In industries such as oil and gas, mining, chemicals, transportation, aviation and FMCG, crews show up to get the job done to the best of their ability and head home. The day unfolds before them… systems get rebooted, a verification is missed, spreadsheets don’t balance, a small control gets skipped under pressure and all these little frictions start to pile up.
A mentor once told me… “Every time we accept a small risk, we buy a lottery ticket; and with those millions of “tickets” bought daily across the world, someone, somewhere, is eventually going to “win” a prize nobody wants.” That’s how small, normalised, imperfections align into big events.
My thoughts heading into 2026.
The fastest way to protect people and profits is to improve the trustworthiness and timeliness of information at the point of work. If leaders are aware of what’s in progress, complete or overdue, and which of their controls are weak, at the time they occur, schedules would hold and margins be maintained.
This is for leaders who really want outcomes, not theatre.
- Simple to use, not simple to report on. Thin tools are cheap and easy, then push the critical hard 10% into email and Excel.
- Follow the money. Fewer interruptions and faster recoveries protect earnings, especially when budgets are tight and oversite is spread thin.
- AI that helps you do the work. Let it summarise, prioritise and guide, but keep humans in the loop, because quality in = quality out.
Practical advice and tools.
Over this series, I’ll share three practical tools you can apply as needed without requiring a mega transformation project. Using real-time dashboards, ensuring edge cases don’t push you back to external spreadsheets and how to plan those incremental changes.
If you are responsible for outcomes, not optics, this series is for you.
Lead well and be safe.
Paul
