Meltdown (Clearfield And Tilcsik Book)
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''Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It'' is a
non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...
book by Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik, published in March 2018 by
Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...
. It explores how complexity causes problems in modern systems and how individuals, organizations, and societies can prevent or mitigate the resulting failures. ''Meltdown'' was named a best book of the year by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' and won Canada's National Business Book Award in 2019.


Background

The book is the result of a collaboration between Chris Clearfield, a former derivatives trader, and András Tilcsik, a professor at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
's
Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is a graduate business school at the University of Toronto, located at the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. Th ...
. Clearfield and Tilcsik took top honors in the 2015 competition for ''The Financial Times'' and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize with their proposal for a book about how to understand systemic risk and prevent catastrophic failures in business and beyond. The following year, they signed with
Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...
to publish ''Meltdown''.


Synopsis

The first three chapters of the book extend
Charles Perrow Charles Bryce Perrow (February 9, 1925 – November 12, 2019), or Chick Perrow was an American sociologist and a leading figure of organizational sociology. He spent most of his career at SUNY Stony Brook and Yale University as a professor of ...
’s '' normal accident theory''—originally developed in the 1980s—to recent trends, such as the rise of
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, the increasing reliance of organizations on computer-based systems, and the growing
complexity Complexity characterizes the behavior of a system or model whose components interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to non-linearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generally used to c ...
of modern financial, transportation, and communication systems. The authors warn that companies, governments, and even individuals have become dangerously reliant on
complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
, tightly coupled systems and are ignoring simple fixes that could avert both
accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not deliberately caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that the event may have been caused by Risk assessment, unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Many researchers, insurers ...
s and intentional
wrongdoing A wrong or wrength (from Old English – 'crooked') is an act that is illegal or immoral. Legal wrongs are usually quite clearly defined in the law of a state or jurisdiction. They can be divided into civil wrongs and crimes (or ''criminal offe ...
. Each of the remaining chapters focuses on a different set of solutions: designing more transparent and
loosely coupled In computing and systems design, a loosely coupled system is one # in which components are weakly associated (have breakable relationships) with each other, and thus changes in one component least affect existence or performance of another compo ...
systems (Chapter 4); using structured
decision tool In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rati ...
s (Chapter 5); learning from near misses and other warning signs (Chapter 6); encouraging
dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
and
skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...
(Chapter 7); building
diverse Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce * Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers ...
teams (Chapter 8); learning from outsiders (Chapter 9); and preparing for and managing crises more effectively (Chapter 10). In the
epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the ...
, the authors state that humanity is in "the
golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
of meltdowns": though modern systems give us tremendous capabilities, they also make us vulnerable to unexpected system failures. Clearfield and Tilcsik, however, express optimism about the future and argue that the solutions are within reach. At the same time, they caution that putting the necessary solutions into practice is difficult because doing so often goes against our natural
instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing innate (inborn) elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a very short to me ...
s and violates persistent organizational and cultural norms.


Style

The book combines analyses of
case studies A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...
with summaries of
social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
research, drawing on academic studies, accident reports, and original interviews. The case studies include, for example, a failed social media campaign at
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
, a
Thanksgiving dinner The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving is the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail ...
gone awry, the
Three Mile Island nuclear accident The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, located on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The reactor ...
, the
Flint water crisis The Flint water crisis was a public health crisis from 2014 to 2019 which involved the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan, being contaminated with lead and possibly ''Legionella'' bacteria. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, ...
,
Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
’s botched handling of the
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
, the accidents of the space shuttles ''Challenger'' and ''Columbia'', the electronic trading meltdown of
Knight Capital The Knight Capital Group was an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading. With its high-frequency trading algorithms Knight was the largest trader in U.S. equitie ...
, the crashes of flights
ValuJet 592 ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami to Atlanta in the United States. On May 11, 1996, the ValuJet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into the Florida Everglades about ten minutes afte ...
and Air France 447, and the
June 2009 Washington Metro train collision During the afternoon rush hour of June 22, 2009, a subway train wreck occurred between two southbound Red Line Washington Metro trains in Northeast Washington, D.C., United States. A moving train collided with a train stopped ahead of it; th ...
. The academic research covered in the book comes from
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
,
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
,
behavioural economics Behavioral economics is the study of the psychological (e.g. cognitive, behavioral, affective, social) factors involved in the decisions of individuals or institutions, and how these decisions deviate from those implied by traditional economi ...
,
organizational theory Organizational theory refers to a series of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also seeks to explain how interrelated units of organiza ...
, and
neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
, including studies by
Charles Perrow Charles Bryce Perrow (February 9, 1925 – November 12, 2019), or Chick Perrow was an American sociologist and a leading figure of organizational sociology. He spent most of his career at SUNY Stony Brook and Yale University as a professor of ...
,
Diane Vaughan Diane Vaughan is an American sociologist and professor at Columbia University. She is known for her work on organizational and management issues, in particular in the case of the space shuttle ''Challenger'' Disaster. Early life and education ...
,
Karl Weick Karl Edward Weick (born October 31, 1936) is an American organizational theorist who introduced the concepts of "loose coupling", "mindfulness", and "sensemaking" into organizational studies. He is the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Profes ...
,
Amy Edmondson Amy C. Edmondson is an American scholar of leadership, teaming, and organizational learning. She is currently Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School. Edmondson is the author of seven books and more than 75 articles and case studies. S ...
,
Dacher Keltner Dacher Joseph Keltner is a Mexican-born American professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab. Biography Keltner was born in Jalisco, Mexico, to two early members of the co ...
, Gary Klein, Gregory Berns,
Daniel Kahneman Daniel Kahneman (; ; March 5, 1934 – March 27, 2024) was an Israeli-American psychologist best known for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memor ...
, and
Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach ...
, among others.


