TL;DR: Punishing people for mistakes does not reduce mistakes — it suppresses reporting, drives fear, and blocks learning. Evidence from healthcare, safety science, and organizations like Alcoa shows that improvement comes from systems thinking, transparency, and psychological safety, not blame. Why Punishment Feels Like the “Default” Response to Mistakes For a long time, it’s bothered me that organizations typically react to a mistake with punishment. This is even more annoying when the phrase “hold people … Continue reading You Can’t Punish Your Way to Perfection: Why Blame Fails and Learning Works