August 12, 2024
One of my good colleagues had an office space I’ll never forget. Inside the room were towers of books and papers covering the floor like stalagmites in a cave. Just to sit down I had to move books and papers from his couch to make space. It had always been like this in Mitch’s office - a scene seemingly of chaos and disorder. But, as I had grown to realize, that was merely an impression. In a typical wide-ranging conversation with Mitch, a topic would come up that would remind me of something. I’d say, “You know that reminds me of something you wrote a few years ago. Let’s see, what was that . . .?” Mitch would say, “Oh, I know what you’re talking about.” Then, he would get up and go over to one of those paper towers and move his hand down about a foot or so, and gently pull out a paper in which that exact topic had been addressed.
December 10, 2023
Soon after the OceanGate Titan submersible disaster, we learned that the founder of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, disregarded industry safety standards in his effort to be an innovator in the realm of deep-sea submersibles. In leading the design and construction of the submersible, he is clearly implicated in the disaster. Some have blamed Rush’s behavior on his “innovator mindset.” I’d suggest that it was largely due to the mismatch of his decision-making style to his role.