In the right context and when appropriately framed, the identification of failure is one the best way to scout out and identify the possibilities for improvement. To the keen entrepreneurial eye, the failure of others can shine light on potential opportunities.
There is a strange idea that has been floating around the world of management for the past few decades. It is this: failure is good and should be both encouraged and embraced.
With the recent interest in applying Austrian economic theory towards a better understanding of managerial effectiveness, there is value in reflecting on Walt Disney’s career through an Austrian lens.
A technique to improving managerial performance when planning is to take into account the second and third-order consequences and implications of one’s actions across an expanding time period. The farther out one is able to project and consider, the better.
The term praxeology is used to convey the general scientific study of human behaviour as differentiated from the study of the clockwork deterministic physical scientific world of natural stuff void of consciousness.
Henry Hazlitt does an excellent job presenting the importance of recognizing and always taking into consideration the likely unseen and unintended consequences of intended action in the realm of economics in his classic book Economics in One Lesson.
Awareness of the Unicorn Problem helps to shine light on why it is that our aspirational good intentions to achieve outstanding results – in politics and in the workplace – so often differ widely from our capabilities and our profound disappointment in the actual results of our collective team efforts.
The impossible task we each have in assessing the effectiveness of our thinking and action is that we cannot observe the results of actions not taken.
Mises held that the virtue of economics was its particular capability in providing insight into the link between human values, human action and desired outcomes. He advocated for a distinct economic way of thinking as a valid and necessary extension of logic, and therefore easily available to everybody.
An irony of launching ourselves into actions to remove obstacles to our well-being is that often the decisions and actions we take actually lead us in the opposite direction.
We live in a culture that would be better served by a more comprehensive understanding of the interrelationship between good ideas and good living.
I just finished reading Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hanson and enjoyed it. Here are a dozen of my favourite quotes from the book.