FACING THE FACTS - The Third and Perhaps Most Important of Rickover's Keys to Stop the Normalization of Deviation
In the past two weeks we’ve discussed two of the “essential” (Admiral Rickover’s word) elements for process safety excellence …
This week we will discuss the third, and perhaps most important, essential element – FACING THE FACTS.
What is facing the facts? Here are some excerpts of how Rickover (then head of the Nuclear navy) described it:
“… To resist the human inclination to hope that things will work out,
despite evidence or suspicions to the contrary.“
“If conditions require it, you must face the facts and brutally make needed changes despite significant costs and schedule delays. …
The person in charge must personally set the example in this area
and require his subordinates to do likewise.“
Let me give two examples from Rickover’s days of leading the Navy Nuclear Power Program that illustrate what he meant (and how he lived out this essential element).
For the rest of this article, see: https://www.taproot.com/archives/53656
And when you are finished reading, judge if your organization is facing the facts or if this is a missing part of your excellence and process safety programs.
Specializing in Economic Advisory and Strategic Financial Planning
8 个月Hi Mark - thanks for lposting on the importance of facts. I worked at Naval Reactors and personally understood the importance of facts. If a new fact arises that contradicts earlier processes thinking -- past decisions must be revisited and possibly reversed. May I get a copy of the article you provided a link to? The link appears not to work. THANKS
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9 年Thanks For Sharing Mark Paradies!
President, System Improvements, The TapRooT? Root Cause Analysis Folks
9 年I've heard the "unlimited budget" claim before. Believe me, it wasn't. The public got their money's worth from Rickover. Doing it right was cheaper than doing it wrong. Wish others could learn that lesson.
SME Thermal Generation, Maintenance & RCMO
9 年Was easy for ADMR 'Rickover" to implement / enforce the "higher standard" when you have access to unlimited funding and government "black-ops" Budgets of the Post War 1940's and 50's, US children and children's, children's, will still be paying for all that was Debt Financed by these projects !. But yes agree with the principle for senior leadership teams to 'Face the Facts" and stop asking for the "impossible" from organizations, and then putting a political / poly-speak spin on it, that all is still 'Safe" ! Was actually on this Sub btw, in 1997, a floating museum near Hartford CT, still had armed Navy Guards onboard at the time, to ensure no-one went near the reactor room :)