DOCSLIB.ORG

Take the FUN out of Process Safety

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Take the FUN out of Process Safety Safety Take the FUN Out of Process Safety Peter Lodal, P.E. Process safety can be approached in many different Eastman Chemical Co. ways. This article provides an unconventional way of looking at process safety that ties together wide-ranging ideas from seemingly disparate fields. s chemical engineers, we often think of process has all the other ingredients needed for happiness.” safety in terms of process hazard analyses, risk I believe this principle can be extended to understand Aassessments, layers of protection, personal pro­ many other things, among them, process safety. To para­ tective equipment, and the like. This discussion of process phrase Tolstoy: Successful chemical processes are all alike; safety borrows concepts from a wide range of areas, some of every unsuccessful chemical process fails in its own way. which have nothing to do with chemicals, chemical engi­ This statement implies that a successful chemical process neering, or process safety. Ideas from Leo Tolstoy, clinical must succeed at multiple things simultaneously — that is, psychologist Aubrey Daniels, and the German economist all successful chemical processes look alike in the sense E. F. Schumacher, among others, are tied together in this that they all succeed at the same things. This suggests some unconventional exploration of process safety. essential elements of a successful chemical process — things that all must go right for a process to succeed in the Leo Tolstoy and Anna Karenina long term: An unusual character for an article on process safety, Leo • the process must be thermodynamically possible Tolstoy sets the stage for this discussion. Although Tolstoy • the process must be sustainable, in that it: died in 1910, just two years after the founding of AIChE, w meets a market need he articulated a concept in his novel Anna Karenina that we w meets some minimum financial criterion will consider as we begin our journey. The opening sentence w has a consistent supply of raw materials of the seminal novel reads: “Happy families are all alike; w receives intellectual property protection every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” • the process must be legally acceptable, in that it: That famous line led Jared Diamond to coin the phrase w is not specifically illegal or criminal the Anna Karenina Principle (AKP) in his book, Guns, w meets applicable regulatory requirements Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1). Dia­ • the process must be socially acceptable, in that it is: mond extends this principle to evolutionary biology and w safe (i.e., it does not hurt people) the success or failure of civilizations: w clean (i.e., it does not adversely affect the “By that sentence, Tolstoy meant that, in order to be environment). happy, a marriage must succeed in many different respects: Applied to process safety, the Anna Karenina Principle sexual attraction, agreement about money, child discipline, says that safety is just as important — no more, no less — religion, in­laws, and other vital issues. Failure in any one as sustainability and legal acceptability to the success of of those essential respects can doom a marriage even if it a chemical process, as all successful chemical processes * This article is based on a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting, have to succeed at all of these elements consistently, if Oct. 28–Nov. 2, 2012, Pittsburgh, PA. not simultaneously. This conclusion necessitates a cultural 26 www.aiche.org/cep February 2014 CEP Copyright © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) change, not only on the part of business managers, but on • timing — will the consequence occur immediately (I) the part of process safety professionals as well. or at some time in the future (F)? • probability — is the probability of the consequence A cultural change occurring certain (C) or uncertain (U)? In its report “Corporate Governance for Process Safety: • type — is the consequence positive (P) or negative (N)? Guidance for Senior Leaders in High Hazard Industries” (2), Thus, consequences can be Immediate, Certain, and the Organisation for Economic Co­operation and Develop­ Positive (ICP), or Future, Uncertain, and Negative (FUN). ment (OECD) describes the importance of safe operation: The vital cultural change requires that the FUN be “Safe operation and sustainable success in business taken out of process safety. The consequence of taking cannot be separated. Failure to manage process safety can the FUN out would be that process safety incidents are never deliver good performance in the long term, and the prevented early, and willingly, because the managers mak­ consequences of getting control of major hazards wrong ing resource decisions clearly see the immediate, certain, are extremely costly.” and positive benefits of investing in projects that result If