The researchers found only one significant difference: one group was consistently quicker than the other to speak up when something was going wrong in their area of responsibility. When they spotted impending failure, they grabbed anyone who would listen—coworkers, their boss, their boss’s boss—and got them involved in figuring out what was going wrong and what could change. The other group tended to minimize potential failure, avert their eyes from warning signs and cover up the eventual damage.
