How a Vineyard “Improvement” Nearly Destroyed European Wine — and What We Can Learn from It

Lean Blog Audio

The blog post

Sometimes an “improvement” makes things worse. The Germans even have a word for it: verschlimmbesserung.

In this episode, Mark Graban shares the story of how a well-intentioned fix to Europe’s vineyard fungus problem in the 19th century nearly wiped out the continent’s wine industry. The introduction of American grapevines solved one issue but unleashed a far bigger one: phylloxera, a microscopic pest that devastated vineyards, economies, and cultures across Europe — including Mallorca, where wine production lay dormant for nearly a century.

This historical case offers powerful lessons for today’s leaders:

• Why most of the time small, contained tests are best

• When risks are irreversible, testing may not be safe at all

• How to balance experimentation with rigorous risk assessment

• Why good intentions aren’t enough if you create tomorrow’s crisis while solving today’s problem

From vineyards to hospitals, factories, and offices, the challenge is the same: how do we solve problems without making things worse?