Avoid mistakes.

Here are a few:

1. The Vasa sinking. Listening to your engineers, encourage bad news, and manage scope.
2. The Hyatt Regency walkway collapse. Don't cut corners and make sure everything structural is signed off for real.
3. The Iroquois Theater blaze. Usability-test fire exits, employ redundant safety systems, and design for the Murphy's Law scenario.
4. The Eschede train derailment. Make sure the high speed wobbly train fits in the old narrow tunnel.
5. The Ashtabula Creek Bridge wreck. Be careful substituting ingredients.
6. The St. Francis Dam burst. "It's never wise to underestimate the forces of nature." Don't let ambition outpaced knowledge.
7. The Atlantic Empress/Aegean Captain collision. Commit resources for safe operations, and design sysems so operators can adjust in mid-stream.
8. The day AT&T’s lines went dead. Test your code, and keep the old working version handy.
9. The 1965 Northeast blackout. Ripple effects are real. Look at linkages.
10. The Concorde crash. Look at real world threats and learn from previous design decisions.

Fail early, fail often, and don't repeat mistakes.

This is the path to wisdom.