Every industry has its myths. In business, one of the most stubborn is: you can’t measure behaviour or culture and they are slow to change. For decades, organisations have leaned on annual surveys, post-mortems and lagging indicators, snapshots that arrive long after the climate has shifted. By the time leaders have data in hand, the moment to act has already passed.
Tech Tales exists to challenge these myths, spotlighting the people and products rewriting the rules. SolasOS is one of them. Co-founded by Ian Gourlay and Iain Hamilton, its very name comes from the Gaelic word for “light.” That’s its purpose too, to make the hidden dynamics inside organisations visible as they unfold, giving leaders the chance to act before small fractures become systemic issues.
Where SolasOS changes the game is clear, going far beyond the once-a-year engagement survey that tells you how people felt months ago. What it offers is a live picture of cultural health, a way to surface sentiment, trust and alignment as they’re happening. The benefit is practical as well as human, leaders gain an early-warning system for risk, employees see their experience reflected and acted on, and boards can track cultural effectiveness alongside productivity and profit.
In that sense, SolasOS is less a tool than a new myth in the making, that culture is not abstract or elusive, but something leaders can actually understand, measure and shape. At its heart, SolasOS is a system built not to manage people, but to reveal the patterns shaping them, to make culture visible in ways leaders can finally understand and act upon.
Making the invisible visible
Laura: For someone who’s never heard of SolasOS, how would you explain the problem it’s here to solve?
Ian: Behaviour and Culture have always been difficult to grasp. Leaders know these matter, but they’ve had to rely on backward looking performance appraisals, annual surveys or gut instinct, and by the time any results come through, the picture is already out of date. SolasOS is built to change that. We wanted to give leaders a way of seeing human dynamics as they’re happening, not six months later, so they can support people in the moment and prevent small issues from becoming entrenched problems.
Behaviour and Culture aren’t soft, they’re structural
Laura: What’s the biggest misconception about workplace culture or people's data that SolasOS is proving wrong?
Ian: The myth is that Behaviour and Culture are soft. I’ve always seen them as the frame people lean on when things get difficult. They shows up in how effective we are, in how decisions are taken, in whether pressure divides or unites. SolasOS brings that frame into view, so it can be managed as deliberately as any other part of the business
If SolasOS were a character
Laura: If SolasOS were a character in a story, what quest would it be on, and who are the people it’s here to help?
Ian: I’d see it as an essential guide. Not a hero that swoops in with all the answers, but a companion who helps leaders and teams see themselves more truthfully. Its quest is about illumination, helping people notice patterns, moments of risk, strain or opportunity that they might otherwise overlook. The people it serves are those in leadership who want to make good decisions, and those in the workforce who deserve to be seen not just for outputs, but for their experience and potential.
When conversations shift, cultures shift
Laura: Can you share an example where the platform can change the outcome for an organisation or a person?
Ian: We’ve worked with many organisations going through integrations, often as part of a merger... Traditionally, leaders rely on instinct and subjective feedback from a few trusted advisers to gauge how people are coping. With SolasOS, they can see where teams are genuinely struggling, not just where the loudest voices are. That visibility allows them to intervene early, for example with decisive action, to support those under strain or to nurture trust through a difficult process. I know from my experience how quickly conversations improve once people are heard. It is more than chasing numbers; it’s about making a shift from survival into growth.
Belonging is a daily practice, not a slogan
Laura: How does this technology go beyond performance metrics to actually shape fairness, inclusion, and belonging?
Ian: Belonging isn’t something you declare in a mission statement. It’s created through the small, everyday exchanges between people. SolasOS enables these moments to grow, be more visible and more connected, not only for executives, but for teams, managers, and individuals trying to understand how their interactions land.
It might reveal that women in a function feel less included in decision-making, or that new joiners in a particular office are struggling to find their place. Opportunities lost in both cases! It can even help raise the effectiveness of communication, like how an email is likely to be received, which can be especially supportive for neurodivergent colleagues. With that knowledge, fairness becomes less about written policies and more about lived experience: clearer communication, more equal opportunities, and workplaces where people feel safe enough to bring their whole selves.
The golden thread
Laura: When you think about your own journey and SolasOS’ journey, what connects them at the core?
Ian: For me, it’s listening to grow insight for better decisions. My own career has been shaped by listening — to colleagues during times of disruption, to teams under pressure, to individuals finding their voice. With that comes the insight that makes decisions stronger. SolasOS is built on that same principle. It takes listening, something deeply human, and gives it scale. That’s the golden thread that ties it all together.
Perhaps that is why the platform carries the name Solas, “light” in Gaelic. What Ian Gourlay and Iain Hamilton are building is not another dashboard but a reframing of what leadership attention should rest upon. It asks leaders to look beyond the surface, to move past slogans and survey scores, and to see culture as it truly is, the daily experience of people navigating uncertainty, pressure, and possibility.
SolasOS does not seek to perfect that experience, it seeks to reveal it. To bring into focus the frictions that, left unseen, corrode trust. To highlight the moments of strength that, if nurtured, can transform performance. Every organisation is built, sustained, or broken by the behaviour and conversations within it, and SolasOS gives both of these conversations form.
If there is a promise here, it is not control but presence, the chance to notice earlier, to listen more deeply, and to act with greater care. In an age where culture is too often treated as intangible, SolasOS makes it tangible. Not by reducing it to numbers, but by making the human patterns that hold organisations together impossible to ignore.