(This is a silly summary of a small research project .)
Imagine that you are the mayor of Smalltown, USA, a small All-American town full of apple pies, baseballs, and cars. Your job is to keep the apple pies scrumptious, the baseballs soaring, and the cars safe. The first two are easy.
At first, you might think the third task is easy too. After all, the number of cars on US roads has skyrocketed in the last 100 years, but the number of court cases in which people argue over who-caused-this-accident has stayed about the same.
Unfortunately for you, the number of cases where the government gets sued for you-caused-this-accident has increased.
Cases from 1910-20:
75 government entities were named, which is 5.5% of all the parties named
12.2% of cases name a government entity
Cases from 2008-18:
383 government entities were named, which is 12.1% of all the parties named
32.8% of cases name a government entity
There are many ways in which you can be blamed for cars not staying safe. Because you are a modern leader who knows you need to storytell your tiger team the mission critical tasks that they must drill down on and solve holistically, you call your people into your office and start scribbling on a whiteboard.
Ways in which we can potentially be blamed for a car accident?!
You are feeling hysterical. “Which ones do I need to worry about,” you ask.
You have an intern: Palsgraf. Young, eager, and dopey. He pipes up immediately. "The risk reasonably to be perceived defines the duty to be obeyed," he says.
“So I only need to worry about things where I reasonably perceive risk?” Your heart slows down a little.
You have a secretary: McBride. Old, jaded, and smoky. She gives you a look of utter loathing. “You will be blamed if your negligence plays a part—no matter how small,” she says.
“What do you mean?” Your heart speeds up again.
“Leverage,” she says.
Ah, a word you understand. “You mean amplifying co-opetition?”
Her look of loathing intensifies. She walks up to you and tilts the whiteboard. She scribbles on it.
“Look,” she says. “In 1910, the lever was this big. We knew that potholes cause accidents, so people like you got blamed for not fixing potholes.”
“In the 1920s, we put up the first traffic lights. Realized they reduce accidents. The lever got longer. People like you got blamed if they didn’t put up traffic lights.”
“In the 1960s, we realized that seat belts save lives. People like you got blamed for not having laws that require seat belts.”
“Today, we know that not having enough signs on the road causes accidents. Not studying traffic patterns can cause accidents. Not designing intersections for safety can cause accidents. The lever is longer. You’ll get blamed for not taking the small actions that can prevent accidents.”
“Do you see the pattern?” She gives you a look like she barely expects you to be able to tie your shoelaces. “We have more leverage now. We can prevent accidents more easily now.”
“But the risk of a traffic accident cannot reasonably be perceived from something like… like not studying the traffic,” Palsgraf whines. “That’s a distant cause, not a proximate one.”
McBride shrugs.