The Lightbulb and the Curious Professors

At a symposium of modest or perhaps immodest calibre, three doctors of science ended up sharing drinks in a hotel room: two physicists and a mathematician. All men. They sat, conversed intelligently, and then the ceiling lamp burned out with a faint hiss. Since the only light source was gone and the atmosphere with this particular company was drifting toward the perversely romantic, they called reception. A man in overalls arrived, apologised, climbed onto a chair (shoes removed first), unscrewed the dead bulb, handed it gently to one of the physicists who placed it on the table, then screwed in a new and functioning replacement from his overall pocket, climbed down, put his shoes back on, wished the doctors a pleasant evening, and left.

The mathematician warmed his brandy glass between both palms and asked, nodding toward the table: "Did you know that if you put a lightbulb in your mouth with the base facing out, you cannot get it back out again?"

Both physicists perked up. Urban legend, they declared. Physical nonsense. If it goes in and the mass and volume do not change in the meantime - and so on and so on - it must come back out.

The brandy may have played a role. One of the physicists grabbed the dead bulb from the table and pushed it into his mouth.

It did not come back out. Verified and scientific fact.

Pause.

They called a taxi and drove to the emergency room. The taxi driver glanced at the bulb man in his mirror but did not dare ask. At the reception desk, the duty nurse could not understand anything at first because the two who could still speak were talking at the same time. Finally they showed her the patient. The nurse, convulsing with laughter, managed only to wave them vaguely toward the surgeon's office.

The surgeon was clearly a man who had seen things. He pressed certain points on the back of the patient's skull with a crack, the mouth opened even wider, and the bulb came out. The head was stuck at an odd angle and the jaw would not close. The surgeon reassured the trio - temporary paralysis of the reflex receptors, full motor function restored in 30 to 40 minutes, no complications ever.

They left. Got into the taxi.

The second physicist turned the removed bulb in his hand. "That sort of thing is simply not possible," he said.

And pushed the bulb into his own mouth.

The taxi turned around. They entered the emergency room. They picked the nurse up off the floor. They went to the surgeon, who - while expertly cracking the second skull - informed them of his opinion regarding idiots who stuff lightbulbs into their mouths at night. They took the bulb with them and left.

The taxi driver squinted at the two men with locked-open jaws in his back seat and finally dared to ask what was going on. The mathematician explained. Even fished the bulb out of his pocket. The taxi driver did not believe it.

They turned the taxi around. Drove to the emergency room. This time the nurse could not be calmed down enough to stay upright on her own. The surgeon removed the bulb from the taxi driver's mouth and smashed it under his heel with the words: "Otherwise you lot will have me here until morning."

They drove back toward the hotel. Since the taxi driver's head was stuck at an angle with his jaw locked open, he could not develop any significant speed. Approaching the police station, the crawling taxi caught the attention of a uniformed officer smoking on the pavement. He waved the car over. Leaned down. Looked inside. And asked: "Where are you taking these imbeciles?"

The only person who could still speak was the mathematician, and he protested: "What imbeciles? There are three doctors of science in this car!" And told the policeman more or less the entire story.

The policeman ordered them not to drive any further and entered the station. A moment later, the lights went out inside. The policeman emerged, opened the rear door of the taxi, and squeezed himself in next to the physicists. A lightbulb base protruded from his mouth.

They turned around. Drove to the emergency room. They did not even attempt to revive the nurse this time - straight to the surgeon. They knocked on the door. The surgeon opened it.

His head was tilted back. His jaw was locked wide open.

Some lessons can only be learned by personal experience. No amount of evidence, expert testimony, or watching five people fail before you will prevent the sixth from trying. If you have ever wondered why your team keeps repeating the same mistake after a thorough debrief - now you know. Curiosity and the need to verify are not weaknesses. They are strengths. Right up until the moment someone hands you the lightbulb.

Mats Soomre | Training & Team Coaching by Soomre

For a more serious take on why teams repeat each other's mistakes, read Google Spent Years Researching What Makes Teams Work.