CURSE OF ACTION: Promising Is Safer than Doing
A phenomenon accompanying any activity, the curse of action, means that doing something can lead to more resentment than not doing something. The more resources involved, the more polarizing the evaluation of your actions will be.
Imagine you give away green, crispy 100-euro bills to people in the streets. Would you make the lucky getters happy while the “non-getters” stay neutral? No way.
There will be various responses to your weird generosity. Many will hate you because they received nothing. Still, even many who got the green crispy will hate you for getting less than their neighbor because “It is unfair!”
The curse of action is a curious phenomenon that politicians must know well: by promising something, you can get more supporters than by doing something.
When you promise something, people can easily apply it to themselves. Thus, if a thousand listen to you, some 800 would think you were talking about them. In a way, you are selling the future that many people find appealing—and you do not spend much.
Words are cheap. At 1.5 calories of energy expenditure, one can generate 150 words every minute. Imagine how many promises a politician can make at the cost of one candy bar!
By the way, it’s measurable. One Peter Paul’s “Almond Joy” can sustain you for 22000 words and 37 grams of “Fazerina”—20300, or almost three hours (!) of nonstop promising. Isn’t that impressive?
In three hours of talking, you can build worlds and populate them with happy citizens enjoying accessible healthcare on green pastures and even greener electricity produced on rivers flowing with milk and honey.
Yet, when you do actual work, you need much more than that: money, time, people, planning, etc. All these resources are limited. So unless you have supernatural powers to feed the multitude with five loaves and two fishes, you will have to decide who out of a thousand will get the five loaves and who—the two fishes, which means that the majority might not benefit from your actions.
Moreover, when doing something, you can make mistakes—the more demanding and innovative the job, the higher the probability of an error or failure. Meanwhile, those who did nothing and ate candy bars will point their tacky fingers at you.
So, do not worry about resentment. It is a natural side effect of any action.
By the way, politicians do not worry: they know well that it is always easier to explain why they did not do what they had promised than doing it, spending resources, and having people criticize them. Sins of omission are cheaper than sins of commission.
{FAIL FORWARD, TRIAL AND ERROR, THE DICHOTOMY, CURSE OF KNOWLEDGE, SUCCESS AND FAILURE, LEADERSHIP SKILLS, BOSSES AND LEADERS, WORK: Q&As}