This week, there was a great episode on the Freakonomics Radio podcast. Freakonomics is one of my favorite books, and it’s fun to listen to weekly episodes that highlight examples of the Law of Unintended Consequences…
The episode is the first in a multi-part series on Reparations… not only looking at race but also exploring the history of women’s soccer (for all you sports fans!) Here it is:
As discussions about racism continue both in the workplace and outside of it, I’m finding it increasingly important to be able to distinguish the people from the systems. If we don’t recognize this distinction, our natural human tendency is to defend ourselves as ‘good people’ which will never lead to change. For example, I recently heard someone claim ‘my husband is a cop, and he’s a good guy’. That can be true AND the policing system can be designed in such a way to uphold discrimination. It’s not one or the other. I’m purposefully not describing the policing system as “broken” after exploring the ideas in Dan Heath’s new book Upstream. His premise is based around this quote: “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets,” – Paul Batalden. So while I personally believe the results of current policing practices are flawed, I shouldn’t claim that the system itself is broken. It’s operating as designed. (Insert emoji of me getting off my soapbox…)
I’ll spare you from my new obsession which is exploring how the concepts in Upstream can be applied to our day jobs
Have a wonderful weekend,
#courageousconversations #blacklivesmatter #wecandobetter