“It might be assumed that the flying machine which will really fly might be evolved by the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanicians in from one million to ten million years.”
So declared the New York Times in October 1903.
Barely two months later, the Wright Brothers successfully made the first controlled flight of an engine-powered aircraft.
How did they do it?
By actually learning to fly.
Let me explain…
Wilbur and Orville Wright, a pair of inseparable brothers pinpointed the start of their love affair with flight to one childhood moment.
Their father had brought home a toy helicopter. Though rudimentary, this helicopter was capable of sustaining flight across the room. It mesmerised the brothers. So much so that when it broke they went ahead and built their own version. Thus began their obsession with flight.
Fast-forward roughly 20 years and the brothers owned a bike manufacturing business which they used to fund their still ever-present interests in flight. They’d see images of other aeronautical advancements and think, “We could do better.”
In 1986, a German pioneer named Otto Lilienthal was tragically killed in a glider accident. This was the moment when the Wright Brothers decided to take their obsession even more seriously.
Now, at the time, the inventors, scientists, and engineers who had tasked themselves with building the world’s first aeroplane were all taking a similar approach. They mostly believed the key to success lay in building a more powerful engine and a more rigid structure.
But the Wright Brothers thought there was a missing third element: actually being able to control the plane. This, they decided, was the key to creating sustainable (and safe) flight.
They had to learn to fly.
And so they looked to the experts: birds.
Observing birds led the Wright Brothers to a game-changing insight. Birds would bank into the turn, adjusting the angle of their bodies and wings. Essentially tilting to one side or the other and using the wind to change direction.
This was the Radical Insight the brothers needed.
This insight, inspired by nature itself, led the Wright Brothers down the path to success. After several years of development, tinkering and testing, they eventually designed a working plane.
In the final weeks of 1903, the first flight lasted 12 seconds.
It was 12 seconds that changed the world. In the century that followed, humanity would put a man on the moon.
But how did a couple of bike manufacturers beat some of the world’s greatest engineers to the punch?
Well, they did it by thinking differently. More specifically, they did it by ignoring assumptions and by observing.
Most would-be aviators were treating flight in the same way we treated travelling on the surface. Their assumption was that a plane could be controlled through the same steering mechanisms that worked for cars.
But the Wright Brothers dismissed that for what it was, pure guesswork. And instead they decided to look to the skies and see for themselves how flight worked. Ultimately, simply by choosing to stop assuming and start looking, the brothers were able to make giant leaps.
Now think about your industry.
How much of what is done, what you do, is because of assumptions? If the answer is most of it, then you’re stuck in the status quo with everyone else.
Instead, think about how you can use direct observation. Talk to prospects. Dive deep into how they think. Watch customers in action. Understand how they behave. That endless curiosity and astute observation is how you uncover the truth. And the truth will set you free.
Or at least give you a Radical Insight.
PUZZLE OF THE WEEK
I love puzzles. And I think they’re a great way of training you to think differently. I’m convinced they help me do my job better. And so I thought I’d share a puzzle with you each week.
You can think about it over the weekend and reply to this email with your answer. If you’re correct you’ll get a shout out in next week’s newsletter.
Here goes…
A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work.
In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment.
Can you explain why?
That’s all for today. As always, thanks for reading.
Yours radically,
Joe