The Tragedy Of Mistaking Cause With Effect
Alessandro Carli
Guido Professionisti, Manager ed Imprenditori nello sviluppo di una Leadership Salda, Impattante ed Ispirante in soli 3 mesi! | Seguimi per capire come
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The term "tragedy" may seem a little heavy, but when you realize what it really means to mistake cause with effect, it's actually quite fitting.
No less than 90% of the coaching I have with entrepreneurs, especially the smaller ones, ultimately comes down to control issues. I could go as far as saying 100%, in one way or another, but I'll be conservative and stick to 90%. Having true control over his own business is definitely the biggest challenge any entrepreneur has to face.
We should be aware that this problem also shows up in all other areas of life, like with relationships, health, social, politics and so on, because it ultimately manifests at the systemic level; however, I'll focus on the working environment, here.
Everything in business is about control, and because entrepreneurs have the power to make decisions and to tackle problems as they best deem fit, they are under the illusion of having control. The problem with this is that it's a "mechanistic" type of control that focuses on the EFFECT, believing that it is the CAUSE. This confusion is what actually generates most of the troubles we experience in business.
A typical example of what I mean is poor income. That's a problem, for sure, and you are going to suffer a lot from it if you don't find a solution. So what do most entrepreneurs do, in this case? They are going to try to increase their income, of course. How? Well, they're going to book more sales appointments, hire a new salesman, discount their products, etc. You know this, it's common stuff. But then you also know that it doesn't work most of the time, on the long run.
Poor income is NOT the cause of your problems, it's the effect of something that's going on at another level, more than one, actually. Technical (or conventional) intelligence tends to be mechanistic and non-systemic, and that's why it will provide you with all the possible solutions to overcome the problem, making you feel in control. It may work... for a little while, but because you're operating on a simple effect, you're going to later end up having even more problems down the line.
To make another, more actual example, one which anyone can relate to: terrorism. ISIS has become the new free world's enemy to be beaten, but ISIS is not the problem any more than al Qaeda was. After Usama Bin Laden was killed, everybody celebrated the end of terrorism. Then ISIS comes up and Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is now the new Bin Laden to be eliminated. When and if that should happened, the real question is not IF we are finally done with terrorism, but who's going to be next? How long do we want this to go on for? Do you start seeing the tragedy in this?
It's the exact same thing that happens with businesses. We have a problem, we focus on it, we eventually overcome it, and then we start all over again with new ones, without the faintest hunch that they are exactly the same problems as before, in disguise. So, how can we tell a simple effect from its actual cause?
Whereas an effect always shows up as a problem, a cause is NEVER a problem in itself, but a situation or a state. So, if you start questioning a problem by simply creating a chain of consequences going backwards, you will eventually get to a non-problematic state that must be in any case dealt with.
What's "causing" the poor income? Well, we are not selling enough (problem/effect). Why are we not selling enough? We are implementing weak marketing strategies (problem/effect). Why is that? We are unaware of our market's real needs (problem/effect). Why is that? We don't really "listen" (state/cause).
We could go on with this "why is that?" game forever, but we can stop here because we got to a point where: 1) we shift from an external problem (not selling enough) to an internal problem (not being available to listen enough), and here's where we have 2) more control. There's a paradigm shift that compels you to think from a different level, namely from the emotional one. And that's not all, because you can then further shift from the emotional to the systemic level.
That gives you a lot to work on, but that's where your true control comes from. This would be impossible as long as you as you stick to the technical level which will lead you to mistake just another effect with the cause, thus perpetuating your troubles.
If you want to know more about systems dynamics, you can either download the e-book "Systemic Leadership", here below, for free until the 15th of April, or you can click here: https://goo.gl/8b3ZnL.
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Until April 15th 2016, you can download, for free, my E-book,
"SYSTEMIC LEADERSHIP".
It's an overview on the vast topic of systems dynamics that will surely make you reflect on the way reality actually functions, providing you with insights and tools that will enhance your leadership in today's world, both in business and your personal life.