--- title: MAXHP - Humans Over Hardware --- [Skip to content](https://www.maxhp.com/humans-over-hardware#main-content) # Maximus - Home - Products - Pricing - Blog - Company - Home - Products - Pricing - Blog - Company [![MAXHP](https://www.maxhp.com/hs-fs/hubfs/custom_thumbnail_large.png?width=255&height=122&name=custom_thumbnail_large.png "MAXHP")](https://www.maxhp.com?hsLang=en) [ABOUT](https://www.maxhp.com/about?hsLang=en) [INSIGHTS](https://www.maxhp.com/insights?hsLang=en) [CAREERS](https://www.maxhp.com/careers?hsLang=en) [CONNECT](https://www.maxhp.com/connect?hsLang=en)   INSIGHTS # Humans over hardware and the value of trust By Matt Parrish, MaxHP Enterprise PM Our most valuable weapon system is human, and trust is the key to making it work. OCTOBER 2026   |    By MATT PARRISH ![articel images\_MaxHP (1200 x 630 px)-1](https://www.maxhp.com/hs-fs/hubfs/articel%20images_MaxHP%20(1200%20x%20630%20px)-1.png?width=2000&height=1050&name=articel%20images_MaxHP%20(1200%20x%20630%20px)-1.png "articel images_MaxHP (1200 x 630 px)-1") “Humans over hardware” is a familiar idea inside Special Operations Command. No one in this community needs convincing that the special operators and enablers are our nation’s most valuable weapons systems. In today’s dynamic combat environments, their judgment, resilience and adaptability are worth far more than any piece of equipment they might carry. And the most essential ingredient required to keep that human weapons system mission-ready and functioning at peak performance is trust. I lived this first-hand in my 20 years as a Special Operator, including 13 years on Army Special Forces teams as a Green Beret, seeking USSOCOM’s Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) services for a myriad of injuries and issues across the five human performance domains.  I volunteered to culminate my career in uniform with the chance to give back to the program that allowed me to continue serving all those years – spending my last three years as the Senior Enlisted Leader for the POTFF program, overseeing global human performance and wellness initiatives for more than 70,000 special operations professionals. In that time, I learned many things, but none more important than the value of trust. “Introduce a measurement before you’ve earned the trust to use it, and people will manage the data instead of learning from it.” MATT PARRISH MAXHP ENTERPRISE PM Trust is key to the success of the operator’s “warrior-diplomat” function, both earning it and granting it. An unconventional warfare mission runs on relationships. Beyond the fundamental bonds fostered within the team, operators must often build trust with external parties. You don’t convince a partner force to risk everything alongside American interests without it. That’s also true of the trust between an operator and the providers who propel them physically, cognitively, spiritually and psychologically across a career. A trusted relationship must be developed before goals can be aligned and results maximized. And it’s just as true of the trust a command has to place in the data that says the force is ready. There’s a welcome push within POTFF to increase the capture and use of data in the pursuit of elite performance, and specifically, to make that data more timely, relevant and actionable. Actionable is the key. Data that isn’t actionable is just interesting. But making data actionable depends entirely on the trust relationship. In my time at POTFF, I watched many experts learn the same hard lesson: all the expertise in the world, the most accurate evidence-based assessments or data-driven protocols will not earn you a special operator’s trust. Many assume that if you just hand someone a chart or a number, they’ll trust you because the data speaks for itself. I’ve seen skilled, highly credentialed providers walk into a unit with excellent tools and be politely ignored, and I’ve seen other providers with a fraction of the technical polish become the person every operator in the building wanted to talk to. The difference was never the technology or the data. It was whether the relationship was established before it showed up. SOF’s advantage has never been a database or a technology. It’s the operators motivated to be the top 0.1 percent in what they do — extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. These are men and women who are already looking for every edge they can find. It’s not hard to convince them that elite performance matters. It’s hard to convince them that you’re the one who should help them achieve it. **“The trust that keeps this program working doesn’t live in a logo or a corporate name. It lives in the person standing across from the operator."