This idea requires we think ahead, and to think not just about our actions and their immediate impacts, but the subsequent effects of those actions. Those second- and third-order impacts can be disastrous.
Throughout my 30 years, I have witnessed and learned of many examples of the “Law of Unintended Consequences”.
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A CEO who asked a PM to fire a Minister. The PM called the Minister in and said the job was theirs for as long as they wanted it.
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Political groups voting en masse against an amendment they had supported because it was tabled by another Political group, which they voted against.
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A slur against some experts that all but guaranteed their full backing from 27 Member States and the Commission.
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A speaker whose remarks in an event, that deliberately or accidentally got a vital detail wrong and were called out on it. Everything of merit that had been said was subsequently ignored.
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A hysterical press conference that made the organisation look unhinged and made their opponents look majesterial.
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An attempt to change the outcome of a vote in the Committee, by claiming the voting machines were not working properly, because the vote results were wrong. The same vote came back 4 times. The vote was even stronger in the Plenary.
I have a far longer list.
The consequences of these actions were clearly foreseeable. Either fog descended onto people’s eyes, youthful idealism, or they did not know about this helpful mental model.
It should not be an instrument for doing nothing. If you look at the unknowable, the 4th-5th contd. impacts, you’ll be stuck in an endless loop of procrastination. But, looking forward beyond the immediate intended impacts, it will reduce a lot of pain for you.