PAPod 529 - Embracing the Imperfect Journey: A New Year's Reflection

WEBVTT 00:00:00.017 --> 00:00:04.097 Hello, everybody. Did you miss me? I had a little teeny vacation. 00:00:04.097 --> 00:00:07.937 It was sweet.

It was really fun. I had a great time. 00:00:08.297 --> 00:00:14.217 And now it all starts again. We'll be right back.

00:00:13.040 --> 00:00:23.280 Music. 00:00:22.717 --> 00:00:28.597 Hey everybody, Todd Conklin, Pre-Accident Investigation Safety Podcast. How are you? 00:00:29.297 --> 00:00:33.637 Man, it's 2025.

Can you believe it? Yeah, I know. It's unbelievable. 00:00:33.997 --> 00:00:36.777 And it's exciting to be with you.

00:00:37.297 --> 00:00:44.757 I'm looking forward to another year of joy. This is our 11th year of the podcast. 00:00:45.497 --> 00:00:52.097 I don't know what that means, but I mean, that's, I don't know if I've done anything for 11 years. 00:00:53.717 --> 00:00:59.597 Seriously, that's not really true.

I mean, that's, no, I had my job for a long time. 00:00:59.737 --> 00:01:03.477 I didn't intend to have my job for a long time. When I took my job, 00:01:03.697 --> 00:01:10.577 I remember thinking, I'll keep this three years, five at the max, at the max. 00:01:11.097 --> 00:01:19.117 And in many, many, many, many years past that deadline, I still had the job.

00:01:19.217 --> 00:01:24.397 So I guess I do have some commitment issues, but also some commitment potential. 00:01:24.977 --> 00:01:28.917 So I'm like two sides of the same coin. 00:01:29.417 --> 00:01:34.077 That's me. That's the depth I have.

But no, 11 years on the podcast is kind of crazy. 00:01:34.497 --> 00:01:37.317 And it's been really a very fun ride. 00:01:37.497 --> 00:01:42.717 And this year promises to be just as exciting as a ton of other ones. 00:01:42.817 --> 00:01:47.237 I mean, I already have like really interesting stuff happening.

00:01:47.437 --> 00:01:51.617 Like I'm going to record a really interesting one this week that I can't even 00:01:51.617 --> 00:01:56.317 wait to get on board and play for you guys. 00:01:56.517 --> 00:02:02.997 I mean, that's how exciting my life is. And the holidays were great for me, 00:02:03.177 --> 00:02:05.177 and the break was amazing. 00:02:05.317 --> 00:02:08.717 I'm noticing as I get older, two things.

00:02:09.097 --> 00:02:15.317 One is I definitely appreciate breaks differently, probably much more. 00:02:15.597 --> 00:02:23.157 And two, it seems like as you get older, you realize that your priorities kind of change. 00:02:23.157 --> 00:02:26.117 Change and that whole idea 00:02:26.117 --> 00:02:30.177 of doing things that are fun and satisfying becomes more 00:02:30.177 --> 00:02:33.257 important or at least to me has become more important 00:02:33.257 --> 00:02:39.677 now I wouldn't say I had a big work-life balance issue I mean maybe I did I 00:02:39.677 --> 00:02:44.937 haven't thought much about this out loud but I will tell you that it's been 00:02:44.937 --> 00:02:52.517 super enjoyable to just kind of hang out and I've enjoyed that immensely seeing family and. 00:02:53.350 --> 00:02:57.750 You know, farting around.

It's the weather's so weird in New Mexico this year 00:02:57.750 --> 00:03:00.310 that there was a surprising amount 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:04.710 of bicycle riding that I didn't think would happen, but in fact did. 00:03:04.930 --> 00:03:07.830 So that was great news. I mean, that was amazing news. 00:03:08.370 --> 00:03:12.630 So that was fun as well.

And now we're just going to, you know, 00:03:12.930 --> 00:03:17.990 zoom back into the pod and talk about some things and get some things covered 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:20.390 and have a great adventure. 00:03:20.750 --> 00:03:25.090 So with that, why don't we kick into what we want to do? 00:03:25.570 --> 00:03:27.910 Because it's a good time to have that conversation. 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:34.160 Music.

00:03:34.270 --> 00:03:39.830 So let me start today and our discussion into the new year, because the whole 00:03:39.830 --> 00:03:44.550 theme of today is this launching into the new year, to 2025. 00:03:45.310 --> 00:03:53.170 And let me start by giving you a Voltaire quote, which sounds super like heady and intellectual. 00:03:53.510 --> 00:03:59.010 Like, I don't know how often you normally in conversations have Voltaire quotes, 00:03:59.390 --> 00:04:02.150 but probably not that often, like for me, hardly ever. 00:04:02.330 --> 00:04:06.230 But in this case, I think it works kind of beautifully.

