The session, titled 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship Decisions with Catastrophic Outcomes,' was led by Professor Jaume Armengou. During his presentation, he analyzed the recurring patterns in major business and technological failures, such as Chernobyl, Deepwater Horizon, OceanGate Titan, and the Boeing 737 MAX.
This event coincides with the start of the 39th edition of IESE's Executive Development Program (PDD) in the Valencian Community. This program has trained over 20,000 entrepreneurs and executives, and this year brings together professionals from sectors such as automotive, energy, logistics, food, and ceramics.
“"If you don't innovate, you die, but if you over-innovate, something bad can also happen."
The professor highlighted the entrepreneurial spirit of the province of Alicante, which he described as a "small Bavaria" of industry. He emphasized that innovation is crucial for competitiveness but warned about the dangers of inadequate risk management associated with it. He noted that analyzing extreme cases helps understand everyday business situations, such as the failure of a product line.
Among the common patterns of failures, he cited "toxic metrics" (like focusing solely on revenue without margin), the "toxic success" of executives who reject criticism, the "normalization of deviation," and the "fuse executive" who fails to stop a dangerous situation in time. He also stressed the importance of celebrating certain failures to learn from them and the confirmation biases that prevent recognizing warning signs.
