We help organizations achieve sustainable successes in Safety, Reliability, Efficiency, and Productivity by integrating Principle-Based Performance Improvement™
In my nuclear power days, I figured out how to dissect and categorize every entry in our Corrective Action Program using nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet.
During a refueling outage, we used it to generate live-time indicators for every 12-hour shift briefing and turnover. INPO awarded our organization a "Strength" for it.
It wasn't rocket science. It was a new idea — turning data we already had into something leaders and team members could act on, in real time, before small problems turned into huge issues.
And something IS always building. Left alone, every organization drifts toward disorder. That's not my opinion — it's physics. Organizational entropy sets in quietly:
→ Drift in perception of risk
→ Drift in how work is done
→ Accumulation of traps, roadblocks & landmines
By the time it shows up in your KPIs, it's been building for quite some time. The signals are most always already in your data and your systems. Someone just has to surface them before the consequences arrive.
That's exactly what we built https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6 to do with ALL of your data.
The first Intelligent Assistant in the suite — the Drift & Accumulation Warning System — uses your existing data and does three things:
→ It surfaces drift in risk perception, drift in how work is done, and the accumulation of setups BEFORE the event.
→ It notifies you the moment a threshold is crossed — with principle-based recommendations on HOW to respond.
→ It reports the trend, so a slow creep becomes visible early, not after it's hardened into the new normal.
Then it hands you principle-based recommendations on HOW to respond, turning the pattern into insights and actions you can take.
It doesn't make final decisions. It doesn't act autonomously. It makes the humans using it dramatically more aware and capable.
Beta launches July 10. Small cohort, high-risk industries first. Seats are filling.
📌 What's hiding in the data your team already collects?
🤖 Claim a beta seat: https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #REPSit #DriftAndAccumulation #SafetyCulture
Every bit of incoming information you and I are exposed to passes through the gauntlet of an almond-sized portal BEFORE we’re allowed to consciously consider it.
It’s technically known as the ‘amygdala.’ We refer to it as the “lizard brain.”
Because its primary purpose is survival, it decides whether (or not) info is passed through to be consciously considered. The HOP Playbook calls it the GATEKEEPER.
When the lizard brain perceives a threat, it slams the door and reacts: fight, flight, or freeze. Rational consideration isn’t allowed. Learning stops. Any opportunity to influence goes to zero.
You've felt this: the meeting where they just wouldn't hear you. The door was already shut.
We place tons of focus on physical and environmental safety—as well we should. Doing so places high value on our physical well-being and the health of our planet.
To influence – to LEAD – your team members must FEEL safe.
Those who will command the future recognize that psychological safety is equally important.
The HOP Playbook provides a pathway to get past the GATEKEEPER. https://t.co/gYSYoKOjQg
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #HOPPlaybook #FeelDifferent #Gatekeeper
There are 3 ways to influence another person to do [anything].
You can force them, manipulate them, or inspire them.
Two of them seem quick. Two of them prompt compliance. Two of them diminish and can even destroy…relationship.
FORCE → "Do it because I said so." The “boss hat.” It gets you compliance in the moment, but every time you reach for it, the relationship suffers. A last resort, not a default.
MANIPULATION → “If you do this, I’ll give you this.” A WIN-LOSE trade. An inequitable one. It can work—until your team members figure it out. They always figure it out.
INSPIRATION → "Let me show you why this matters." Slower. The only one that lasts.
Do you want to manage or LEAD?
Force gets compliance. Inspiration gets commitment.
If you want to lead me, you need my permission — and my permission is based on our relationship. When it comes to influence, relationships are everything. And relationships are built on FEELINGS.
📌 Be honest: which one have you reached for most this week?
📘 https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6 elevates your ability to read relationships—to know WHAT is appropriate WHEN. Apply to be a beta tester: https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #HOPPlaybook #Influence #Inspiration #REPSit
Two team members. Same meeting. Same words. Two completely different stories about what just happened.
Why?
Humans do not respond to what ‘is.’ We respond to our PERCEPTION of it.