Reception

The ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' called ''Meltdown'' "an exciting and insightful analysis of why things go wrong and how to avoid catastrophe" and selected it as one of the books of 2018. David A. Shaywitz, reviewing the book in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', concluded that "''Meltdown'' effectively conveys why addressing systemic failures is both difficult and essential: difficult because it’s so much more comfortable to rely on gut instinct and trust familiar colleagues than to insist on structured approaches and solicit the views of others; essential because we are moving into the danger zone and need all the help we can get." Shaywitz called the book’s examples "illuminating" and noted that "where ''Meltdown'' really hits its stride is in taking on the factors that promote
groupthink Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesivenes ...
and discourage dissent." Leigh Buchanan, editor-at-large at ''Inc.'' magazine, named ''Meltdown'' as one of the "eight books you need to read in 2018" and described it as "admirably evidence-based."
Tim Harford Timothy Douglas Harford (born 27 September 1973) is an English economic journalist who lives in Oxford.Forbes.com ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...
, Brook Manville called ''Meltdown'' "a thought-provoking new book" and wrote that the authors "colorfully explain why your job, like everyone else’s in today’s global economy, is becoming part of bigger networks of co-dependent systems, laden with unforeseeable risks and unimaginable outcomes."
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
described ''Meltdown'' as "a useful, thought-provoking book" and "a cautionary study in how complex systems can easily go awry". ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987 to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012 to September 6, 2021. On November 1, 1999, the original incarnation was repla ...
'' co-host
John Dickerson John Frederick Dickerson (born July 6, 1968) is an American journalist and a reporter for CBS News. His current assignment is co-anchoring ''CBS Evening News'' alongside Maurice DuBois since January 27, 2025. His previous roles include ''60 Min ...
called the book "really interesting" and "a great new book." In a book review for ''
Strategy+Business Strategy (from Ancient Greek, Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sens ...
'', Theodore Kinni wrote that "''Meltdown'' is something of a rarity: an enlightening and entertaining business book. It synthesizes the work of experts in high-risk systems ... and builds upon it in an accessible and practical way." The National Business Book Award committee praised ''Meltdown'' for presenting "an innovative and engaging account of how seemingly unconnected disasters in the nuclear, medical and transportation sectors (to name a few) share common causes" and "applying leading-edge social sciences research with riveting real life stories... oexplain how the increasing complexity of our systems create conditions ripe for failure and how our brains can't keep up." ''Meltdown'' received the George R. Terry Book Award of the
Academy of Management An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...
, granted annually to "the book judged to have made the most outstanding contribution to the global advancement of management knowledge during the last two years." The selection committee noted that the book is "both a riveting read accessible to a wide audience, and at the same time, a thoroughly documented contribution to the understanding of organizational failure." The book also won the Thinkers50 Strategy Award in 2019 and was described as "one of the stand-out business books of the last decade."


References


Bibliography

* {{Cite book, title=Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It, last1=Clearfield, first1=Chris, last2=Tilcsik, first2=András, publisher=Penguin Press, year=2018, isbn=9780735222632, location=New York 2018 non-fiction books Technology books Sociology books Popular science books Penguin Books books