The Tool That Saved the World

The Tool That Saved the World

The B-17 Flying Fortress gave the US military a decisive advantage in World War II bombing campaigns against Nazi Germany. Its successor, the B-29 Superfortress, would drop the atomic bombs to end the war. Yet Boeing’s planes almost never happened.

The Plane Nobody Could Fly

In 1935, the US Army Air Corps held a competition for airplane manufacturers. Boeing’s Model 299 was the frontrunner. It carried five times as many bombs, flew twice as far, and ran faster than every other plane.

Except during the test flight: it crashed, killing two of the five crew members, including one of the Army’s top pilots. No mechanical issues were found. The plane was simply too hard to fly. Most deemed it unflyable: too complex, requiring far too much training.

The Index Card That Changed Everything

Still, a group of Air Corps test pilots was committed to figuring it out. Instead of demanding more training, they came up with a simple, index-card-sized checklist covering four critical phases of flight:

• Takeoff

• Flight

• Landing

• Taxiing

The checklist was the silver bullet. Test pilots went on to fly 1.8 million miles without a single accident. The Army ultimately ordered 13,000 B-17s. It did more than save Boeing from bankruptcy: it saved the Allied forces.

Checklists Still Save Lives Today

Today, with AI tools everywhere, it can feel like we constantly need more training, more advanced skills, and new technology just to compete. Yet the simple tool of a checklist still saves more lives than any AI tool on the market.

In 2009 the World Health Organization implemented a simple 19-item Surgical Safety Checklist across eight hospitals worldwide. The results were staggering:

• Major surgical complications dropped by 36 percent.

• In-hospital mortality dropped by nearly 50 percent.

• Surgical site infections dropped by 66 percent.

The checklist saved over 1,500 lives and tens of millions of dollars without adding a single dollar of new technology. Now checklists are used in hospitals across the world.

Why Your Culture Needs a Checklist

As I argue in The Culture System, a series of checklists is critical for cultural implementation and consistency. It keeps you organized as you execute your core strategies:

• Coach-player 1-on-1s

• Standard reviews

• Team culture time

• Player accountability

• Leadership council

Whatever cultural strategies you implement, consistency requires discipline. With the sheer volume of responsibilities you face as a leader, managing a team can feel like flying a bomber or performing heart surgery.

Checklists eliminate the guesswork. They keep you organized, protect your standards under pressure, and free you up to focus on what matters most so you can perform at your best.

J.P. Nerbun

Ready to build your own Culture Operating System? Pick up a copy of The Culture System: A Proven Process for Creating an Extraordinary Team Culture.