"marginal cost analysis" and "just this once&

An everyday system, TM, is a simple, commonsense solution to an everyday problem, grounded by a pun or metaphor. Propose/discuss new systems here.
Post Reply
User avatar
reinhard
Site Admin
Posts: 5918
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:38 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA
Contact:

"marginal cost analysis" and "just this once&

Post by reinhard » Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:48 pm

Some support for "strictness makes it easier" from a Harvard Business Review article by Clayton M. Christensen:

http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-mea ... -life/ar/4

Unconsciously, we often employ the marginal cost doctrine in our personal lives when we choose between right and wrong. A voice in our head says, “Look, I know that as a general rule, most people shouldn’t do this. But in this particular extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK.†The marginal cost of doing something wrong “just this once†always seems alluringly low. It suckers you in, and you don’t ever look at where that path ultimately is headed and at the full costs that the choice entails. Justification for infidelity and dishonesty in all their manifestations lies in the marginal cost economics of “just this once.â€

I’d like to share a story about how I came to understand the potential damage of “just this once†in my own life. I played on the Oxford University varsity basketball team. We worked our tails off and finished the season undefeated. The guys on the team were the best friends I’ve ever had in my life. We got to the British equivalent of the NCAA tournament—and made it to the final four. It turned out the championship game was scheduled to be played on a Sunday. I had made a personal commitment to God at age 16 that I would never play ball on Sunday. So I went to the coach and explained my problem. He was incredulous. My teammates were, too, because I was the starting center. Every one of the guys on the team came to me and said, “You’ve got to play. Can’t you break the rule just this one time?â€

I’m a deeply religious man, so I went away and prayed about what I should do. I got a very clear feeling that I shouldn’t break my commitment—so I didn’t play in the championship game.

In many ways that was a small decision—involving one of several thousand Sundays in my life. In theory, surely I could have crossed over the line just that one time and then not done it again. But looking back on it, resisting the temptation whose logic was “In this extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK†has proven to be one of the most important decisions of my life. Why? My life has been one unending stream of extenuating circumstances. Had I crossed the line that one time, I would have done it over and over in the years that followed.

The lesson I learned from this is that it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,†based on a marginal cost analysis, as some of my former classmates have done, you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place.

kccc
Posts: 3957
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:12 am

Post by kccc » Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:10 pm

I read the entire article - excellent! Thank you for sharing.

Graham
Posts: 1570
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:58 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by Graham » Sat Sep 25, 2010 11:25 am

I read the extract and then the whole article. It was a rather sobering read. Approaching 60 I wish I'd read it a long time ago. I also wish everyone else had read it, and that the people who raised me had read it. It would be well if it were widely read - imagine if most people of influence knew and abided by these principles.

I'll have to re-read this article many times to get the most out of it - I wonder if I really will? As the saying has it, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

Post Reply