About Us

Founded by Hop Howlett in 1988, TechStar is a unique training and publishing company devoted to teaching industrial facility staffs the value of systematic operations, effective equipment maintenance, and impactful leadership.

TechStar focuses on improving human performance through the analysis of industrial mishaps. By emphasizing the importance of skills such as pre-job briefings, standardized procedures, critical parameter monitoring, and independent verification, facility personnel learn productive processes that disrupt the accumulation of critical accident contributing factors.

Since industrial team performance is not simply founded on technical competence, TechStar staff are also staunch believers in the importance of common-sense leadership, the need to balance technical competence with people competence. In that vein, TechStar developed a visual and practical leadership text and course designed to illustrate the right ways and the wrong ways to lead.

Trustworthy leaders emphasize that leadership style, be it soft or tough, must always be subordinate to a few basic leadership principles. The actions of great leaders always serve the team first.

From CEOs to rank-and-file team members, clients regularly cite this training as the most useful they have received in their industrial careers.