In a highly regulated environment, people may assume that the rules are being moral for them. There are so many rules, that anything that is within the rules must be OK.
Or maybe a highly regulated environment cultivates a disrespect for rules. If you have to break rules routinely to get your job done, you may not follow the few rules that matter.
There’s a section in Antifragile where Nassim Taleb talks about how viscous and petty academic competition is compared to business competition, and that matches my experience.
Many organizations are designed to work even when people cannot be trusted.
In contrast, my relationship with the local convenience store is based on trust. If he cheats me, of if I try to steal from him, we are not going to get along.
“If you ever have to choose between a mobster’s promise and a civil servant’s, go with the mobster. Any time. Institutions do not have a sense of honor, individuals do.” — Nassim Taleb
Civil servants, or employees of big corporations, may not lack honor so much as power or knowledge. They may sincerely promise you something, but be impotent to carry it out. Or they may be ignorant. They tell you something that they believe that just isn’t true.
In a highly regulated environment, people may assume that the rules are being moral for them. There are so many rules, that anything that is within the rules must be OK.
Or maybe a highly regulated environment cultivates a disrespect for rules. If you have to break rules routinely to get your job done, you may not follow the few rules that matter.
There’s a section in Antifragile where Nassim Taleb talks about how viscous and petty academic competition is compared to business competition, and that matches my experience.
@John
Many organizations are designed to work even when people cannot be trusted.
In contrast, my relationship with the local convenience store is based on trust. If he cheats me, of if I try to steal from him, we are not going to get along.
“If you ever have to choose between a mobster’s promise and a civil servant’s, go with the mobster. Any time. Institutions do not have a sense of honor, individuals do.” — Nassim Taleb
Civil servants, or employees of big corporations, may not lack honor so much as power or knowledge. They may sincerely promise you something, but be impotent to carry it out. Or they may be ignorant. They tell you something that they believe that just isn’t true.