topic: [[Doing]] people: #people/naseemtaleb created: 2022-12-08 *Unintended consequences are always stronger than intend consequences.* This reminds me of [[Systems]], and how over time the feedback loops and non-linear relationships create unexpected outcomes. It's kind of like [[beyond "did it work?"]], and the idea that "did it work, or not" is often not the big impact of an intended project. This is a way of thinking, it is a humility to the real world, that tells you the unintended consequences of a project tend to overwhelm whatever you intended. Examples are the business person who starts traveling for work to make more money for his family and his relationships fall apart at home. Or the many examples of introduced species which were hoped to do something positive for a local environment but ended up overwhelming the perceived benefit, see [cane toads in Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia). For an amazing satirical view of this, see the Simpsons ["Whacking Day" episode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whacking_Day) [https://youtu.be/vZ-7c7ryljs](https://youtu.be/vZ-7c7ryljs). This matters because when we come up with our best plans but don't do pilots and implementation research, we end up with a collection of unintended consequences that result in a mess of an organization, process, culture, etc. This is a key role for [[Leader humility]], recognizing the things that were tried where the unintended consequences overwhelmed the perceived benefit, and walking them back. [[management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things]], the best implemented plan can go awry when unleashed on the real world. The idea here is a good reason for [[short assignments and bad first drafts]], doing small pilots and getting them out there in the world. ##### What would the opposite argument be? It's important to tune our projects before they see the real world, we can get close to the right outcomes this way. However, this type of thinking is "Why most Transformation Efforts Fail" - better to use a step-wise approach that has the right checks and balances, start small, and move towards an outcome. tags: #note/statement | #on/design | #on/assessment | #on/leadership ##### Sources: [[Antifragile Book]] Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. _Harvard Business Review_, _March-Apri_, 59–67. [https://hbr.org/1995/05/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail-2](https://hbr.org/1995/05/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail-2)