effective process safety management is so beneficial, in improved process safety. The consequences of leaving why do leaders not practice it in the short term? Many have FUN in is that skeptical decision­makers may choose to not asked different versions of this question in other venues: make an investment because they cannot see its benefit. • Why do people smoke? • Why do people use drugs? Changing our thinking • Why don’t people wear seat belts? Taking the FUN out of process safety will necessitate • Why don’t motorcyclists wear helmets? a change in the way most chemical engineers think. The answers to all of these questions rest on a behavioral E. F. Schumacher, a German ex­patriate who lived in Eng­ fact that some would rather ignore: There is often a short­ land, describes two types of thinking in his influential book, term benefit for not doing what will benefit us in the long Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (4). term. For example, smoking and drug use produce short­ These modes of thinking, as defined by the British psycholo­ term pleasure for the users. In the same vein, minimizing gist Liam Hudson, are convergent and divergent. process safety can produce tangible short-term benefits (e.g., Convergent thinking involves finding the one unique profits, bonuses, and promotions) to the nonpractitioners. solution to a problem by analyzing material from a variety Thus, we must overcome a huge cultural hurdle. of sources. This kind of thinking is particularly appropriate Cultural changes require behavioral changes. There­ in science, math, and engineering. Divergent thinking, on fore, some behavioral­based safety principles must be the other hand, starts with a single goal (or stimulus) and applied to process safety. How do we apply a behavioral theorizes multiple successful outcomes that might result model appropriately to process safety, without losing focus from the same starting point. This type of thinking is more on the unique aspects of process safety? suited to artistic pursuits. According to Aubrey Daniels (3), a clinical psychologist To succeed at taking the FUN out of process safety, we and founder of Aubrey Daniels International, an Atlanta­ have to think divergently. Divergent thinking is needed to based company that applies scientifically proven laws of break the stereotypical there­is­only­one­correct­solution human behavior to improve business performance: mindset that engineers often have. “People are the most important element of every orga­ One way to do this is by taking a different look at the nization. With the complex challenges facing American familiar, because the answer may depend on things that business leaders every day, the science of human behavior do not directly deal with process safety. After the end of cannot be ignored. Rather, it must be the starting place for World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme every decision we make, every new technology we apply, Allied Commander in Europe who went on to become U.S. and every initiative we employ.” president, was asked what weaponry was the most critical At the core of Daniels’ approach is the ABC Model, in the successful invasion of Europe. His answer was (5): where A stands for antecedents, B for behaviors, and C for “Four … pieces of equipment that most senior officers consequences. Antecedents create favorable circumstances came to regard as among the most vital to our success in for a particular behavior to occur once. Consequences are Africa and Europe were the bulldozer, the Jeep, the 2½­ton the outcome of a behavior. Daniels suggests that con­ truck, and the C­47 airplane. Curiously enough, none of sequences, perceived or previously experienced, play a these is designed for combat.” significant role in managing future behavior (i.e., shaping Just as Eisenhower attributes his war success to items decision­making behavior). not typically thought of as weapons, I believe nontraditional Consequences can be characterized by three dimensions: ideas will contribute to process safety. Article continues on next page Copyright © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) CEP February 2014 www.aiche.org/cep 27 Safety Take the FUN out of process safety benefits of investing in process safety projects. This creates This new way of thinking can be used to discuss the a positive perception for management. FUN elements introduced earlier. One way to look at process safety through a different lens is to tie it to reliability — a Continue to seek solutions metric and its associated techniques that keep the plant An article on nuclear power in The Economist (6) running and that are not normally associated with process included the following statement: “Safety requires more safety. Process safety and reliability are at opposite ends of than good engineering. It takes independent regulation, the same risk continuum — reliability deals with higher­ and a meticulous, self­critical safety culture that endlessly probability, lower­consequence events, whereas process searches for risks it might have missed.” safety addresses the low­probability, high­consequence This endless searching applies to process safety and is at events.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Art of Statistics – Anna Karenina Principle - 2 BS3033 Data Science for Biologists
