Since our managers were on profit bonuses, we
explained that we believed their dollar aggregate of busi-
ness would decrease but their profits would increase.We were wrong. Both aggregate and profit went up. This was
when we found out that less is indeed more. The very pleasantunintended consequence of getting rid of other lines of mer-
chandise was that sales actually increased and we were on the
way to a far better future.I recall the story of the eons-ago firing of a long-termexecutive who had a reputation of cruelty to other em-
ployees. Rather than being happy that he was gone, the
translation to the other employees was that nobody’s
job was safe, a consequence that was most unexpected.Most stories of unintended consequences are horror stories.One thing any successful entrepreneur must do is think of the
unintended consequences of the gestures that he or she plans to
take. This must become stand-in nature for you. After attending
a seminar at the Menninger cellar, one of our executives
repeatedly quoted the mantra, “When you light up one button
some others automatically turn on.”Even the most irrefutable things like a raise can have such con-sequences as “I thought it would be more” or anger on the part
of those who did not get a similar raise. You dare not assume
that any gesture will not have other consequences.
