Whack-A-Mole: The Price We Pay for Expecting Perfection - Hardcover

Marx, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0615283071 ISBN 13: 9780615283074

Publisher: By Your Side Studios, 2009

Synopsis

A systems engineer and high consequence industry consultant, David Marx, uses national, international and personal stories to outline the prevalence and complexities of human error. Arguing that our approach to human fallibility is flawed, Marx applies principles of a Just Culture model to topics such as medical malpractice reform, healthcare and aviation safety, human resources policies, and parenting. Rather than embracing a merely reactive approach to human error, Marx argues for holding people accountable based on the quality of their choices—not merely the positive or negative outcomes in any given situation. On a macro level, this would include retiring the medical malpractice system, re-evaluating tort reform objectives and incorporating error-reporting systems into healthcare and aviation sectors. On a micro level, Marx encourages readers to release their expectations of perfection and embrace personal accountability for choices they and their neighbors make daily.

About this title

About the Author

David Marx is a systems engineer with a juris doctor in law. Ask him to describe what he does in one sentence and he ll tell you that he helps his clients avoid inadvertently killing their customers. From aviation to healthcare, David has spent his adult life helping others reduce the risks imposed on us all by our shared human fallibility.Through his work as CEO of Outcome Engineering, a Dallas-based risk management firm, David s efforts can be seen in the safety practices of high-risk industries around the world. David lives with his wife and their five children in Allen, Texas.

From the Back Cover

A systems engineer and high consequence industry consultant, David Marx, uses national, international and personal stories to outline the prevalence and complexities of human error. Arguing that our approach to human fallibility is flawed, Marx applies principles of a Just Culture model to topics such as medical malpractice reform, healthcare and aviation safety, human resources policies, and parenting. Rather than embracing a merely reactive approach to human error, Marx argues for holding people accountable based on the quality of their choices not merely the positive or negative outcomes in any given situation. On a macro level, this would include retiring the medical malpractice system, re-evaluating tort reform objectives and incorporating error-reporting systems into healthcare and aviation sectors. On a micro level, Marx encourages readers to release their expectations of perfection and embrace personal accountability for choices they and their neighbors make daily.

From the Inside Flap

We re going to hurt each other it s a fact of life, a cost of doing business. On the bright side, we can reduce the odds. Abandon our no harm, no foul approach to criminal liability, initiate tort reform by retiring the medical malpractice system, rewrite regulations and corporate policies that outlaw human error, reconsider society s perceptions of both wrongdoers and unjustly injured victims, and teach parents to think differently about their children s mistakes. Marx addresses regulators, attorneys, corporate CEOs, public policy makers, the media, and even parents to show that current social perspectives toward our inherent human fallibility have substantially hindered efforts to make the world a safer, more enjoyable place to live. While his observations are primarily about American culture, the lessons are universal. Insightful, bold, and told through sometimes humorous tales, Whack-a-Mole pushes readers to rethink accountability at work, at home, at play.

Edition details

• Publisher: By Your Side Studios
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0615283071
• ISBN 13: 9780615283074
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 214