The Law of Unintended Consequences: A Rarely Talked About Leadership Failure
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Over the last week, I have seen a couple of LinkedIn posts about ‘The Cobra Effect’. (Here is the post I saw first.)
The Cobra Effect
In an effort to reduce the number of cobras, the British government offered a bounty for every dead snake brought in. People got creative and began breeding cobras. Once the caught on, it stopped paying. The breeders released their cobras in the wild. Suddenly, there were more cobras than ever before.
This story perfectly explains the law of unintended consequences. It happens all the time.
Wolves in Yellowstone – The U.S. government eliminated wolves to protect local livestock. This led to a massive increase in the deer population.
Kudzu – The vine was introduced in the American South as ground cover. No one realized that none of the local animals or insects would eat it, creating a never-ending battle to control its spread.
Chinese Sparrows – As part of its Four Pests campaign, the government eliminated sparrows to keep them from eating grain. They did not account for the insects that the birds ate. The resulting explosion in insect populations was a major factor in the great famine of the late 1950s.
In the Business World
UPS Holiday Guarantee - UPS launched a guarantee to deliver all packages by Christmas. The promise resulted in exponentially more orders than anticipated. They could not keep the promise.
Wells Fargo's – Their infamous cross-selling incentives led to the creation of unwanted and fake business accounts.
There are always unintended consequences. Most of them could be avoided if leadership asked some basic questions, like:
What will happen if we exceed the target by 15%, 30%, or more?
What happens if we miss the target?
What is the cost of setting up the program and subsequently shutting it down?
It all comes down to being willing to ask yourself the question “What if I am wrong?”
Related Articles
History of Wolf Management | National Park Service
The Four Pests Campaign: Objectives, Execution, Failure, And Consequences | World Atlas
13 Notorious Examples of Strategic Planning Failure | achieveit
Laws are passed with the best of intentions by parties of all political persuasions. With the best of intentions, regulations are put in place by bureaucrats. Often, unintended consequences occur. This is the worst story I have ever read that proves the old adage, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
She Held Her Baby for an Hour. Then the State Took Her Away. | The New York Times
Chips and Salsa: Snack-sized news and posts
Companies talk about business continuity planning. Reshersals are rare. The plans are often underfunded. In IT, systems are tested to ensure they function as designed. Systems are rarely tested with a mindset to see if “we can break the system” to look for weak points or external threats. IT is a company’s nervous system; nothing works without it.
What United Airlines’ Tech Failure Reveals About Organizational Fragility | Medium
Ninety-five percent of lists are either junk or simply state the obvious. This one is a rare exception; every entry is worth consideration. I would rephrase the heading for number 5: Without security, happiness is fleeting and unsustainable. If you live in a house of cards, you are always in fear of a gust of wind.
7 brutal truths boomers learned at 25 that today's millennials still don't know at 40 | VegOut
The United States was uniquely blessed. The Founding Fathers were all brilliant people. George Washington had a unique gift for understanding the importance of precedent and the need for stability.
George Washington’s worries are coming true | The Conversation
One factor of the housing crisis that receives insufficient attention is the historically low interest rates that prevailed after the 2008 financial crisis. When the economy recovered, I believe central banks should have begun to gradually increase interest rates in 2011 or 2012. A half percent a year for two or three years would have avoided today’s interest rate trap.
Six-Chart Sunday – Housing Emergency? | Brude Mehlman's Age of Disruption
Our careers are our responsibility. Employer-led career development programs are helpful but limited, because they only look at careers in the context of their anticipated needs. Careers are not linear. Career plans should not focus on job titles. Plans should focus on what you need to learn to grow and thrive, and what jobs and employers will enable those goals.
5 Career Goals To Set As The ‘Great Lock In’ Trend Goes Viral | Forbes
When Milton Friedman said that a company’s only obligation was to increase shareholder/investor returns, the stage was set for ideas like this one. From the early days of activist investors (Boskey, Ichan, Milken) to investment bankers and private equity firms, corporate loyalty to employees faded into oblivion. This is when employees stopped being loyal.
I wonder whether we have returned to the era of B-movies. There was a time when studios cranked out hundreds of movies a year. Only a few were intended to be blockbusters. We ended up with a lot of mildly entertaining and forgettable films. A few, however, surprised everyone with their quality. Casablanca may be the most famous of these.
Why Netflix Struggles To Make Good Movies: A Data Explainer | Stat Significant
Lawsuits shape our lives in many ways. Most of the time, we don’t even know it's happening.
9 Lawsuits That Help Shape The Golf Equipment World | My Golf Spy
AI will be as transformative as the smartphone, but no more. It is a tool that will evolve over the next several years. The products will get better. The markets will consolidate. We will learn how to use it properly.
AI is costing jobs, but not always the way you think | Marketplace
Why Everyone is Wrong About AI (Including You) | The Knowledge Project on YouTube
Wall Street bet on AI is too big to fail | Axios?
Quotes
“Order. Counterorder. Disorder.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
- Peter Drucker
“Science is the belief in the fallibility of experts.”
- Richard Feynman
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I write about leadership in business and life. I am a certified M&A Specialist and Leadership coach. My perspectives are based on my 40+ year career working with leaders from around the world at over 100 companies.
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