De Beers is widely known for the slogan 'A Diamond is Forever.' The giant mining company that owns this subsidiary is Anglo American. Cynthia Carroll took office as the CEO of Anglo American in March 2007. She was the first female CEO of the company.
Three months after Carroll took office, a fatal accident occurred at the platinum mine of the subsidiary Anglo American Platinum. Upon receiving the report, she immediately ordered a complete halt to operations in nine platinum mine shafts. Since labor costs would continue even without mining platinum ore, this was a measure that would accumulate the total amount as a loss for the company. This was the reason why previous CEOs did not respond to mining accidents with a complete halt in operations.
What was the strength behind the decision to incur massive losses and halt operations completely?
“We must listen to the opinions of all workers before resuming mining operations.” Carroll instructed this. Anglo American Platinum identified risks that had been overlooked on-site and conducted safety training. At the same time, they improved the shafts to meet higher standards. Thus, for several weeks, they implemented a comprehensive response while enduring a loss of $40 million. They continued to take fundamental measures afterward. For example, in February of the following year, they established and began applying the '10 Rules for Preventing Fatal Accidents' based on best practices from around the world.
Previously, the annual number of fatalities was 29, but during Carroll's tenure, it was reduced to 13 per year.
This case was introduced in 《The Power of Intuition》, written by Laura Huang, a professor at Northeastern University in the United States. The original title of this book, recently translated and published in Korea, is 'You Already Know: The Science of Mastering Your Intuition.'
Professor Huang primarily studies individual judgment and decision-making, as well as successful strategies in uncertain environments. Carroll was a manager who refined her intuition, and thus, when a fatal accident occurred, she was able to make and execute bold decisions immediately, according to Professor Huang.
“When information and experience are processed through intuition, intuition develops”
Readers who have read this far may have noticed. The Korean translation uses the term 'intuition' in the title, while the original uses 'intuition.' What is the difference between the two concepts? The author explains that 'intuition' is a process, and the capability that is manifested as a result of that process is 'gut feel.'
“Intuition is a non-sequential information processing process. Intuition allows one to judge or make decisions about something through the interaction of external data and personal knowledge and experience, whether in a short or long processing time. Intuition is a process, and as a result, a moment of clarity that we recognize as gut feel appears.”
《The Power of Intuition》 does not quote Carroll, a representative figure who 'turned gut feel into a decision-making weapon.' What was the strength that allowed Carroll to make bold decisions quickly, even when executives advised against it?
Looking at related articles, it is noted that Carroll had a sense of the issues surrounding fatalities in the mining operations even before the accident occurred, and even before she took office as CEO of Anglo American. Therefore, she viewed mining accidents not as an inevitable constant but as an improvable variable. She was particularly aware that the platinum mine in South Africa, a subsidiary, was at the worst level in terms of safety. She had researched improvement cases that could support the idea that it was a variable that could be targeted and reduced. She also had a rough idea of the types of countermeasures and the order of execution to reduce fatalities.
Recognizing accidents as 'improvable variables' rather than 'inevitable constants'
Thus, for Carroll, the accident can be seen not as an unexpected situation but as a trigger to bring out countermeasures. The complete halt of mining operations was an unexpected measure for the existing management regarding a recurring incident, but for Carroll, it was a natural response.
Carroll's response can be explained by the concept of 'sensation.' Sensation is used to classify specific events or situations into appropriate types (categories) and to apply proven solutions from those types. Applying this to the platinum mine accident, the questions to ask would be: “Is it accidental or chronic? If chronic, is it an improvable type, a type with little effect from improvement efforts, or a type with significant improvement effects, and what methods have already shown effectiveness?”
Meanwhile, the premise of raising such questions is the redefinition of values. Carroll rejected the existing perspective that such levels of fatalities and injuries are acceptable, emphasizing repeatedly that human life and safety are more important than profitability.
The sense of a skilled worker is cultivated through the practice of abstracting specific situations
'Gut feel' and 'sensation' are nearly overlapping concepts. The latter is emphasized in Japanese corporate culture. In 《Doing Well at Work》, co-authored by a Japanese professor and consultant, sensation is described as the source that allows one to make decisions quickly and confidently even when faced with new tasks and situations.
Where does confidence and speed come from? This book tells the background as follows.
“In the business world, it is inevitable that unknown new phenomena appear every day for that person. However, for those who can abstract it with their own logic, it is not an ambiguous unknown world. Because they can bring out and utilize their inherent experiences and knowledge, the unknown world becomes 'a path once traveled' and 'a landscape seen somewhere at some time.' Therefore, even when faced with new tasks and situations, they can make decisions quickly and confidently.”
The two authors suggest that such sensation is often thought to be instinctive and innate, but in reality, it is quite retrospective and acquired. “Everyone has honed it over time through their own trial and error.”
So how can one develop their sense or intuition? “It is not easy. Therefore, there is no perfect answer, but the 'ability to alternate between the concrete and the abstract' may be the closest answer.”
It is said that the study mind and the work mind are different. A significant part of that difference arises from the fact that the situations learned from textbooks and reference books differ from those encountered in the field. Do you want to develop your work mind? Practice abstracting the concrete you encounter in reality or categorizing cases while honing your 'sensation' or 'gut feel.'
