There's More to a Successful 'Rocket Scientist' Than Just Brains

In which jobs do we find some of the most intelligent folks in the world?

Ask a random group of people this question, and you're likely to hear the same professions repeated.

Mechanical, chemical, and nuclear engineers... physicists... or rocket scientists. Even the term "rocket scientist" is a synonym for highly intelligent people in general, even if they've never worked at NASA.

These folks allow us to plumb the deepest depths of the ocean and travel into space. They figured out how to turn small amounts of matter into energy that can power entire cities.

But within their industries, we find some of the most horrible mistakes and disasters.

Take the 2010 Deepwater Horizon calamity, also known as the BP Oil Spill. The oil rig and drilling site failed to properly cap and contain a hole in the ocean. The rig ended up exploding, and the resulting oil spill wreaked havoc on the environment.

In Japan, the Fukushima nuclear reactor was located near the ocean. In 2011, an earthquake, tsunami, and a number of backup system failures led to three meltdowns, explosions, and radioactive contamination. It's regarded as the second-worst nuclear accident, after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Finally, we have to acknowledge the two heartbreaking explosions of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. The Challenger incident in 1986 included a civilian – a teacher and a mom – who the entire country identified with. Columbia's explosion in 2003 contributed to the demise of the space shuttle program itself.

So, with such incredibly intelligent people working in these industries, how do such disasters happen?

Researchers studied the decisions leading up to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Their findings included some specific statements:

• "The common thread... is often technological arrogance and hubris."
• "... Ignored warning signs through overconfidence."

A study of the problems at the Fukushima facility included safety reports that had been ignored. These cited flaws in the plant's ability to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis.

Keep in mind that Japan is well-known for suffering from both of these natural disasters. "Tsunami" is even a Japanese word that translates to "harbor wave."

In the reported findings for the Fukushima disaster, we see a theme similar to that of the Deepwater analysis...

• "A cascade of stupid errors that led to disaster."
• "... even concealed problems."

The space shuttle disasters also received incredible scrutiny. The analysis of NASA's decision-making and the decisions of related vendors and partners in the space program identified a key source of those errors. In a researcher's own words...

People are so sure of themselves, when they see something go wrong that they can't fix, they accept it.

The NASA decision-making study said that the researchers found a "normalization of deviance." That's a fancy, rocket-scientist way of saying that problems were swept under the rug.

This was the focus of my coaching comment recently during our team's weekly all-hands call. We want to be aware of our own internal blind spots and not rest on our laurels in what we do.

Hubris, arrogance, and pride are at the center of some of the worst decision-making that led to terrible disasters in history. Intelligence must go hand-in-hand with humility.

Here at Altimetry, we don't deal with life-or-death situations...

But we take our clients' financial well-being incredibly seriously.

Investment research is another business rife with people who are incredibly bright... but sometimes they also have exceptionally large egos that make them blind to data they don't want to see.

When you spend your whole day defending a stock you pitched – whether to colleagues, clients, or friends – you can start to attach the performance of the idea to your own value.

You can start to ignore – or even fight – any signals that disagree with your original thesis for your idea. After all, the contrarian data might mean you were wrong! And if you're on Wall Street, you're a "master of the universe"... so how could you possibly be wrong?

Of course, we strive to hire very smart people here at Altimetry. We also want to make sure that those folks have a strong grounding in humility. We need to be able to learn. We need to be able to realize and accept our mistakes.

Proud personalities make for troubling decisions. Intelligence coupled with arrogance is a deadly combination.

I'll finish with some words of guidance from billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones...

Always question yourself and your ability. Don't ever feel that you are very good. The second you do, you are dead.

Regards,

Joel Litman
April 9, 2021