Lessons from a very messy career that produced wonderful surprises

Teaching undergraduates gives you a different perspective on things. For many, they see their life already laid out: An analyst position at a prestigious bank or consulting firm after graduation, then graduate school and a string of impressive jobs at important institutions. Then family, travel, and maybe a board seat or two. We all know that life is messier than that, but that’s the type of thing you really have to learn for yourself. The management professor Henry Mintzberg once observed that we expect management to be like a conductor with an orchestra, with the leader on a pedestal directing each movement with expert precision. “But,” he argues, “management is more like orchestra conducting during rehearsals, when everything is going wrong.” The truth is that you don’t want things to go exactly as planned. It’s the off-key notes that you learn from most and what often leads to your biggest opportunities. Here are four things I’ve learned from a very messy career that produced wonderful surprises. 1. Incentives rarely work There is an old saying that “when you change incentives you change behavior,” and there is some evidence to support that it can work. For example, the Mexican government program Prospera has been proven to be extremely effective, using cash payments to boost school attendance and preventative health care. Yet research shows that incentives often fail and can even backfire horrendously. Human behavior can’t be boiled down to simple triggers. There are norms that underlie behaviors that are rarely obvious as well as unintended consequences that can warp behavior. The truth is that if you want to motivate people, incentives are rarely the right place to start. As Roland Bénabou and Jean Tirole explained in a landmark paper, there are forms of motivation beyond extrinsic benefits including, most notably, intrinsic motivation and reputational factors. For example, artists often toil for years with little material benefit, but enjoy significant intri