I have made many mistakes by not staying consistent with a strategy, or changing an organization model before it had a chance to really take hold and work effectively. Just as egregious is the similar but opposite saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (Bert Lance, 1977) which can be used to ignore changing conditions and to rationalize away the need for hard decisions. If we use the “Einstein” quote as a raw argument for change, or if one uses it deliberately to drive a personal agenda, it can lead to rash and often misaligned decision making. That example admittedly is an extraordinary event, so when in everyday life can the adage go wrong? I suppose it’s in the motive. The engines eventually restarted and they were able to land safely. For them, in the end, sticking to the engine restart process, failing time and time again while expecting and hoping for a different result, actually worked. It’s an incredible story of the pilots staying calm and strategizing through the various survival options. One remarkable example is British Airways Flight 9 from London to New Zealand, which lost power in all four engines as a result of flying through a volcanic ash cloud from an eruption of Mount Galunggung. But in the world of business nothing is ever a closed system so do we truly take the time to understand the variables in our “experiment” before we change the controllable? There are many cases where it is perfectly reasonable to expect different results from re-trying a failed approach as conditions change. In a closed and tightly controlled experiment it would be a poor use of ones time to continue do the same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome. It’s used so much that is it has taken on a nearly dogma like status but does it really hold true? I imagine if Albert did indeed say it, he was probably referring to the Scientific Method, where through experimentation you have constants you control tightly, and then adjust variables to understand causality and ramifications. At first glance you can see the quote’s appeal it’s short, catchy and has a famous author (although while Einstein is widely attributed of the quote, there is no evidence that he ever used it). In fact, you probably know someone who has it pinned up above their desk or is using it as a signature tag on their email. Einstein’s famous quote “ Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." It’s used in business and societal circles all the time.
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