    The Art of Statistics – Anna Karenina Principle - 2 BS3033 Data Science for Biologists Dr Wilson Goh School of Biological Sciences By the end of this topic, you should be able to: • Describe non-averaging statistics. 2 Nonaveraging Statistics BS3033 Data Science for Biologists Dr Wilson Goh School of Biological Sciences Many test statistics include a component of centrality (averaging) as a means of summarising data; this includes the mean and median in the t- and U-tests respectively. These components of centrality are used, assuming that the average (mean, median, mode) makes informative summarisations. But there are situations when averages are not informative. 4 Correlation measures the extent of information in one variable about another, independent of the absolute or average difference between two variables and allows prediction of one variable from another. Averaging is not necessarily related to correlation. Indeed, their real-life data examples suggested that by removing one sample as the holdout, and computing the minimum/ maximum/ mean/ variance over all variables with remaining samples, the maximum and variance often conveys more information on correlation than the mean. Mitra and Shugan, When and Why Nonaveraging Statistics Work, 2009 5 It is common in biology for relative changes to be more germane than incremental ones. There are two principal reasons for this. One is that certain biological phenomena can only be properly described and understood through relative changes. If we were to count the number of bacterial cells in a specified volume of liquid culture every hour, we might derive the following numbers: 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, 16,000.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Anna Karenina Principle' to Better Understand and Operate Family Offices
    Using the ‘Anna Karenina principle’ to better understand and operate family offices FAMILY OFFICE AND HIGH NET WORTH “If you’ve seen one family office, you’ve seen one family office.” This is a common refrain in the family office space. are predictable and sometimes preventable. In other But this dogma does the family office world a major words, like the happy families in Anna Karenina, the disservice. The sentiment behind the notion points to most successful family offices tend to adopt similar the individuality of every family. However, taking the pathways to solve problems, as well as optimize their phrase at face value can be counterproductive and operations and service delivery. lead to suboptimal advice and outcomes for families. The purpose of this article is to propose a universal, While family offices often spend an inordinate amount working definition of “family office,” a term whose of time and resources maintaining their privacy, they are ambiguity has led to inefficient communication across neither unique (nor uniquely incomprehensible) entities generations, between families and family offices, and that defy evaluation. While each family office is designed between family offices and their advisors. Sometimes around the needs of its principals, best practices do just hearing “family office” will start to generate exist and can be “fitted” to unique circumstances. So, associations for individuals affiliated with a family it is actually quite possible for families to leverage best office. But if those associations don’t come close practices and proven methods to optimize their family to matching an individual’s experience with family office and produce superior results.
    [Show full text]
  • Dictionary of Scientific Principles
    DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES DICTIONARY OF SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES Stephen Marvin West Chester University »WILEY JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC., PUBLICATION Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Ill River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
    [Show full text]
  • Jared Diamond
