From the course: Leadership Stories: 5-Minute Lessons in Leading People

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Considering unintended consequences

Considering unintended consequences

From the course: Leadership Stories: 5-Minute Lessons in Leading People

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Considering unintended consequences

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- Some of the more embarrassing leadership challenges are the result of unintended consequences. That usually happens when a leader's trying to fix something, and the new policy they put in place causes more damage than the problem they were trying to solve in the first place, right? So here's a classic example. Imagine it's the last quarter of the fiscal year, and the company is way behind its earnings target. So in order to save money, a temporary rule is put in place for the rest of the year, right? A senior executive, such as a vice president, has to approve all expenses, no matter how small. Now the thinking of course is that if a senior leader has to approve all expenses, everyone will spend less money because they don't want to have to explain themselves to the executive. Well that's the theory, and it sounds plausible enough, but the result is often an absurd set of consequences, alright? The first absurdity is the result of the fact that an executive like that might have…

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