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Available NOW! Starting Points +
- The HOP Nerd
- Jun 18
- 4 min read
PHOENIX, AZ – June 18, 2025 – The Hop Nerd LLC, a globally recognized leader in Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and Safety, today announced the launch of its highly anticipated new product, Starting Points +. Building on a reputation for practical, no-nonsense tools, this expanded card deck is the supercharged successor to the original bestselling Starting Points Operationally Curious Questions.
Your favorite tool for operational learning is now more powerful than ever. Starting Points + expands on the original deck with 125 cards focused on the learning more about the realities of work. With more questions geared toward success, users will uncover hidden wins and spark the insightful conversations that drive real improvement.
For too long, the working world has been buried under a swamp of bubble sheets, online forms, PowerPoints , all packed to the brim with corporate jargon and focused on how we think - or the rulebook says - work should happen, not how it actually does. The original Starting Points deck was an antidote to that, a simple tool to cut through the fluff. Starting Points + doubles down on that mission.
“We saw an incredible response to the first deck,” says Sam Goodman, the founder of The HOP Nerd LLC. “It confirmed what I’ve been writing and talking about, and working with organizations on for years: our organizations are desperate for real conversations. They’re tired of pretending. The goal isn’t to just hunt for problems, it’s to get curious about the whole story - the good, the bad, the ugly, and the brilliant ways people adapt must adapt to get things done every single day. People aren't problems to be fixed; they are the problems solvers.”
So, what’s the ‘+’ all about?
More to Explore: The deck has been expanded from 50 to 125 cards, offering a vastly wider range of questions for deeper, more sustained learning.
A Focus on Success: While the original deck was balanced, Starting Points + intentionally includes more questions geared toward "how things normally go well." It’s built to help you explore more about successful work, along with what's going wrong.
Built to Last: All 125 cards come packaged in a durable, rigid two-piece box designed to handle field use, workshop tables, and being tossed in a bag on the way to a site visit.
Starting Points + is for any leader, facilitator, or team member who is tired of surface-level, checkbox conversations and wants to grow genuine operational curiosity, learning, and improvement. It’s for anyone who believes the real experts are the people doing the work.
Pricing and Availability
Contact:
The HOP Nerd LLC
About Hop Nerd LLC
Hop Nerd LLC isn’t your typical consultancy. We build practical, no-BS tools and provide guidance for organizations ready to get serious about learning how their own operations really work. We champion human-centered, curiosity-driven approaches to improvement, helping teams ditch the bureaucracy and discover better ways of working together.
About Sam Goodman Sam Goodman is the founder of The HOP Nerd and a leading voice in operational excellence. With nearly two decades of experience in Safety and Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), he is a recognized authority on operational curiosity, organizational learning, and sustainable improvement.
His expertise was developed in some of the world's most demanding environments, including significant leadership roles in high-risk sectors like commercial nuclear power, energy, and construction. This hands-on experience forms the foundation of his practical, real-world approach to consulting and teaching.
As a best-selling author, global keynote speaker, and the creator of impactful tools like the Starting Points decks, Sam shares his insights with organizations worldwide. He also hosts The HOP Nerd Podcast and creates insightful comedic content that makes critical workplace topics, particularly in safety, more accessible and engaging.
Sam is dedicated to empowering teams to learn directly from their operations, drive meaningful change, and achieve lasting success.
About Starting Points
Many organizations excel at formal Learning Teams but lack a simple way to foster operational learning in their daily routines. Starting Points was created to fill that exact gap.
It's a tool designed to spark meaningful, insightful conversations about the realities of work. These "operationally curious" questions help teams move beyond checklists and surface-level observations to understand how work truly gets done.
The effectiveness of Starting Points comes from its origin. It wasn't developed in a conference room; it was created based on the real-world needs of teams actively working to solve complex problems. The result is a simple, practical tool for embedding operational learning into your company culture. The process is intentionally straightforward: Pull a card, ask the question, and start a valuable conversation..
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