    mimmmmmamsmm^ : : ;: ; : ;f;'Si V J;U-M |fl*5,;: ui ; ; i^Rir:: 4;, 'i V| ;>:;, '• THE FATES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES Jared Diamond W. W. Norton & Company New York London CONTENTS Preface to the Paperback Edition 9 PROLOGUE YALI'S QUESTION The regionally differing courses of history 1 3 PART ONE FROM EDEN TO CAJAMARCA 3 3 CHAPTER 1 UP TO THE STARTING LINE What happened on all the continents before 11,000 B.C.? 3 5 CHAPTER 2 A NATURAL EXPERIMENT OF HISTORY How geography molded societies on Polynesian islands 5 3 CHAPTER 3 COLLISION AT CAJAMARCA Why the Inca emperor Atahuallpa did not capture King Charles I of Spain 6 7 PART TWO THE RISE AND SPREAD OF FOOD PRODUCTION 8 3 CHAPTER 4 FARMER POWER The roots of guns, germs, and steel 8 5 6 • CONTENTS CHAPTER 5 HISTORY'S HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS Geographic differences in the onset of food production 9 3 CHAPTER 6 TO FARM OR NOT TO FARM Causes of the spread of food production 104 CHAPTER? HOW TO MAKE AN ALMOND The unconscious development of ancient crops 1 1 4 CHAPTERS APPLES OR INDIANS Why did peoples of some regions fail to domesticate plants? 131 CHAPTER 9 ZEBRAS, UNHAPPY MARRIAGES, AND THE ANNA KARENINA PRINCIPLE Why were most big wild mammal species never domesticated? 1 5 7 CHAPTER 10 SPACIOUS SKIES AND TILTED AXES Why did food production spread at different rates on different continents? 1 76 PART THREE FROM FOOD TO GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL I 9 3 CHAPTER 11 LETHAL GIFT OF LIVESTOCK The evolution of germs 1 9 5 CHAPTER 12 BLUEPRINTS AND BORROWED LETTERS The evolution of writing 2 1 5 CHAPTER 13 NECESSITY'S
    [Show full text]
  • Intersemiotic Translation of Russian Classics for Foreign Audiences
    Russian Journal of Linguistics 2019 Vol. 23 No. 2 399—414 Вестник РУДН. Серия: ЛИНГВИСТИКА http://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics DOI: 10.22363/2312-9182-2019-23-2-399-414 ∗ “A Sensible Image of the Infinite” : Intersemiotic Translation of Russian Classics for Foreign Audiences Olga Leontovich Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University 27 Lenin Prospect, Volgograd, 400066, Russia Tianjin Foreign Studies University No. 117, Machang Road, Hexi Disctrict, Tianjin, China Abstract The article is a continuation of the author’s cycle of works devoted to foreign cinematographic and stage adaptations of Russian classical literature for foreign audiences. The research material includes 17 American, European, Chinese, Indian, Japanese fiction films and TV series, one Broadway musical and 9 Russian films and TV series used for comparison. The paper analyses different theoretical approaches to intersemiotic translation, ‘de-centering of language’ as a modern tendency and intersemiotic translation of literary works in the context of intercultural communication. Key decisions about the interpretation of original texts are made by directors and their teams guided by at least three goals: commercial, creative and ideological. Intersemiotic translation makes use of such strategies as foreignization, domestication and universalization. The resignifying of a literary text by means of the cinematographic semiotic system is connected with such transformations as: a) reduction — omission of parts of the original; b) extension — addition, filling in the blanks, and signifying the unsaid; c) reinterpretation — modification or remodeling of the original in accordance with the director’s creative ideas. A challenge and at the same time one of the key points of intersemiotic translation is a difficult choice between the loyalty to the original, comprehensibility for the target audience and freedom of creativity.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:2009.06489V2 [Cs.CY] 21 Sep 2020
    The Hardware Lottery Sara Hooker Google Research, Brain Team [email protected] Abstract Hardware, systems and algorithms research communities have historically had different incentive structures and fluctuating motivation to engage with each other explicitly. This historical treatment is odd given that hardware and software have frequently determined which research ideas succeed (and fail). This essay introduces the term hardware lottery to describe when a research idea wins because it is suited to the available software and hard- ware and not because the idea is superior to alternative research directions. Examples from early computer science history illustrate how hardware lot- teries can delay research progress by casting successful ideas as failures. These lessons are particularly salient given the advent of domain special- ized hardware which make it increasingly costly to stray off of the beaten path of research ideas. This essay posits that the gains from progress in computing are likely to become even more uneven, with certain research directions moving into the fast-lane while progress on others is further ob- structed. 1 Introduction tion between hardware, software and ma- chine learning research communities. Af- ter decades of treating hardware, software History tells us that scientific progress is im- and algorithms as separate choices, the cat- perfect. Intellectual traditions and available alysts for closer collaboration include chang- tooling can prejudice scientists against cer- ing hardware economics (Hennessy, 2019), a tain ideas and towards others (Kuhn, 1962). “bigger is better” race in the size of deep This adds noise to the marketplace of ideas, learning architectures (Amodei et al., 2018; and often means there is inertia in recogniz- Thompson et al., 2020b) and the dizzying re- ing promising directions of research.
