David B. Walls is president and chief executive officer of Austin Industries, a diverse construction company owned 100 percent by its employees. Austin’s operating companies – Austin Bridge & Road, Austin Commercial, and Austin Industrial – provide preconstruction and construction services through a variety of delivery methods, such as construction management at risk, design-build, alternative delivery, program management, and design-bid-build. Austin projects include commercial office buildings, airports, hospitals, hotels, stadiums, universities, educational facilities, bridges, railroads, roads, and highways. Austin also performs plant services, including turnarounds, maintenance, specialty services, and capital projects.

Mr. Walls began his career with Austin in 1980 where he advanced to become one of the premier field project managers before being named vice president and director of operations in 1988. He has served as president of Austin Commercial and president of Austin Bridge & Road in addition to his current CEO position. Mr. Walls holds a B.S. in Construction Technology from the University of Houston, an M.S. in Building Construction from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Leadership from Dallas Baptist University.

Several years ago, Mr. Walls began researching the leadership qualities and processes that construction organizations use to improve safety performance. The purpose for his book, World-Class Safety Program, was to inspire everyone to get “passionate about safety” without going through a fatality to get personally committed to worker safety. The leadership principles from his research are universal leadership qualities that make any organization successful. The purpose of this book, World-Class Leadership, is to have a useful and simple leadership guide for all organizations that will increase personal performance, operational excellence, and organizational performance.

The principles from World-Class Leadership will make you a more effective leader, increase your ability to influence people, and make your life’s journey more productive.