Black Box Thinking

Matthew Syed argues that success in any field depends on admitting failure and learning from it, and he builds the case by contrasting two industries. In health care, preventable medical error ranks as the third-largest cause of death in the United States, with more than 400,000 deaths a year, and most mistakes stay hidden behind settlements with nondisclosure clauses. Aviation works the other way: every passenger plane carries a nearly indestructible black box, and after any mishap the data is studied, the findings made public and procedures changed. Syed traces the gap between these approaches to human psychology and organizational culture, and asks why more fields do not copy aviation.

Richard Branson said it shows why attitudes to failure need to change and that learning comes from trying things and adjusting, an outlook his team found valuable during the Virgin Strive Challenge.