About once a year I find a need to use a famous quote. This time the urge came to me as I read a detailed analysis of the human factors surrounding Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 that, last year in March, crashed short of the runway at Amsterdam Schiphol.
In 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy welcomed a large group of Nobel laureates to a dinner at the White House by saying, “This is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
In the 18th century it was possible for a remarkable individual like Thomas Jefferson to have some mastery over most areas of human knowledge. One hundred and sixty years later, even a room full of geniuses could not make a similar claim. I have to wonder if the same thing has happened to our own industry while we were busy cutting costs.
I would never claim to have the intellect of Thomas Jefferson, but whe…
