Mithun Shetty, a senior researcher in transportation, was recently awarded the ‘Golden Paw’ by Kodiak AI. Kodiak AI is one of our partners in the transport sector. Nam Lai, Kodiak AI’s Senior Technical Program Manager, explains:
“At Kodiak, the culture we try hardest to protect is a simple one: safety before everything, the team before the individual, and doing the work properly rather than quickly. One of the ways we live that is a small tradition called the ‘Golden Paw’. Our teammates nominate the people whose work best exemplified those values, and their names go into our updates for the whole company to see. It is not given for effort; it is given for the way someone’s work makes everyone around them better.
This last week, our team’s choice was unanimous, and this person does not carry a Kodiak badge. The Golden Paw goes to Mithun!
Here is why:
Mithun gave our team the freedom to focus entirely on the work in front of us, because he owned the rhythm around it: the morning tailgates, the FLHRs, the hazard awareness. At the same time, he guided us into a world that was new to us: the haul flow, the queue, the radio culture, what these roads expect of the trucks on them.
The clearest proof is our own driver. By Friday, he was operating on these roads the way someone who belongs here operates, and that is Mithun’s fingerprint. When we say our crew learned the safety culture of this place, what we mean is that Mithun taught it, patiently and by example.”Mithun is already well known internally for his many contributions to health and safety at FPInnovations. It’s good to see this also recognized externally by our partners.