Get to know Aaron Potash:

Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronpotash/

Website: https://www.originaloaktowndivers.com/

Recent Article (video link at the bottom of the article): Windup in the Bay 2026

Email: [email protected]

In his conversation on the Counter Errorism podcast, Aaron Potash emphasizes the critical role of cultivating genuine empathy, curiosity, and vulnerability to build psychological safety and drive operational excellence.

Here are the key lessons we learn from his approach:

Cultivating Empathy Over Compliance

Potash explains that safety professionals must move away from a traditional compliance mindset—where they act as the "subject matter expert" dictating rules—and instead become genuinely intrigued by a worker's actual experience. By shifting to a stance of curiosity and asking, "what is that like for you?", leaders can build the trust necessary for workers to freely share their challenges.

Humble Inquiry and Positioning as a Learner

To disarm workers, especially highly trained experts, Potash utilizes humble inquiry, often starting conversations with phrases like, "Forgive me, may I ask about something?". By intentionally positioning himself "below" the worker and acting as a learner rather than a policing expert, he removes the threat of judgment and invites the worker to become the teacher.

Vulnerability and Creating Space to Fail

Drawing from his experience as a scuba diving instructor, Potash highlights the importance of leaders sharing their own mistakes, weaknesses, and errors with their students. This vulnerability proves that the leader is fallible and actively helps create a safe environment where people have the space to fail, make mistakes, and continuously strive to "be better than yesterday".

The "King for a Day" Approach

To quickly uncover hidden frontline challenges, Potash advocates for asking workers one simple question: "If you could be king for a day, what would you make better about this?". He shares an example of asking this question about a seemingly simple stick used for sounding the ground, which sparked an impromptu "mini learning team" conversation. This specific question gave the workers the space to reveal the tool's complex history, hidden functions, and future design modifications that leadership was completely unaware of.

The Illusion of the "Same Side"

Potash challenges the common safety cliché that everyone in a company is "on the same side". He points out that different departments often have competing KPIs that inadvertently interfere with the people actually getting the work done in the field. Ultimately, empathy is required to translate these conflicting organizational requirements into systems that actually support the frontline work.

Mentions in this episode:

Humble Inquiry, 3rd Edition: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling (The Humble Leadership Series)

Other podcasts Aaron's on:

Safety Labs w Mary Conquest: Helping Workers Make Safer Decisions with Aaron Potash

Gareth Lock's How did it make sense?

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