Here’s how it works…
External inputs are filtered and amplified through the ‘personality zone’ (mindset + perception) BEFORE conscious thoughts arise. Those conscious thoughts become feelings, which ultimately lead to choices, actions, and behaviors.
Choices, actions, and behaviors interact with other people, systems, and conditions to create experiences. Experiences provide feedback that impacts the ‘personality zone.’
This loop runs every day, in every human, including…you.
Most leaders try to fix outputs. This is the perfect place to use the word ‘try.’ It doesn’t work. The real leverage is in the INPUTS — the environment, relationships, and what your team members are experiencing.
First we THINK, then we FEEL…then we DO.
📌 Are you trying to fix OUTPUTs, or focusing on where real change happens?
The progression from input to thoughts, feelings, choices, actions, and behaviors is broken down into easy-to-understand steps in the 5-part video series “Understanding Yourself & Others.” You can access it here: https://t.co/eC90lqyARh
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #HOPPlaybook #FeelDifferent #IPM
1,000 people hack at the branches of performance improvement. One strikes at the roots.
Thoreau said it about reform. Same truth applies to getting people to do right things for right reasons.
Hacking at branches = more rules, more checklists, more "do it this way because I said so." You swing at the visible problem. The wrong action. The missed step.
And the same problems resurface. Some even multiply.
Visible behaviors are branches. The roots represent the reasons WHY: why team members do WHAT they do the WAY they do it.
Get under the covers and you find a sequence:
THINK Different → FEEL Different → DO Different™
People don't change what they DO just because you tell them to. They change when their underlying WHY changes.
Skip the FEEL, and you're back to hacking: compliance when someone's watching. Nothing when no one is.
Strike at the roots, and you get team members who are committed. Who WANT to do right things for right reasons…even when no one is watching.
And no, this isn't "soft." It's leadership and influence on steroids.
Swinging at branches? Or ready to go after the roots?
We're building a suite of Intelligent Assistants to sharpen your focus on the root. It's called https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6. Recruiting beta testers now: https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6
One Team. One Goal. One Conversation.
#HumanPerformance #SafetyCulture #HOP #ZeroEvents #REPSit
You send team members to training. They learn the tools. They can recite WHAT they're supposed to do.
Back to work. Nothing changes.
Sound familiar?
Here's what many leaders have yet to embrace: without first THINKing different, then FEELing different, there can be no sustainable DOing different. It's basic human nature.
Most performance improvement jumps straight to DO different. New tools. New rules. More policing. Whether it's Safety, Reliability, Efficiency, or Productivity, the sequence gets skipped.
But better results come from different choices, actions, and behaviors. And sustained change in choices, actions, and behaviors requires…transformation.
Transformation runs in order:
1.THINK different
2.FEEL different
https://t.co/sPoFFyAX6K different
DO different comes AFTER FEEL different. Skip that step, and you've found exactly where most "culture initiatives" go to die. They load up the head and bypass the FEELings that drive every choice.
People don't change just because they know what they're supposed to do. They change because they FEEL something shift inside them. The supervisor who finally trusts the person closest to the work. The team member who, for the first time, believes telling the truth won't get them punished. The leader who stops managing the chart and starts seeing the human.
The 7 Natural Principles- Trust, Power, Progress, Belonging, Appreciation, Respect, and Justice- aren't ideas to memorize. They're what people FEEL in your culture. When they're absent, no amount of training fills the gap. When they're present, team members WANT to do right things for right reasons, even when no one's watching.
And no, this is NOT touchy-feely-kumbaya. Principle-based performance demands hardcore accountability and responsibility.
We're partnering with TAS Technologies on https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6, a suite of Intelligent Assistants that help leaders and performance improvement professionals grow and sustain proactive accountability, responsibility, and ownership. We're looking for a handful of beta testers. Beta goes live on 10 July. 30% of the slots are already spoken for.
Apply here: https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6
One Team. One Goal. One Conversation.
#HumanPerformance #SafetyCulture #PrincipleBasedLeadership #7NaturalPrinciples #REPSit
The 4 Foundational Precepts of Principle-Based Performance Improvement:
🔹 Things are the way they are because…they got that way.
