The Wright brothers succeeded in flying the first airplane while better funded groups failed. Their creative problem-solving approach can be summarized in seven key principles. Author Mark Eppler dubbed these the "Wright Way" principles. When applied to business challenges today, Eppler argues these principles can empower organizations to soar beyond expectations. The principles enabled the Wrights to identify the right problems to tackle. They broke large problems into manageable pieces and made incremental progress. The Wrights forged ahead confidently despite external criticism. They built prototypes and learned from frequent small tests. The Wrights complemented each other's strengths for the best solutions. Their story proves creative problem-solving can overcome huge obstacles.
The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, frequently engaged in intense, enthusiastic debates as they discussed ideas and options for solving the problem of human flight. These “thunderous” debates were constructive rather than destructive conflict, allowing them to thoroughly evaluate alternative theories of flight until they arrived at practical, robust solutions. Their constructive conflict worked well because both men valued learning over winning arguments, sought convergence on the best ideas no matter their origin, genuinely listened to each other, remained flexible in their thinking, and had the self-confidence for vigorous debate without escalating to anger or personal attacks. Organizations should embrace similar constructive conflict or “forging” to drive innovation through thorough vetting of new ideas. Before implementing forging, honestly assess your culture for openness to debate without taking offense, establish a clear objective so all understand good ideas are the goal regardless of source, keep discussion lively but civil by arguing without anger, set boundaries to maintain constructive debate, protect people’s self-image by attacking ideas not individuals, allow optional participation, periodically reverse positions to build empathy and avoid personalities, focus on the best ideas not consensus or compromise except as a last resort between equally strong ideas, and include some non-experts to avoid status quo thinking. Forging has limitations so be selective about applying it. Also, know how to end discussions well once resolved to avoid beating dead horses. When done properly, forging can lead to superior solutions through constructive conflict, just as it did for the Wrights in developing the first flying machine.
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