Expanding Exercise: Bravery
We coach leaders that face ethical dilemmas requiring bravery every day. It takes guts to make the right decision in a split second and forethought in anticipation of possible accidents or situations can be the best remedy for preparing yourself for the kind of emergency situations that might face you as a leader.
“Normal Accidents”
Last summer I took an ethics class in graduate school and the text for the class was titled “Normal Accidents” with the subtitle “Living with High Risk Technologies”, by Charles Perow (1999). I count this as one of the most important books I have read for coaching leaders for a number of reasons. The theory of the author (when you boil it down to laymen terms) concludes that we currently live in a society where we have come to depend heavily on complex technology and due to that fact we must be prepared for more frequent catastrophic accidents. The theory suggests that with the extreme complexity of technology combined with the tight coupling of systems (meaning one aspect of the system can create a rapid domino affect with others), we should expect that periodically large scale accidents are bound to happen and are thus “normal”.
Perow takes it one step further when he suggests that by adding “safety nets” to these already complex systems, we actually may be ADDING to the risk due to increasing complexity. One of the stories in the text recounted the details regarding decisions faced by McDonnell Douglas and the regulating bodies of aviation in solving engineering problems related to the DC-10 aircraft. Studies in the 70s indicated that 50-70 percent of cases in operational accidents stemmed from human factors error. But in the case of the DC-10, it turned out that the problem was found in a design flaw and was a reasonably easy fix, but it took five accidents before it was corrected.
In his theory, Perow argues that human error in operations is not as reducible or controllable as it is in less pressured activities such as design, fabrication and maintenance, so the biggest difference can be made in application of ethical decision-making in these phases of work. One case in point we studied regards the tragedy of Challenger, when all of the lives were lost due to a design flaw that had been pointed out and ignored by the manufacturer. Warnings from one of their own engineers for months prior to takeoff had been dismissed as inconsequential by leaders and regulatory agencies alike. That particular engineer was fired and could not get employment in the industry subsequent to blowing the whistle, so he focused his efforts as a guest speaker at engineering schools to promote the importance of ethics in the field of engineering for the balance of his career.
The ethical questions that surface in the media subsequent to disasters such as these calls into question the exercise of calculated risk by private business. Similar questions regarding the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 carrier were widely publicized after a series of five catastrophic airline crash accidents in the 70’s. In this industry, the executives in charge were making decisions about risk regarding human life and are compelling questions to ponder. This course was fascinating and in the process of learning, we evaluated decisions made by leaders in every major catastrophe in the last few decades, including Challenger, Exxon Valdese, Chernoble and so on. In every case, the character and bravery of key leaders (or its absence) was the one common element required in preventing catastrophic loss.
We coach executives in all kinds of industries and I run into discussions about risk far more often that one might expect. My conclusion is that leaders need to be educated and mindful, both in terms of what kind of potential risk exists in their line of work, but also in order to be well versed in the subject of ethics, so that they are prepared well in advance for such “normal accidents”. This exercise is intended to help leaders “think ahead” and expand their mind a bit in order to assist them to be more prepared in the event bravery is needed.
Exercise
Do a little research about accidents or risks in your industry or in an industry that interests you. Read as many articles about actual events or potential risk as you can so that you get various perspectives of thought. Then write about a fictitious “normal accident” in your industry that you could potentially face in the future. Write at least five ways you could react and predict the consequences if you were to make each decision independently. When you have completed this exercise, select the best course of action for the event and write about the character “development need” you may have around being ready to make the call when the time comes.
We all think that we would be brave in the moment. But it doesn’t hurt to prepare, so that the brain kicks in a few milliseconds sooner when it happens. As Perow suggests, it is normal to expect something might happen on your watch.