00:04:06.490 --> 00:04:10.150 And it's going to be a pretty important theme for us this year, 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:16.290 Because I kind of feel we're in a position where our conversations around how 00:04:16.290 --> 00:04:22.690 this new thrust into doing safety and reliability and resilience differently 00:04:22.690 --> 00:04:26.410 has become a much bigger conversation. 00:04:26.690 --> 00:04:32.250 And part of that is the most recent plane crash in South Korea. 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:37.290 It looks like there's just a lot of systemic factors, which is always true. 00:04:37.290 --> 00:04:40.770 I mean, that's not the smartest thing I've ever said, but there's a lot of systemic 00:04:40.770 --> 00:04:47.750 factors in that that I think are worth thinking about and contemplating and 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:52.650 are going to become more and more apparent as the investigation proceeds and we learn more.

00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:56.490 But this Voltaire quote is a pretty good kickoff point. 00:04:57.050 --> 00:05:01.070 And you've probably heard this a bunch of times before, but I don't know if 00:05:01.070 --> 00:05:05.890 you knew that Voltaire said this way in deep history. Right. 00:05:06.350 --> 00:05:12.890 And that is that perfect is the enemy of good.

Perfect is the enemy of good. 00:05:13.930 --> 00:05:16.970 Now, when you hear that, and you hear that, that's the kind of thing that people 00:05:16.970 --> 00:05:18.570 pop off in meetings all the time. 00:05:18.710 --> 00:05:22.190 You know, that's how you sit in the corner of the meeting and kind of look brilliant 00:05:22.190 --> 00:05:23.410 is by saying stuff like that. 00:05:23.690 --> 00:05:29.330 But I think it really plays into a conversation that we've been having for the 00:05:29.330 --> 00:05:31.150 last 11 years on this podcast.

00:05:31.150 --> 00:05:36.530 And it's really around the notion of zero or the notion of perfection, 00:05:36.530 --> 00:05:42.090 that we will do this perfectly, that our safety programs will be perfect. 00:05:42.350 --> 00:05:47.930 The comment, someday we'll work ourselves out of a job, this notion that zero 00:05:47.930 --> 00:05:53.910 is the only goal morally and actually to have for an organization. 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:56.330 And it's really weirdly controversial. 00:05:56.630 --> 00:05:59.770 I mean, you know that because we still have conversations about this all the time.

00:05:59.770 --> 00:06:07.890 And that companies really hold on to zero tightly and that holding on to zero 00:06:07.890 --> 00:06:12.890 is actually probably much more dangerous than it is beneficial. 00:06:13.130 --> 00:06:15.310 But that's a hard sell. I mean, you're not going to have that. 00:06:15.430 --> 00:06:20.790 You're not going to convince somebody of that right away.

And I'm not sure our 00:06:20.790 --> 00:06:22.610 job is to convince people anyway. 00:06:22.930 --> 00:06:27.690 I mean, I think we're probably not salespeople. 00:06:28.170 --> 00:06:30.750 Not that there's anything wrong with salespeople, don't get me wrong, 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:37.290 but our job is not to convince our organization to believe something differently. 00:06:37.610 --> 00:06:41.790 Our job over time, through many discussions and conversations.

00:06:42.290 --> 00:06:46.130 Through opportunities to teach and to show and to learn, 00:06:46.330 --> 00:06:54.070 is to actually help the organization mature to a new and different idea of what 00:06:54.070 --> 00:06:57.570 success looks like, which we've talked about a bunch. 00:06:57.810 --> 00:07:00.510 And you could make a case to me, well, isn't that the same thing? 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:02.730 I mean, isn't that selling? 00:07:03.810 --> 00:07:07.450 I can't even talk.

Isn't that selling or sales-y? 00:07:07.830 --> 00:07:12.770 That was a combination of both those things. Well, maybe, but I think one of 00:07:12.770 --> 00:07:19.090 the places to start with is the belief that somehow our systems are perfect 00:07:19.090 --> 00:07:21.570 and our people are fallible. 00:07:22.090 --> 00:07:27.410 And so if we could just align our people to be perfect with our perfect systems, 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:34.650 then we would have absolute predictability and the world would be stable and 00:07:34.650 --> 00:07:36.250 nothing bad would ever happen.

00:07:36.650 --> 00:07:41.950 And that's simply not true. I mean, that's never true. It never will be true. 00:07:42.250 --> 00:07:46.010 You don't live in a world that even offers that as an opportunity.

