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The Outdated Religion of Goals: Constraints > Goals

2025-06-10

The author reflects on years spent chasing goals, finding that a sole focus on achieving them without inner alignment leads to misdirection. The article critiques goal-setting culture, arguing it transforms uncertainty into an illusion of progress. True innovation often stems from leveraging constraints, not pursuing goals. Examples include John Boyd's OODA loop, Richard Feynman's scientific approach, and NASA's moon landing, illustrating how constraints drive creativity. The author posits that in ambiguous domains, constraints act like machetes, guiding direction better than goals, ultimately emphasizing that identity surpasses image.

(www.joanwestenberg.com)

Misc

The Cannae Problem: How Success Breeds Failure

2025-05-02

This essay uses the catastrophic Roman defeat at the Battle of Cannae as a case study to explore the 'Cannae Problem': how an organization's conventional wisdom and past successes can become the seeds of its destruction. The Roman army, with its standardized and efficient military system, achieved countless victories, yet suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Hannibal's ingenious tactics. Hannibal exploited the Romans' overconfidence and ingrained mental models, turning their strengths into weaknesses, ultimately achieving a decisive victory. The essay analyzes the cognitive biases that led the Roman army into the Cannae trap, including confirmation bias, the curse of expertise, normalization of deviance, and groupthink. Furthermore, it cites modern examples of companies like Kodak, Blockbuster, and Nokia that failed due to the Cannae Problem, and proposes methods to avoid this trap, such as implementing red teams, studying near misses, rewarding productive dissent, and developing multiple mental models. Ultimately, the essay emphasizes the importance of learning from the lessons of the Cannae Problem, avoiding the blind application of past successes to the future, and remaining vigilant against the limitations of one's own mental models.

(www.joanwestenberg.com)

Misc organizational management

Is Online Debate Making Us Dumber?

2025-02-17

The internet promised a renaissance of discourse, but instead, we find ourselves engaged in low-quality arguments amplified by social media algorithms. These platforms reward conflict, making it difficult to change minds and fostering a Dunning-Kruger effect where confidence outweighs understanding. The author argues that online debate actively harms our thinking, suggesting we shift towards deep reading, writing, and more conducive environments for genuine learning, rather than focusing on winning arguments.

(www.joanwestenberg.com)

Misc online debate cognitive bias