🔹 84 to 94 percent of mistakes are SET UP by processes, programs, systems, and structures.
🔹 People come to work WANTING to do a good job.
🔹 Those who do the work have the answers.
Put them together, and one truth emerges: you don't have a motivation problem. You have a UTILIZATION problem.
https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6 detects drift and the accumulation of error setups BEFORE an accident or event occurs. Its Intelligent Assistants put all 4 Precepts into action. Rapidly.
7 beta seats remain. Apply: https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6
#HumanPerformance #SafetyCulture #PrincipleBasedLeadership #HOPDoneRight #REPSit
Your team members already know where your next event will most likely occur.
Read that again.
Those who do the work have the answers. They see the drift. They know where the landmines are buried. They can tell you which defenses have holes in them.
Is anyone asking?
I mentioned this in yesterday’s post. It’s worth repeating: you don't have a motivation problem—you have a utilization problem.
It's why we're building https://t.co/BAHZW9KCS6: Intelligent Assistants grounded in the science of human performance AND principle-based improvement. First up: the Drift & Accumulation Early Warning System. Warnings BEFORE the event, with principle-based recommendations on HOW to respond.
Beta testing opens soon. Want in? Email me: [email protected]
One Team. One Goal. One Conversation.
#HumanPerformance #REPSit
For 20 years, leaders have asked me the same question: "How do I get my team to care?"
Wrong question.
Precept #3: We come to work wanting to do a good job.
Nobody clocks in intending to fail. Desire exists. Most often it’s the environment sucking it down.
So…the real question isn't how to add motivation. It's how to stop crushing it.
This is yet another example of WHY we’re building https://t.co/epFXrgNPpP: a suite of Intelligent Assistants that spot where your systems are quietly draining desire…BEFORE it shows up in your numbers.
We're opening beta testing now. Want in?
📌 Comment "REPSit" or DM me.
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #HOP #Engagement #REPSit
Something bad happens. The spotlight hits the human.
Wrong target.
84 to 94% of mistakes are SET UP by the systems designed to prevent them. Read that again.
These setups have names: TRAPS, ROADBLOCKS, LANDMINES.
In a short 88 pages – with lots of graphics – the HOP Playbook guides you through how to find the setups, kill them, and keep them from ever again rearing their ugly heads: https://t.co/gYSYoKOjQg
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #SafetyCulture #SystemsThinking
Imperfect humans. Imperfect environments. Imperfect conditions. And yet we expect…perfect results.
That's the human performance paradox. It's why you, and so many like you, are tasked with improving performance.
There are 3 approaches:
1."Don't Screw Up" rules & tools. Pile on procedures. Hand out checklists. Errors continue. The fix? More rules. The pile grows.
2.Hovering & enforcing. Watch people. Audit. Inspect. You get compliance when observed, drift otherwise.
3.Working WITH human nature. Like an artesian spring: drill to the right depth, clear what's blocking the way. Performance continually rises. No pump. No hand on the lever.
Only one is sustainable. You already know which.
On July 10th, select beta testers get access to https://t.co/3SOo2DPlTf, the first suite of Human Performance Intelligent Assistants. The first one is built around a simple truth: things are the way they are because…they got that way.
9 slots remain.
THINK Different → FEEL Different → DO Different
Watch for Application Link in tomorrow’s post.
#HumanPerformance #SafetyCulture #PrincipleBasedLeadership #HOPDoneRight
A principle tells you what’s TRUE.
A virtue tells you what to DO.
That’s the whole relationship in two lines.
Through 26 posts, we’ve now walked through the Cultural Virtues — principles in practice.
Principles like Trust and Justice provide direction. Virtues are the footsteps. Integrity, Fairness, Accountability, Kindness: specific, repeatable behaviors that turn ideals into something your team members can SEE and FEEL.
Here’s the recipe:
Principles → Virtues → Values → Choices, Actions & Behaviors → WIN-WIN outcomes.
You don’t “install” a culture. You build it one virtue at a time—in how you show up on an ordinary Tuesday, or Wednesday, or…Friday.