00:07:46.370 --> 00:07:52.410 And yet this idea of perfection is really strong. song. 00:07:53.207 --> 00:08:00.347 And so what happens is if we build this sort of notion that we have to be perfect, 00:08:00.347 --> 00:08:05.347 then we don't value the good that happens along the way, 00:08:05.387 --> 00:08:11.727 which is kind of what Voltaire must have meant when he said this many, many years ago. 00:08:12.107 --> 00:08:21.227 And our challenge is to really value the good that's happening every day in our organizations.

00:08:22.067 --> 00:08:27.887 So when I first started this journey a long time ago, one of the places that 00:08:27.887 --> 00:08:33.507 we went really early from my organization was to Atlanta, Georgia, 00:08:33.547 --> 00:08:36.667 to a place called INPO, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. 00:08:37.367 --> 00:08:40.887 And they had a building, seems to me, if I remember correctly, 00:08:41.027 --> 00:08:45.107 this was a long time ago, it was kind of at the edge of a mall parking lot, 00:08:45.487 --> 00:08:50.527 you know, like the same place where Olive Garden would be, but yet it was an office building. 00:08:51.227 --> 00:08:53.727 And when you walked in the office building, it was a pretty traditional-looking 00:08:53.727 --> 00:09:01.347 office building, except in the lobby of the office building was a sculpture, 00:09:01.687 --> 00:09:09.627 actually a stone carving that had the word perfection carved into it, 00:09:09.667 --> 00:09:12.947 except that it wasn't completely finished. 00:09:13.487 --> 00:09:19.467 It was like perfection, and the ION part wasn't quite done.

00:09:19.467 --> 00:09:23.907 And it was really interesting because it was one of the first things we looked at, 00:09:24.087 --> 00:09:32.247 and I thought it was a very brilliant way to show the need to continually improve 00:09:32.247 --> 00:09:39.687 and that we never will have a stone sculpture that says perfection in the lobby 00:09:39.687 --> 00:09:42.007 of our organization. That won't exist. 00:09:42.287 --> 00:09:48.527 We'll constantly be striving towards becoming better and better and better, 00:09:48.667 --> 00:09:51.347 which is the spirit of improvement. 00:09:52.163 --> 00:09:58.463 But to get there, we first must realize that perfection itself cannot, 00:09:58.883 --> 00:10:02.323 or maybe better to say, does not exist.

00:10:02.923 --> 00:10:07.163 Now, that idea is a really important idea. 00:10:07.223 --> 00:10:11.703 And when we talk about it, like right now when you're walking the dog or driving 00:10:11.703 --> 00:10:12.823 your truck or whatever you're doing 00:10:12.823 --> 00:10:17.723 right now, it's pretty easy to kind of conceptually think about that. 00:10:17.723 --> 00:10:23.803 But then when we look at the way we measure and the way we monitor and our espoused 00:10:23.803 --> 00:10:30.283 goals for what we want our organization to do and have, we get a little confused. 00:10:30.783 --> 00:10:36.863 Because if we set our standard at perfection, we're always going to be disappointed.

00:10:37.483 --> 00:10:40.603 And good is not going to appear good. 00:10:41.083 --> 00:10:47.303 So improvement is an incremental journey. We're constantly getting better little 00:10:47.303 --> 00:10:51.303 by little, paso y paso, bit by bit. 00:10:51.743 --> 00:10:55.343 That improvement is really what we want to foster.

00:10:55.763 --> 00:11:01.103 It's what we want to monitor. And it's how we want to think about moving forward. 00:11:01.723 --> 00:11:07.583 The idea that we'll somehow reach the goal, that perfection will be completely 00:11:07.583 --> 00:11:15.023 carved in stone and we will have done it, is probably more dangerous than good, 00:11:15.443 --> 00:11:17.163 which was Voltaire's point. 00:11:17.583 --> 00:11:20.463 Perfect is the enemy of good.

00:11:21.123 --> 00:11:28.323 And to think about that as a challenge for the new year, I think is a pretty 00:11:28.323 --> 00:11:31.903 important starting place for our discussions. 00:11:32.123 --> 00:11:37.563 And we have them a lot, a couple times a week. I mean, We're not afraid to have a discussion. 00:11:37.783 --> 00:11:41.263 But in order for us to do that successfully, one 00:11:41.263 --> 00:11:48.223 of the things we have to do is really think about the ability to monitor what's 00:11:48.223 --> 00:11:56.003 good in our organization or what's good in our lives or what's good in hanging 00:11:56.003 --> 00:11:58.123 out or what's good about vacation.

