When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands with the buttered side facing down. I propose to strap buttered toast to the back of a cat; the two will hover, spinning, inches above the ground. With a giant buttered-cat array, a high-speed monorail could easily link New York with Chicago.
Westrum (1992) describes the Redstone missile development headed by Wernher Von Braun. After careful and painstaking preparation and much to the chagrin and puzzlement of everyone, an early test of the Redstone missile went out of control. It was surprising that one of the engineers reported that he may have accidentally caused a short circuit during the prelaunch testing. Further investigation revealed that indeed the engineer had caused the acci- dent. His openness and honesty in confessing his mistake in the end saved time and money. Costly retesting and expensive redesigns were unnecessary. Upon hearing that the engineer had voluntarily reported the mistake that had caused the out-of-control missile, Von Braun sent the man a bottle of cham- pagne. In many organizations, such mistakes are routinely hidden rather than admitted because punishment, not reward, is the typical consequence. It is in organizations that focus on uncovering failure for the sake of improvement that such open and honest behavior of subordinates is rewarded.