Commitment in leadership
By Dr. Hong Liang, STLE President | TLT President's Report January 2024
It’s important to foster an environment of trust, collaboration and growth.
Ed Salek and his wife, Cathy Salek.
When attending past STLE annual meetings, you must have noticed there are many people you’d like to talk to who have different leadership traits. This month I’d like to discuss commitment. Committed leaders are not only concerned with achieving results but also with fostering an environment of trust, collaboration and growth. Their commitment and dedication inspire others to reach their full potential and work together toward a shared vision of success.
Our society is filled with committed individuals who have achieved professional and life goals at various stages, either in science and technology, research and development, corporate or society management, among many others. I’d like to call out one person in particular, whom we all know—Ed Salek, our STLE executive director for 27 years. If you haven’t had a chance to know Ed personally, here are some intriguing facts about his commitment.
Since joining STLE in 1996, Ed has not missed one single STLE Board of Directors or Executive Committee meeting. Through these years, there have been about 200 of these meetings. If that was not impressive enough, since the beginning of TLT (October 2003), Ed has written 243 Headquarters Report columns for TLT (not counting this issue). Each column is about 500 words long, leading to a total of about 121,500 words, equivalent to about 486 pages. We should get Ed’s autograph if those are published in a book. Being a committed executive director, Ed continuously enhanced his knowledge of the STLE business aspects. He attended evening classes at Dominican University’s Brennan School of Business during the early 2000s and earned a master of business administration degree in 2004. To represent STLE at a variety of member meetings and conferences, Ed has traveled to 30 of the 50 states in the U.S. and 12 other countries. He’s always been there when we needed him. He is always the first person we contact when we have questions about anything. We wonder how he could be so committed and stable and smile all the time. According to Ed, his philosophy for doing the executive director job is: “Work Hard. Be Nice.”
Ed is retiring in January 2024 to spend more time with family. He has been happily married for 48 years to his wife, Cathy Salek. They have three adult children and plan to, with good health, enjoy two grandchildren, including a new baby Ed, and three family dogs. Future STLE annual meetings will look a bit different without having smiling Ed standing at the registration area greeting everyone. We know he is a committed husband, father and grandfather. His family will be happy to have him around more.
As a scientific society, STLE is committed to promoting the lubrication science and engineering practice. Our commitment is demonstrated through these actions: fostering discussion at annual meetings, communicating and publishing, sharing knowledge, continuing education, advocating and influencing policy, working on outreach and publication engagement, presenting awards and recommendations, creating ethical guidelines, promoting inclusivity and diversity and advancing innovation.
Our commitment within STLE is dedication to advancing knowledge, promoting ethical conduct, fostering collaboration and making a positive impact on the society through scientific research and technological advancements. These commitments play a vital role in shaping the future of STLE and addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
What is your commitment to STLE?
Dr. Hong Liang is Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. Professor of the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. You can reach her at hliang@tamu.edu.