00:11:58.123 --> 00:12:05.423 And to think about improvement as a constant journey towards good, 00:12:05.903 --> 00:12:10.683 defaulting towards improvement. That's how I talk about it all the time. 00:12:11.023 --> 00:12:16.303 That when you're met as a leadership team with a decision and you have to determine 00:12:16.303 --> 00:12:20.683 what to do next, make that decision based upon this. 00:12:21.183 --> 00:12:29.703 Does this move us towards becoming better?

Does this default us towards improvement? 00:12:30.819 --> 00:12:35.679 And when that answer becomes apparent, well, that's a really important way to 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:37.639 think about getting better. 00:12:38.419 --> 00:12:42.879 2025 is going to be another year. Probably it's going to be filled with ups 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.859 and downs, with good things and bad things.

00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:49.819 Our organizations will absolutely get better and get worse. They'll ebb and flow. 00:12:50.499 --> 00:12:53.299 That's inherent in the business we do. 00:12:54.079 --> 00:12:58.439 Organizations are constantly moving forward and then falling backwards.

00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:04.999 That's normal. The challenge is to incrementally understand that improvement 00:13:04.999 --> 00:13:07.259 happens one step at a time. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:13.159 Maybe not in a linear fashion. Maybe it doesn't follow a roadmap specifically, 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:19.459 but we sort of move our organizations towards defaulting to getting better.

00:13:19.859 --> 00:13:27.079 And that challenge, I think, is what carries us through and allows us the ability to do our work. 00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:32.019 Good is excellent and should be monitored. 00:13:32.599 --> 00:13:36.699 Perfect is the enemy of good. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:44.080 Music.

00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:49.999 So that's the pod for the kickoff for 2025 short and sweet but i kind of wanted 00:13:49.999 --> 00:13:56.099 to set the tone pretty early because the issue that i keep seeing coming back 00:13:56.099 --> 00:14:00.279 again and again is our organizations are really struggling with what the target 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:03.739 should be because we've told them for years the target should be zero. 00:14:03.939 --> 00:14:08.959 In fact, we have posters and jackets and hats and signs and banners that all 00:14:08.959 --> 00:14:11.299 say target zero, zero, zero, baby. 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:16.059 And one of the things I think we're going to have to really tackle is what does 00:14:16.059 --> 00:14:17.679 that look like if we don't use zero? 00:14:18.319 --> 00:14:22.299 What does good look like as opposed to what does perfect look like?

00:14:23.140 --> 00:14:28.220 And I think that conversation is probably the right conversation to be having. 00:14:28.460 --> 00:14:35.100 We've been on this journey a long time, and we've built a vocabulary. We've built awareness. 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:42.720 We've built sort of this surprising, at least to me, this surprising sort of 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:44.540 body of knowledge out there.

00:14:44.680 --> 00:14:47.400 And lots of great people are doing remarkable things. 00:14:47.620 --> 00:14:52.720 Man, we can name them. That's how cool it is. The challenge is that now what 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:57.880 we have to do is help understand what that target looks like for our organizations.

00:14:58.540 --> 00:15:03.200 And we know that we live in an imperfect world with imperfect systems, 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:06.460 imperfect processes, imperfect procedures. 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:14.640 We also know that we're striving towards improvement. We're constantly and continuously improving. 00:15:15.020 --> 00:15:20.560 Good is really an important factor.

And as our systems get better and better, 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:26.640 we really have to adjust our sensitivity so that we have a new way to sense 00:15:26.640 --> 00:15:29.260 the vector towards improvement. 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:34.440 And that vectoring is really the way I think about it. We're moving towards improvement. 00:15:34.920 --> 00:15:41.460 Our challenge this year is to really focus on the good and to really focus on 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:45.520 what incremental improvement looks like, knowing full well that we'll move forward 00:15:45.520 --> 00:15:47.880 and move backwards.

That's just normal. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:55.440 And understanding that the more we leverage improvement, the better we will become. 00:15:56.060 --> 00:16:00.440 So that's the pod, short and sweet. Not a very long one, but I want you to sort 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:04.660 of think about what we have to talk about because there's so much going on in the world.

00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:08.400 And it's a good time to do the job you do right now. 00:16:08.800 --> 00:16:11.740 Learn something new every single day. Have as much fun as you possibly can. 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:14.460 Be good to each other.

Be kind to each other. Check in on one another. 00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:21.060 Have a great and prosperous new year, and for goodness sakes, be safe. 00:16:21.520 --> 00:16:32.953 Music.