Signature Speech - Tom Scott
The Human Operating System™
Practical Neuroscience for Human-Centered Workplaces
Every organization wants positive change—to unlock growth, spark innovation, and elevate performance across individuals and teams. But even with clear goals and capable people, progress often stalls due to unconscious tendencies that keep teams cycling through familiar habits. These habits drain energy, escalate tension, and risk stalling progress—threatening the success of the entire organization.
This resistance isn’t about attitude or ability—it’s biology. It’s not that your teams don’t want progress; it's that they are wired for safety, security, and certainty. The truth is, the brain is in charge. In fact approximately 70% of the human brain is dedicated to maintaining comfort, familiarity, and predictability. This survival wiring quietly overrides even the best strategies and intentions—causing individuals, teams, and organizations to default to what feels safe, rather than what drives meaningful results.
To create real traction, we must move beyond survival-mode defaults and engage the human brain's unique abilities for creativity, adaptability, and intentional action.
About Tom
With four decades leading billion-dollar enterprises like Nordstrom, VF Corp, Dollar Tree, and STIHL, Tom Scott is a recognized expert in organizational transformation. An award-winning CIO / COO and expert in human dynamics and systems thinking.
Tom translates cutting-edge science into practical strategies. The Human Operating System™ framework empowers teams to navigate beyond survival-based defaults, fostering adaptability and unlocking the brain’s full capacity for clarity, collaboration, and high-impact execution.
With practical strategies drawn from neuroscience, systems thinking, and enterprise leadership, Tom equips teams to move beyond business as usual — and deliver measurable, lasting results by unlocking the brain’s full potential.
Testimonials
I’ve had the privilege of hearing Tom Scott share his insights on leadership and the human operating system, drawing from his extensive experience applying it at major companies and his decorated C-suite career. His ability to connect with and inspire leaders at every level is remarkable—I’ve seen him engage and impress an intimate room of EVP / C-level tech leaders just as powerfully as he does a packed summit of leaders from all backgrounds. His content is both insightful and actionable, making a lasting impact on those who hear him speak.
Leah Price Williams, The Mercury Company, Founder & CEO
Confession: I’m a consultant skeptic, a mindset shaped by decades in corporate life. Most outside consultant sessions I attended were forgettable. So, imagine my surprise when, just 80 pages into Going Beyond Business As Usual, I thought: If I were an executive, I’d absolutely engage these guys to help my team implement these concepts.
High-performance teams embrace and manage conflict productively. Tom and Dick’s communication strategies provide a powerful, sustainable tool for building such teams. This book made me rethink my anti-consultant bias!
Bob Williams, Retired Nationwide Insurance executive: claims, state operations, and marketing.
Mr. Tom Scott was imminently qualified to speak during our Executive Leadership Pro-Seminar Series. Relevant, intelligent, and engaging, Tom is a true scholar-practitioner who provides real-world C-Suite experiences and perspectives. An absolute must for leaders, teams, and institutions seeking to enhance organizational leadership, human interaction, and communicative behaviors.
Dr. Mark Boone, George Walker Fellow, University of Charleston and Colonel, United States Marine Corp (ret)
Sincerity meets common sense, Tom always seems to find a way to bridge the complexity of business with the complexity of people, helping me unpack methods to keep them both in harmony. He expresses balance as a common theme, in practical terms, that is essential for any executive that wants to be an effective leader.
Joshua Anderson, Chief Technology Officer, Ready