The default carries immense power, even in advanced industries like rocket science. This idea is called path dependence: What we’ve done before shapes what we do next.

OFTEN ASSUME that failure has an endpoint. We fail until we succeed and then stop failing to reap the benefits of our newly minted position in the pecking order. But failure isn’t a bug to get out of our system until success arrives. Failure is the feature. If we don’t develop a habit of failing regularly, we court catastrophe. As we’ll see in the

Standing outside the establishment, these gate-crashers were in a better position to see its flaws and recognize its outdated methods.

The premortems we compile should be easily accessible. At X, these premortems “live on a site where anyone can post something that they’re worried about going wrong in the future,” explains Astro Teller.66 The employees can post concerns about a specific project or the company as a whole. This approach builds institutional knowledge and guards agai

In a 2017 survey, roughly 80 percent of Americans reported that they spent no time whatsoever “relaxing or thinking.”

Businesses that fly at higher altitudes tend to perform better. Shane Snow summarizes the relevant research in Smartcuts: “From 2001 to 2011, an investment in the 50 most idealistic brands—the ones opting for the high-hanging purpose and not just low-hanging profits—would have been 400 percent more profitable than shares of an S&P index fund.”1

less than seven years after Kennedy’s pledge, Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind.

“If you think your IQ is 160 but it’s 150, you’re a disaster. It’s much better to have a 130 IQ and think it’s 120.”

failure to conduct systems-level testing can produce unpredictable consequences. When you make a last-minute change to a product and ship it out the door without retesting the whole thing, you’re risking disaster.