    [Show full text]
  • Taylor Rules and the Great Inflation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Volume 34, Issue 4, 903–918
    The Taylor Principles* Alex Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy† David H. Papell‡ Lehigh University University of Houston Ruxandra Prodan§ University of Houston February 8, 2017 Abstract We use tests for structural change to identify periods of low, positive, and negative Taylor rule deviations, the difference between the federal funds rate and the rate prescribed by the original Taylor rule. The tests define four monetary policy eras: a negative deviations era during the Great Inflation, a positive deviations era during the Volcker disinflation, a low deviations era during the Great Moderation, and another negative deviations era from 2001 to 2015. We then estimate Taylor rules for the different eras. The most important violations of the Taylor principles, the four elements that comprise the Taylor rule, are that the coefficient on inflation was too low during the Great Inflation and that the coefficient on the output gap was too low during the Volcker disinflation. We then analyze deviations from several alterations of the original Taylor rule. Between 2000 and 2007, Fed policy cannot be explained by any variant of the Taylor rule while, between 2007 and 2015, Fed policy is consistent with a rule where the federal funds rate does not respond at all to inflation and either responds very strongly to the output gap or incorporates a time-varying equilibrium real interest rate. * We are grateful to John Cochrane, Michael Palumbo, John Taylor, David Weil, and Kei-Mu Yi, as well as to participants in seminars at Notre Dame, San Francisco Fed, University of Southern California, University of Texas, and Texas Camp Econometrics, for helpful comments and discussions.
    [Show full text]
  • Note: Nothing Will Be Turned in for a Completion Grade. You Are
    Note: Nothing will be turned in for a completion grade. You are expected to do the work on your own and be prepared for a test over all material within this packet during the first week of school. AP World History Summer Reading Assignment Part I: To help us prepare for next year we must begin in the summer! Please read and complete the guided questions for Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond and A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. The questions will NOT be turned in for a grade but you will have a quiz on the 1st day of school and a test the second week over both books. Do not wait until the last minute to complete this assignment as you will not be prepared. Helpful Hints: 1. The book is a challenge. I know and understand this! You must work at actively reading and interpreting what you have read. This will be a skill you utilize in college! 2. Use a dictionary! If you do not understand a word. Look it up! 3. When answering the questions you may use bullet points. 4. You may want to spend a little time becoming better acquainted with our world – 5. Concerns or Questions??? Email me at [email protected] Guns, Germs, and Steel – Guided Reading Questions! Prologue: Yali’s Question 1. What is Yali’s Question? 2. What are three considerations Diamond discusses as he ponders Yali’s question? From Eden to Cajamarca Chapter One: Up to the Starting Line 3. What was the “Great Leap Forward”? Which peoples did it impact, and what probably catalyzed this change? Chapter Two: A Natural Experiment of History 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Anna Karenina Principle - 1 BS3033 Data Science for Biologists
    The Art of Statistics: Anna Karenina Principle - 1 BS3033 Data Science for Biologists Dr Wilson Goh School of Biological Sciences By the end of this topic, you should be able to: • Describe the Anna Karenina principle. • Describe the power of context. • Describe changing perspectives. 2 The Anna Karenina Principle BS3033 Data Science for Biologists Dr Wilson Goh School of Biological Sciences Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. ~ Leo Tolstoy Translation: There are many ways to violate the hull hypothesis but only one way that is truly pertinent to the outcome of interest. 4 The elements of null hypothesis statistical testing. True Negative True False Negative Statistical Test / Null Condition No Effect (Gene is Null Condition Irrelevant) Retained True Positive True False Positive Statistical Test / Null Condition No Effect (Gene is Null Rejected (Gene Irrelevant) may/may not be relevant) 5 Lack of $ No Leisure Time No Communication Awful in-laws Happiness requires positive fulfillment of all possible categories. Failure in any leads to unhappiness. Scandals Incompatibility 6 Monday False Dichotomy Null; Gene does not cause disease Tuesday Alternative: Gene causes disease of gene A of gene Abundance Abundance Wrong Test Construction Batch Effect Observed Theoretical Change Gene A Frequency Normal Diseased Wrong Null Distribution Gene is Relevant A True Cause Draw 1 Draw 2 B X C Phenotype Frequency B is reported but is merely correlated to A Chance Association Non-causal Association Only 1 of the causes for null hypothesis rejection is the one we want. 7 Subpopulation Effects Random Wrong Null Sampling Distribution Error Causes of Anna Karenina 8 Power of Context How to avoid Anna Karenina? Changing Perspectives 9 Random Sampling Error – The Anna Karenina Principle BS3033 Data Science for Biologists Dr Wilson Goh School of Biological Sciences Consider a gene rs123 with two alleles, A and G.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdf: 6 Feet Apart
