The Fosbury Flop

The Fosbury Flop & the Dunning-Kruger Effect
When Richard Fosbury surprised the audience with a new world-record in high jump at the Olympic Games in Mexico, I was just about 1 year old. Too young to understand what he achieved. I learnt about him long time later and was surprised how professionals and experts looked at him as an outsider with little chance to achieve anything meaningful.

Richard proved them all wrong and demonstrated their cognitive limits. He broke the world record with his declined technique by jumping backwards with a curved body while all others used really awkward looking ways to jump over the bar. 

Soon after Richard's breakthrough, his technique has established as THE standard...despite Cassandra.

I am sure that such incidents still happen a lot no matter in which field. Many great ideas vanish because of prejudice and limiting spartial sense. Our experience is based on what we have seen working and other things we've seen went badly. 

It's all too natural that we enforce our "formula" of success for future undertakings while we tend to reject what sounds strange or what reminds us to past bad experiences.

But, do we really understand the reasons for our success and are we clear about all factors that led to good or bad experience?

Many great ideas vanish because of some crestfallen and misled decision makers ruling their little universe. Some ideas may show up again years or decades later and claimed as the new hype while the original inventors in vain long disappeared in the dark.

Some of the knowledge and theories that people apply to their actions are sound and meet with favorable results. Others are wrong-headed or incompetent.

Want some examples?

1. Mr. Arthur Wheeler who robbed two banks at broad daylight with this face rubbed with lemon juice. He was convinced the videotape cameras could not render it. He was arrested the same night (Fuocco 1996).
   
   
2. 271 Fearless, was a courageous woman who proved them all wrong when old grey men claimed "Women can't and must not run a Marathon". At the Boston Marathon, some unreasonable errants tried to push her out of the crowed while running. With her courage, she changed the minds and enabled women being accredited to run Marathons despite all that hypocritical advices.
   
   
3. Switzerland introduced the right for women to vote in 1971. Why did that take so long? If you watch interviews in Switzerland shortly before the elections, it is shocking to hear what the people had in their mind at that time. Believe it or not, but Afghanistan allowed women to vote 8 years before Switzerland.

So what?
Don't laugh at crazy ideas. Accept exotic or extraordinary thoughts and suggestions as a possible alternative even if you don't like it. Don't deny it just because it doesn't fit into your pattern of thinking. Give the team a chance to fail and succeed. If the idea proves wrong, at least you have some facts at hand to argue. If it succeeds, you have helped an innovative team achieve a breakthrough.