** MATT PARRISH MAXHP ENTERPRISE PM There’s no disputing the value of data. You can’t trust what you can’t measure. There are, of course, numerous quantitative and qualitative measures designed to track and improve human performance — physical benchmarks, cognitive assessments, self-reporting tools, wearable data and more. This data is as valuable for commanders as it is for operators. All too often, however, these measures are treated as compliance exercises rather than trust-building ones. An operator who doesn’t yet trust you sees data differently than one who does. The same biometric data that provides helpful feedback from someone you trust can be seen as a potential threat from someone you don’t — a reason to be held back from a deployment or exercise, or a data point that could hinder your career. A survey designed to measure emotional state is exactly the kind of instrument a savvy operator knows how to navigate. They know the right boxes to check that satisfy a requirement. That’s not a true measurement, it’s a threat to a way of life and is treated as such. Introduce a measurement before you’ve earned the trust to use it, and people will manage the data instead of learning from it. They’ll give you the numbers that you want to hear, not the ones that reflect the reality that both commanders and operators need to hear. That’s not an argument against data. Used well, data is indispensable to this program and always has been. It’s an argument about sequence. You can’t trust what you can’t measure, but you also can’t measure accurately when you’re not trusted. Getting that order right — person before instrument — is critical to success. **“It’s not hard to convince them that elite performance matters. It’s hard to convince them that you’re the one who should help them achieve it.”** MATT PARRISH MAXHP ENTERPRISE PM The providers I watched succeed inside units shared one habit: they listened before they spoke, and they asked before they told. They spent their first weeks learning a unit’s rhythm, its history, its language, before offering a single recommendation. Providers who were confident in their own knowledge and experience and looked for ways to add value to what the unit members needed. That’s what “embedded” actually means in this program — not a provider stationed nearby who’s available if asked, but one physically present at the unit level long enough to become part of the team, so that when they finally do speak up, they’re speaking as someone who has already proven they understand the job, not as an outsider explaining it. That patience is also how you work against stigma, which does as much damage to readiness as any injury. Stigma has an extremely corrosive effect on performance. The stigma attached to what might be perceived as even the slightest weakness can keep an operator from seeking help, whether it’s an injury, a family issue, or even something as simple as trouble sleeping. An operator worried about how it looks to ask for help won’t turn to a stranger, no matter how many credentials that stranger holds. But they will tell someone they’ve watched show up, day after day, who they’ve come to trust is actually on their side.   Trust in the force behind the force is the only currency that can overcome this corrosive effect. The road to help often starts from a trusted relationship with a provider in a different domain who makes the warm referral and handoff.  It was true in my own career and my own journey to seek help, and I’ve seen the same pattern manifest countless times in teammates and friends. Operators have so much at stake — being an operator is more than a career; it’s an identity and a life’s calling — that impact can only stem from vulnerability bought with trust. I’ve seen contracts change hands, and I’ve seen good providers leave units they’d spent years embedded in. Every time, the real cost wasn’t measured in the paperwork of the transition or the costs to recruit a replacement. It was measured in the relationships that had to be rebuilt from scratch.  Human assets are far tougher to replace than a piece of hardware. That’s worth remembering that anytime a change is on the table — a new provider, a new tool, a new contract holder — because the trust that keeps this program working doesn’t live in a logo or a corporate name. It lives in the person standing across from the operator – and in how well they’re supported, enabled, and empowered to build that critical trust. Managing any of these transitions is the most important function we can provide. The ability to value trust may never appear in an RFP, but it’s certainly the most important attribute a contractor can have. Hiring providers just to fill a slot and cross off an item on a list ignores the solemn responsibility we have to our warfighters. After two decades in Special Operations, my view hasn’t really changed, but it has gotten sharper. I’ve seen this evolution in human performance within special operations from every angle and the truth remains -- The special operator is our nation’s most valuable weapons system, but nothing sustains it without a workforce the operator actually trusts. Not the workforce with the best tools. Not the one with the most data. It’s the one that earned the right to use both. About MaxHP MaxHP is a strategic joint venture between Endurion and Maximus dedicated to advancing elite human performancein the defense community. By combining operational expertise, evidence-based performance methodologies, and innovative technology, MaxHP delivers integrated solutions that enhance readiness, resilience, recovery, and mission effectiveness for government and defense organizations.  About Endurion Endurion is a mission-focused technology and professional services company delivering integrated solutions across national security, defense, intelligence, and federal civilian agencies. Built by operators for operators, Endurion combines operational experience with innovative technology to solve complex mission challenges across the globe.  About Maximus Maximus is a leading strategic partner to government agencies worldwide, delivering innovative solutions through customer and user experience, workforce management, digital modernization, and mission outcomes. 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