When It’s All on the Line: Performance Under Pressure
Have you ever wondered how you'd respond in a true life-or-death moment? In today’s episode, Dr. Tony Kern explores that question by diving into real-world case studies where the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Through these intense scenarios, he’ll uncover what drives human performance under extreme pressure—and what we can learn to better prepare ourselves for the unexpected.
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30:18
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30:18
Achieve Simplicity by Front-loading Complexity
In this week’s episode of the podcast, Tony reflects on this weekend’s B-2 bomber mission that saw multiple stealth aircraft launch from a Missouri Air Force base, fly over to Iran to drop bombs, and then safely return to the same base. A mission of this length—likely 35–40 hours from pre-flight to post-flight duties—puts a heavy burden on the air crew executing the mission, with the perils of fatigue, risk management, and moment-to-moment decision making in a combat zone all requiring significant planning to handle. Tony performs a preliminary dissection on the considerations that go into planning missions like this, using his own experience on the B-1 and his dissertation on long-range missions as the starting point. Tony’s conclusion is that no matter how complex the operation is, the goal of the plan should be to make execution by the crew as simple as possible—and this is a philosophy that applies to all human performance, not just high-stakes military missions. So, achieve simplicity in your own performance by front-loading the complexity into the planning phase.
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19:46
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19:46
Addressing the Rise in Aviation Ground Damage (ft. Special Guest Jermaine Cadogan)
While crashing airplanes have been in the news a lot lately, there’s another major problem currently plaguing aviation: the precipitous increase in ground damage incidents, along with their associated costs. Ground damage events occur when the aircraft is not flying, during taxi, aircraft repositioning, loading/unloading, fueling, and maintenance tasks. Our news story and resulting discussion come from the article, “From the Hangar to the Tarmac: Rising Trends in Ground Incidents,” published in the 2025 issue of Jetstream from the insurer Global Aerospace. Special Guest Jermaine Cadogan is the Lead Instructor for a revolutionary training program called the “Aviation Maintenance Never Events,” which was developed by Convergent Performance to provide maintainers and other support personnel effective methods to prevent ground damage events like those described in the article. Tony and “Caddy” discuss the root causes behind this rise in ground damage, the ways rising costs will impact the industry and passengers, how the industry and regulators might try to tackle this critical issue, and why the “Never Events” program is the solution, garnering support from aviation professionals in both the public and private sectors in the decade since its inception.
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43:31
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43:31
What’s Changed – What Remains – and What We Should Do Next (ft. Special Guest Captain (Dr.) Karlene Petitt)
Eighty years of aviation experience between them, Tony and special guest Dr. Petitt discuss the real challenges in aviation safety today, how we got here, and where we can go to improve. Dr. Karlene Petitt, an international airline pilot, author, pilot advocate, and aviation safety subject matter expert (visit her website here), discusses the current state of aviation and why passionate instructors are critical to hand down foundational knowledge. Tune in to hear why pilots are getting half the training hours they used to, problems from overreliance on automation, and more about some aviation safety issues that have recently gotten more public attention but are definitely not new.
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1:07:27
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1:07:27
Embodying Professionalism in the 21st Century
This week’s conversation on professionalism begins with the news that retired four-star Navy Admiral Robert Burke was found guilty in a bribery scheme involving directing a government contract to a private company in exchange for a job after his military retirement. He is the most senior US military officer found guilty of a federal crime while serving on active duty. But while this conviction is unique, lapses in professionalism happen at all levels in every organization, aren’t always punished, and often aren’t even caught. Tony’s three decades of research into human behavior and his interest in history shaped his unique insights into the evolution of craftsmanship into professionalism and the descending trajectory of the latter in our modern world. Join us for the historical origins of professionalism, his assessment of its current state, and his recommendations for improving the situation, regardless of your rank, sector, or industry.
About Only Human – News, Analysis, and Insights from the World of Human Performance
Over the last few years, we’ve pursued the goal of bridging the gap between who you are today and who you are capable of being by focusing on reducing human error and improving human performance from a mostly philosophical stance. Starting today, we’re centering practical application and real-world scenarios through the lens of the strategies and techniques we’ve been discussing. In this episode, Tony reviews an altercation between on-duty air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Airport, the experiences shared recently by the astronauts who were stranded on the International Space Station for
Listen to Only Human – News, Analysis, and Insights from the World of Human Performance, The Mel Robbins Podcast and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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