The Story of the Funky Shaped Nozzle 💨

 Back in the 1960s, Unilever had a problem. Their washing powder grains were of different sizes, and that tiny nozzle kept jamming frequently. As a result, you got poor-quality detergent and lots of machine downtime for maintenance and nozzle cleanups.

Now what do you think Unilever did? They bought in experts who did some complex mathematics and developed a perfect new nozzle. Which did not work.

At their wit’s end, Unilever did something totally unexpected. They bought a team of biologists to replace their crack team of mathematicians.

The biologists didn’t understand high-pressure systems or fluid dynamics or calculations, but what they did understand very well was evolution.

The biologists started with 10 different nozzles – some long, some short, holes big and small, grooves in different places and tested them out.

They took the best nozzle, and made 10 new copies but with tiny tweaks and tested again. They repeated this for 45 cycles, and had 449 failures and 1 clear winner! A nozzle that did not clog.

The biologists had no idea why the funky-shaped nozzle worked. They did not know the math or the science behind this nozzle. But it did the job best.

Way too often we try to make big or radical changes to something that is not working in our lives. Instead of that, can we adopt the funky-shaped nozzle approach?

Try different things, test and see what works slightly better. Repeat until you get the desired outcome.

P.S. If you are ready to level up, work with me for 1:1 career coaching. Hit reply, and I’d love to share more.

💌 Siri