When A Culture is (Literally) Lethal.... Again
Culture Kills (Again?) & Personal Updates
Greetings, everyone! And as always, a special welcome to those of you receiving this newsletter for the first time.
What's in this Newsletter?
A brand new Insider Jobs section!
A classic case of history repeating... to tragic outcome.
Some personal news and updates ;)
Insider Jobs
I am often asked: "Hey... do you know anyone that would be a good fit for this role?" So several newsletters ago, I asked if readers would like me to begin sharing information about select job opportunities. The response was overwhelmingly "Yes!" (okay, the actual response was more like "yeah, sure, why not").
Moving forward, I'll include a brief snippet about opportunities that come my way. If you're interested, let me know, and I'll put on my matchmaking hat and see if I think it's a good fit. If you'd like me to advertise any opportunities, pass them along!
Opportunity A: Learning/OD VP role in NYC at a large, acclaimed agency with a global footprint. This role is perfect for someone who can work independently to design and deliver learning content and more. It reports directly to the Chief OE Officer whom I respect tremendously.
Opportunity B: Director of People Strategy & Analytics. I don't know the hiring manager personally - this was passed along by a reader who is helping a friend find the perfect person - but it looks cool!
Talent & Learning
The New York Times has done some terrific reporting into the crashes of the Boeing 737 Max jets. A recent episode of their award-winning podcast, The Daily, features an in-depth conversation of how cultural changes within the FAA designed to support efficiency ultimately allowed Boeing to essentially self-regulate the engineering of key safety-related systems. Culture, it seems, was responsible for the design failures that led to the crashes.
If this sounds familiar to you... it is! This is exactly what happened in the famous Columbia Space Shuttle disaster.
A phenomenal 2004 article, "Lessons in Organizational Ethics from the Columbia Disaster: Can a Culture be Lethal?", outlines how the long-term change in culture from one of safety-first to one of efficiency and cost-savings was perhaps the biggest culprit in the infamous crash.
I absolutely love this article and have taught it to both undergrads and graduate students as the centerpiece in our lessons on culture.
On your next commute, I highly recommend listening to the episode of The Daily and then giving the article a quick read. The parallels are striking!
Personal Updates
I am excited to make two monumental announcements!
1) I've taken steps to launch a completely new business! The program, EndeavoRun, is a start-to-finish training program for amateur adult runners that provides the key ingredients that professional runners rely on for success: Precision, Community, and Accountability.
Right now, I'm in the midst of a pricing analysis survey and continuing to design the program. If you're a runner of any kind, please take 3-4min to complete this survey for me.
You can check out a 90 second overview of the concept in this neat little video I created.
2) My wife and I are expecting a baby girl in December! We are absolutely thrilled! Apparently, she is already.... playing soccer!?
That's it for this edition - please reach out if I can be at all helpful!