    Message-Based Study Guide for Small Groups and Individuals Six Feet Apart - As You Wish Ephesians 5:21-28; Philippians 2:3-8 October 4-10, 2020 All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. --First sentence of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina ​ In the line above, Tolstoy was conveying the point that happy families exhibit or practice some common critical behaviors and attitudes. Unhappy families, on the other hand, practice any number of negative behaviors or attitudes that lead to discontentment and unhappiness. This line has become commonly known as “the Anna Karenina principle” and has been applied to circumstances outside of families. Based on the Anna Karenina principal, for example, a couple must exhibit certain critical behaviors or attitudes for a marriage to be successful, a scientific process must contain certain critical elements to work, an employee must practice certain critical behaviors to be successful at the job, etc. Answer and discuss the following question with your group 1. Do you think a happy marriage just works or do you think it depends on certain fundamental behaviors and attitudes? What critical behaviors and attitudes are needed for a marriage to be happy? What kinds of behaviors or attitudes can lead to an unhappy marriage? Read the following excerpt out loud or watch message segment #1. An excerpt from the StoneBridge message, “As You Wish”. Today is an ingredient that if we will put into practice just might be the secret sauce. We don’t like this ingredient; we think that the secret sauce is a great body and a great paycheck.
    [Show full text]
  • Communication, Creativity and Consilience in Cinema
    THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE Communication, Creativity and Consilience in Cinema A comparative study of the Top 20 Return-on-Investment (RoI) Movies and the Doxa of Screenwriting Joseph Tesla Velikovsky Bachelor of Arts (Communication) (UoN) Postgraduate Screenwriting Certificate (AFTRS) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to The School of Design, Communication and Information Technology, Faculty of Science and Information Technology, University of Newcastle, Australia. October 2016 Velikovsky - Page | i The thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to the final version of my thesis being made available worldwide when deposited in the University’s Digital Repository**, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. **Unless an Embargo has been approved for a determined period. Name: Joseph Tesla Velikovsky Velikovsky - P a g e | ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & DEDICATION My thanks to my doctoral supervisors Dr Michael Meany and Dr Susan Kerrigan for all their helpful guidance, support, advice and wisdom. Thank you also to all scholars in the School of Design, Communication and Information Technology (DCIT) and the Communication and Research Group (CAMR) at the University of Newcastle. My thanks also to my fellow Creativity and Evocriticism research scholars, to the Australian Writers Guild, the Australian Directors Guild, the Digital Humanities Research Group (DHRG) and to Dr Ian W.
    [Show full text]
  • Anna Karenina Principle, with Its Popularisation by Jared Diamond in His Book ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’
    LSE Business Review: To drive innovation, you must understand your ecosystem Page 1 of 5 To drive innovation, you must understand your ecosystem In 1878 Leo Tolstoy released what would become one of his most acclaimed works, the novel ‘Anna Karenina‘. The book started with a quote that over the centuries has transcended disciplines: ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’. When taken literally, the quote is a good reflection on family life and family conduct. But as a metaphor, the quote has found application in different fields, from anthropology to ecology, and from philosophy now to business. The quote became the Anna Karenina Principle, with its popularisation by Jared Diamond in his book ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’. In the book, the principle illustrates why – throughout human history – so few wild animals have been successfully domesticated. A deficiency in any one of a high number of factors can render a species not able to be tamed. Therefore, all successfully domesticated species are not so because of a particular positive trait, but because of a lack of any number of possible negative characteristics. The Anna Karenina Principle can be summed up as: a deficiency in any one of several factors dooms an endeavour to failure – consequently, a successful effort (subject to this principle) is one where every possible deficiency has been avoided or overcome. With more and more businesses understanding the importance of building innovation ecosystems to ensure sustainable future growth, the Anna Karenina Principle comes to the forefront again in the context of improving or changing these ecosystems.
    [Show full text]