Leadership Lessons that Tend to be Ignored

What is the Challenger Effect? Simply put it’s giving someone in the position of power all the information they need to make the right decision, and yet they still decide against it. (And then it punches you back in the face).

NASA management was told not to launch on that cold morning for the Challenger. The flight had been delayed multiple times due to weather conditions.  Yet they still went against Senior Engineer’s advice and launched anyways.

Another example of the challenger effect is the most recent implosion of the Titan submersible. Stockton Rush absolutely ignored all of the evidence that was right in front of his face when trying to make his carbon-fiber hull work.

He could literally hear the carbon fiber popping and failing while he was diving in it, and yet still decided he was going to try to make it work. Even after he had watched testing when the hull absolutely was crushed in front of his eyes he still kept going.

The experts he hired warned him explicitly that it would fail and yet he still willfully ignored their advice. And once again, others then were hurt in the process for his poor decisions. That’s the Challenger Effect.

These examples (although the absolute extreme) are of leadership fails that I see playing on constant repeat. Leaders hire experts. Experts give advice.  Leadership ignores advice. Things explode / implode after leadership ignores the expert advice.

Which really then begs the question, what’s the cause of all of this? Whether it’s a bit of cognitive dissonance, hubris, or willful ignorance it continues to hurt everyone in its path.

In the business world, it might not be to the extreme of these two cases, but it still can leave a wave of destruction for an entire organization.

So there must be something we can do about it… right?

Managing the Challenger Effect

For the most part, business decisions and their implications are nowhere near what happened to the crew of the Challenger or Titan.  And therefore, I should probably quit my complaining…. but, then what would I write for my next blog?

It’s hard, because if you’ve seen what “good” or “efficient” looks like, and then to have decisions make in contradiction to it can be maddening. Especially, when you are trying your best to do the right thing to ensure your company is successful.

At the end of the day, leadership must learn to trust the experts they’ve hired below them. The team is there to support them and enable them to make the right decisions. And if they don’t, what are they paying us for anyways?

Final Thoughts

Normally I like to end my blogs with some type of advice for people in similar situations. But this time, I’m really at a bit of a loss on how to manage the ‘Challenger Effect’.  And it’s not due to a lack of ideas on the topic.

Quite frankly, there are a variety of factors can get in the way of doing “what’s right” and what managements or leadership ultimately decides.

Escalate up? Sure, but you’ll probably burn some bridges and/or get fired.

Try to better inform people of the consequences? If ego or office politics are involved, you are better off picking a fight with a honey badger. At least you’ll have the slightest chance of winning.

Throw a tantrum like a two-year-old? Well, it actually, seems like a viable solution and a better option given everything I’ve seen over my career. At least it will get their attention.

I quite frankly don’t know if there is anything we can do to manage the Challenger Effect. Maybe it’s just part of the human condition.