Black Box Thinking

Aviation is unique in the world of complex organizations because it's the only one in which failure is expected and accepted. Aviators have to confront their mistakes, learn from them, and create a climate where it's safe to fail. They can't work in a black box. When pilots make errors or crash planes, the entire world knows about it—including rival airlines. And that makes all pilots nervous. Every pilot wants to keep his or her jobs—and every airline wants its pilots to keep theirs as well. So they are constantly finding ways to reduce risk and eliminate mistakes. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, for example, was designed with sophisticated sensors and software that tells the pilot how the plane is flying so that he or she can correct any problems right away, preventing crashes before they happen.