap between leadership expectations and the frontline reality. And here's what I realized early on. Safety, it's not about rules. It's about people feeling seen, heard, and protected. I wasn't just enforcing standards. I was trying to create environments where people could go home the same way they showed up. That mattered deeply to me. Discovering my passion for training. Now, after five years in that role, I eventually got an opportunity to move up to the corporate world. And they created a position for me, the corporate safety trainer. Now, I had really liked training and I had really gotten into training and building and developing training, but I didn't understand how much I really enjoyed it. Now, you've talked to a lot of safety pros out there. A lot of them will tell you one of the things they hate the most is doing training. But for me, that was different. I loved training. I loved developing people, growing people, interacting with different people, doing the new higher training, you know, doing the OSHA annual training. All of it I really loved. Training is about telling people, you know, how to develop and how to shape what they're looking for. It's not about telling them what to do or how to do it. It's really trying to show them how safety fits into what they're going to be doing. And that's where everything clicked. So I really love developing people, helping others see risk and their own potential. Later, I moved on from the safety realm into a more of a learning and development role. So I became a learning and development manager. Second Timothy 2.2, and trust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Now I really found my lane in this role. Stepping into leadership. Eventually, after about eight years, my time at that company had ended. And I'm going to be honest, it wasn't a time that was truly a good time for me because the choice to leave wasn't my choice. But I trusted in God. I trusted that He had a plan for me. And I trusted that if I just believed that He had that plan for me, that everything would work out. Now there were going to be some dark days. There were going to be some days where I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. But little did I know that eight years in safety really opened up a lot of different doors for me. Because, like I said before, safety is not like every other profession. Safety is where people look for people who have experience. You don't have to necessarily have the degree. You have to have the experience. So I ended up joining another organization as a safety manager. I was overseeing facilities across Illinois and Indiana. And this job, it was perfect for me because my confidence was a little shaken when I left the other company. And I needed something to really find my groove again. Something where I knew that this is really where I need to be. This is really my profession. And my confidence grew rapidly. I was not sure I was ready for something bigger than this, but I was definitely ready to lead again. Finally, another opportunity opened up for me and it was perfect. Closer to home, more money, and it checked all the boxes that I had. So I eventually accepted that role and I became safety director. Now I'm excited and I'm grateful for this opportunity. And I definitely feel ready. I feel ready because everything that had happened prior to this, eight years at the one company, the learning, the connections, the mentorships, all of that led me to this role. And I'm taking everything that I learned, the good, the bad, all of that is what's encompassing this new role and this new opportunity. Luke 16 10 says, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. Now I've been preparing my whole life for this. This role came responsibility. Like there's a lot of responsibility to be the safety director, but there's also a lot of opportunities. Opportunity to stop copying programs that look good on paper but failed in real life. Opportunity to build something authentic. Opportunity to design a safety program rooted in human experience, not fear or compliance theater. I'm building the program using everything I'd lived through personally and professionally. My past wasn't something to hide anymore. It became my foundation. Seeing God's fingerprints. Now for years my path it looked erratic. It looked all over the place. Now I see God's fingerprints everywhere. Nothing was wasted. Pain to purpose. Now here's what I learned. Pain when ignored repeats itself. Pain when understood can transform into purpose. Now I didn't choose safety because I like rules or I like compliance or regulation. I chose safety because I know what it feels like when protection is missing. I know what it feels like to grow up with psychological safety missing. I know what it feels like to be on the edge all the time. I know what it feels like to carry responsibility way too early. And that's why I believe safety leadership is deeply human work. We don't protect policies, we protect people. Safety as identity, not a job. Here's something I want to say clearly. Safety isn't just rules, it isn't checklists, it isn't compliance. At its core, safety is about care. It's about recognizing vulnerability, understanding risk, and choosing to protect people even when it's inconvenient, unpopular, or uncomfortable. Now when I look back at my childhood, I realize something important. I didn't choose safety. Safety chose me. The same skills I developed as a kid, situational awareness, empathy, anticipation, responsibility are the same skills that make a great safety professional. Many people in the field probably have similar stories to me. They had trauma, loss, near misses, moments that shape them. Now, safety, the safety world is full of protectors. Why? Safety on purpose exists. Now this podcast exists because I believe we can do better. Better than blame, better than checkbox safety, better than compliance without care. Safety on purpose is about intentional leadership. It's about culture, it's about protection rooted in empathy, not authority. Now, if you're listening to this and you ever felt called to protect others, well, this work might just be for you. Now, if my story resonates with you, I want you to know this. You're not alone. Your past doesn't disqualify you, it equips you. Your pain can become purpose, your experience can become impact. Thank you for trusting me with this story today.