Economist Milton Friedman once said in reference to governmental public policy programs, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” (emphasis mine)
This weekend, I had a fruitful discussion with my youngest son about the importance of measuring success using dispassionate metrics – dispassionate here meaning objective and unemotional.
This is especially true when holding ourselves accountable for achieving results.
Why?
Because we are primarily emotional creatures, and we would much prefer to feel like we are achieving something than give ourselves over to objective measures that prove we are achieving something.
My son is a big fan of professional sports, especially the NFL, so I used the example of a famous football player to illustrate the point of how objective results-based measurements are the key to holding people (oneself, or others) accountable to their intentions.
Tom Brady, likely the undisputed GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) NFL quarterback, will be playing for a new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when the NFL season kicks off in the fall.
Tom brings with him to Tampa an unprecedented resume of real-world success in professional football, as measured by objective, verifiable results – metrics like number of touchdown passes completed, number of games won, number of playoff games won, and number of Super Bowls won.
His achievements on the field are unparalleled.
What Have You Done for Me Lately?
As excited as the Buccaneer franchise ownership, and fans, are about Tom Brady quarterbacking their team, as soon as he takes the field this fall in his new Tampa Bay uniform to receive his first snap from the center, no one will care what Tom’s past results were.
The results clock will reset to zero.
In addition, no one will care what Tom Brady’s intentions are for helping the Buccaneers win football games.
The only thing the Buccaneer franchise ownership, and fans, will care about is Tom’s success on the field this season, as measured by touchdowns and wins.
Trying Versus Succeeding
Professional sports is a brutal business when it comes to accountability to measurable results.
The franchise owners, and the team’s fans, don’t care, at all, about how hard the players on the team “try.”
They only care about measurable success – and that means winning games.
“Trying” is about personal intentions, and is fed by emotional feelings.
“Succeeding” is about measurable results, and is fed by objective data.
Notice something interesting.
In professional sports, that extremely high level of accountability to measurable results, instead of to personal intentions, leads to something remarkable: notice how it forces athletes to continually raise the bar in terms of what becomes the standard of measurable excellence.
For example, if you put the team that won this year’s Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs, on the field against the team that won the Super Bowl just 20 years ago, the Saint Louis Rams, I guarantee you the Chiefs would dominate the Rams, at every position on the field.
Tomorrow, we will turn to the Pro-Life Business Industry to explore the issue of intentions versus results.
Regards,
Brett