This model is pretty freaking cool.\u00a0 I think about it in terms of blockers at the partnership I manage. If I do everything right with the organization, but there’s one powerful person who doesn’t support the project, all the work I would have put in amounts to nothing.\u00a0 Since I don’t have a lot of time today, I’ll paste the relevant material from Farnam Street.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We all learned in math class that anything times zero is zero. But if you stop thinking about the idea here, you don\u2019t see all the practical applications that understanding multiplicative systems can give you in life.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s run through a little elementary algebra. Try to do it in your head: What\u2019s 1,506,789 x\u00a09,809 x\u00a05.56 x\u00a00?<\/p>\n
Hopefully, you didn\u2019t have to whip out the old TI-84 to solve that one. It\u2019s a zero.<\/p>\n
This leads us to a mental model called\u00a0Multiplicative Systems<\/strong>\u00a0and understanding it can get to the heart of a lot of issues.<\/p>\n
The Weakest Link in the Chain<\/h2>\n
Suppose you were trying to become the best basketball player in the world. You\u2019ve got the following things going for you:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0God-given talent<\/strong>. You\u2019re 6\u20199\u2033, quick, skillful, can leap out of the building, and have been the best player in a competitive city since you can remember.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0Support.<\/strong>\u00a0You live in a city that reveres basketball and you\u2019re raised by parents who care about your goals.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0A\u00a0proven track record.\u00a0<\/strong>You were the player of the year in a very competitive Division 1\u00a0college conference.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0A clear path\u00a0forward.\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019re selected as the second overall pick in\u00a0the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n
Sounds like you have a shot, right? As good as anyone could have, right? What would you put the odds at of this person becoming one of the better players in the world? Pretty high?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s add one more piece of information:<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0You\u2019ve developed a cocaine habit.<\/strong><\/p>\n
What are your odds now?<\/p>\n
This little exercise isn\u2019t an academic one, it\u2019s the sad case of Leonard \u201cLen\u201d Bias, a\u00a0young basketball prodigy<\/a>\u00a0who died of a cocaine\u00a0overdose after being selected to play in the NBA for the Boston Celtics in 1986. Many call Bias the best basketball player who never played professionally.<\/p>\n
What the story of Len Bias illustrates so well is the truth that anything times zero must still be zero, no matter how large the string of numbers preceding it. In some facets of life, all of your hard work, dedication to improvement, and good fortune may still be worth nothing if there is a weak link in the chain.<\/p>\n
Something all engineers learn very early on is that\u00a0a system is no stronger than its weakest component<\/strong>. Take, for example, the case of a nuclear power plant. We have a very good understanding of how to make the nuclear power plant quite safe, nearly indestructible, which it must be considering the magnitude of a failure.<\/p>\n
But in reality, what is the weakest link in the chain for most nuclear power plants?\u00a0The human beings running them.<\/em>\u00a0We\u2019re part of the system!\u00a0<\/strong>And since we\u2019ve yet to perfect the human being, we have yet to perfect the nuclear power plant. How could it be otherwise?<\/p>\n
An\u00a0additive system<\/strong>\u00a0does not work this way. In an additive system, each component adds on to one another to create the final outcome. Going back to algebra, let\u2019s say our equation was additive rather than multiplicative:\u00a01,506,789\u00a0plus<\/em>\u00a09,809\u00a0plus<\/em>\u00a05.56\u00a0plus\u00a0<\/em>0.\u00a0<\/i>The answer is\u00a01,516,603.56<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 still a pretty big number!<\/p>\n
Think of an\u00a0additive system as something like a great Thanksgiving dinner.\u00a0You\u2019ve got a great turkey, some whipped potatoes, a mass of stuffing, and a lump of homemade cranberry sauce, and you\u2019re hanging with your family. Awesome!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say the potatoes get burnt in the oven, and they\u2019re inedible. Problem? Sure, but dinner still works out just fine. Someone shows up with\u00a0a pie for dessert? Great!\u00a0But it won\u2019t change the dinner all that much.<\/p>\n
The interaction of the parts makes the dinner range from good to great. Take some parts\u00a0away or add new ones\u00a0in, and you get a\u00a0different<\/strong>\u00a0outcome, but not a\u00a0binary,\u00a0<\/em>win\/lose\u00a0one. The meal still happens. Additive systems and multiplicative systems react differently when\u00a0components are added or taken away.<\/p>\n
Most businesses, for example, operate\u00a0in a multiplicative system. But they\u00a0too often\u00a0think\u00a0<\/em>they\u2019re operating in additive ones:\u00a0Ever notice how some businesses will add one feature on top of another to their products but fail at basic customer service, so you leave, never to return? That\u2019s a business that thinks it\u2019s in an additive system when they really need to be resolving\u00a0the big fat\u00a0zero\u00a0<\/em>in the middle of the equation\u00a0instead of adding more stuff.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Financial systems are, of course, multiplicative.\u00a0General Motors,<\/strong>\u00a0founded in 1908 by William Durant and C.S. Mott, came to dominate the American car market to the tune of 50% market share through a series of brilliant innovations and management practices and was for many years the\u00a0dominant and most admirable corporation in America. Even today, after more than a century of competition, no American carmaker produces more automobiles than General Motors.<\/p>\n
And yet, the original shareholders of GM ended up with a\u00a0zero<\/em>\u00a0in 2008 as the company went into bankruptcy due to years of financial mismanagement. It didn\u2019t matter that they had several generations of leadership: All of that becomes\u00a0naught in a multiplicative system.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
On a smaller scale, take the case\u00a0of a young corporate climber\u00a0who feels they just can\u2019t get ahead. They seem to have all their ducks in a row: great resume, great background, great experience\u2026the problem is that they suck at dealing with other people and treat others like stepping stones. That\u2019s a zero that can negate\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0of the big numbers preceding it. The rest doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
And so\u00a0we arrive at the \u201cmust be true\u201d conclusion that understanding when you\u2019re in an additive system versus\u00a0a multiplicative system, and which components need absolute reliability\u00a0for the system to work, is a critical model to have in your head.\u00a0Multiplicative thinking<\/strong>\u00a0is a model related to the greater idea of\u00a0systems thinking,<\/a>\u00a0another mental model\u00a0well worth acquiring.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This model is pretty freaking cool.\u00a0 I think about it in terms of blockers at the partnership I manage. If I do everything right with the organization, but there’s one powerful person who doesn’t support the project, all the work I would have put in amounts to nothing.\u00a0 Since I don’t have a lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jongore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}