26 virtues. 7 principles. One question that matters more than all of them:
📌 Of the 26, which ONE will you put to work NOW? Drop it below.
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #CulturalVirtues #PrincipleBasedLeadership #SafetyCulture
Are you being “kind” or… “nice?”
"Nice" is telling someone what they want to hear.
"Kind" is telling them what they need to hear.
Those are not the same thing. NOT EVEN CLOSE.
Justice — as a virtue — demands kindness. Not softness. Not avoidance. Not the slow cruelty of silence dressed up as being polite.
The PPI Playbook puts it plainly: "Have the hard conversations early. Silence isn't kindness. It's cowardice in the guise of 'nice.'"
Kind = genuine care + the courage to be honest.
Are the conversations you're avoiding actually "nice"…or are they just cowardice?
https://t.co/gYSYoKOjQg
#HumanPerformance #SafetyCulture #PrincipleBasedLeadership #7NaturalPrinciples #JustCulture #HOPPlaybook
After something bad happens, when was the last time you heard, “Who are we going to hold accountable?” Ever uttered these words yourself?
This use of "accountability" typically means, “Who are we going to punish?”
True accountability comes from within — the willingness to claim outcomes as consequences of your own choices, actions, and behaviors. It’s OWNERSHIP. It's internal. It is therefore impossible to hold another person “accountable” for…anything.
While impossible to do, this use is also a synonym for blame. And blame fixes nothing.
Just cultures foster accountability and… responsibility.
Responsibility defines the scope of what’s “owned.” And here's where teams often go sideways. Without clear responsibility, people default to narrow thinking — "that's not my job" — and the gaps between silos become the places where mistakes and events live.
Justice — as a Principle — requires BOTH.
Accountability without responsibility is vague ownership with no boundaries. Responsibility without accountability is a job description nobody actually feels.
Together? That's a just culture — where people own what's theirs, define it clearly, and act on it… even when no one is watching.
How much accountability lives within your team — before things go wrong?
#HumanPerformance #JustCulture #PPIMethod #Accountable #Responsible
We are each entitled to our own opinions – but not our own facts. A statement popularized by US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Sticking to the facts is being OBJECTIVE, which just happens to be the next virtue of JUSTICE.
Being OBJECTIVE is an extension of being ‘fair.’ It's about decisions made without bias, without favoritism, and without letting relationships override reality.
Here's what that looks like on the job:
Recognition goes to those who earned it — not those who are well-liked. Policies apply the same way up the chain as they do down. Resources go where merit dictates — not where politics point.
Most leaders believe they're objective…while team members often feel otherwise.
Sound familiar?
Objectivity isn't a personality trait. It's a practice — and it takes moral courage to sustain it consistently, especially when it costs you something.
Are you making decisions based on principles…or favoritism?
📘 The HOP Playbook — your field guide: https://t.co/lmGzSGuyKR
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #CulturalVirtues #Justice #Objectivity #TruthFirst
From a Birmingham jail cell in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Justice, the north star of the 7 Natural Principles, is your destination. FAIRNESS is one of the roads that gets you there—it’s how justice shows up—decision by decision…interaction by interaction.
The fastest way to destroy fairness on your team?
Be one of ‘those’ who’s exempt from the rules.
Everyone sees it. The “do as I say, not as I do” supervisor. The policy that applies to the floor but not the office.
The moment your team members decide the rules bend for some while snapping back on others, you’ve lost two things you can’t easily rebuild: Trust, and the belief that effort and merit actually matter here.
Fairness isn’t a poster on the break-room wall. It’s a thousand small choices — who gets heard, who gets the benefit of the doubt, who gets held to the standard.
Base decisions on merit: quality of work, character, conduct, contribution. Not politics. Not who you like. Not the latest social pressures.
Unfairness anywhere is a threat to trust—and justice—everywhere.
📌 Where does the standard quietly bend for some and not others in your organization? Name one — that's where your work begins.
📘 The HOP Playbook — your field guide: https://t.co/gYSYoKOjQg
#Leadership #HumanPerformance #PPIMethod #CulturalVirtues #Justice #Fairness #DoTheRightThing