Five Classic Causes of Unintended Consequences
In this video, Paul talks about Robert Merton's mention of the five causes of unintended consequences, which are error, basic values, short-term vs. long-term interests, ignorance, and the self-defeating prophecy.
Overview
In the paper he wrote in the 1930's, Robert Merton mentioned the five causes of unintended consequences. The five causes are error, basic values, short-term vs long-term interests, ignorance, and the self-defeating prophecy.
Key learning objectives:
Learn about Robert Merton’s five causes of unintended consequences
Learn about the different types of error
Understand what are basic values
Learn the types of Short-term vs Long-term interests
Summary
Expert
Paul Orlando
Paul's writing on "unintended consequences" comes from his work delving into the systems that he works to impact. He is the founder of Startups Unplugged, a consulting firm devoted to helping large organizations execute with the speed of startups. To do this, Paul often builds startup accelerators and incubators, helping organizations generate more revenue and enabling communities to attract new businesses. He is adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, running the institution's Incubator and in the past built other innovation programmes globally including AcceleratorHK in Hong Kong and the Laudato Si startup incubator in Rome. Paul graduated from Cornell University and Columbia Business School.
