Fail Safe: Insights from Black Box Thinking By Matthew Syed

In this episode, we talk about the implications of Blackbox Thinking (by Matthew Syed) for organisations.

We talk about how differing companies such as Kodak, Google, and Amazon either learned or ignored the lessons from failure.

The conversation explored concepts such as antifragility, psychological safety, and growth mindset.

By integrating ideas from various domains, this episode offers insights into fostering a resilient and thriving organizational culture.

Links:

Michael Ward: 

Saurabh Debnath: 

Rob McPhillips: 

00:00 Introduction to Black Box and Rebel Ideas

00:48 Critique of Matthew Syed's Approach

01:31 Ben Hardy and Making Ideas Accessible

03:09 Personal Reflections on Failure

04:32 Learning from Success vs. Failure

11:04 Marginal Gains vs. Kaizen

16:35 Corporate Culture and Innovation

26:36 Processes and Anti-Fragility

30:10 Productivity and Training Methods

30:36 David McClelland's Research on Professional Performance

32:34 The 10,000 Hour Rule and Perfect Practice

34:10 The Role of Psychological Safety in Organizations

35:45 Religion, Closed Loop Systems, and Cognitive Distortions

44:38 Blame, Emotions, and Learning from Mistakes

50:06 System One vs. System Two Thinking

58:46 Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways