The foibles of the human animal are universal, crossing all human-instituted lines of demarcation.

Within the business world, greed-based financial shenanigans have been the front-page foible for quite awhile.

Deterrents in the US run the gamut from negative media coverage to jail time, in Japan, humiliation and job loss, while in China, they often carry a death sentence, but none seems to have the desired effect.

Why? Every animal I’ve ever read about has learned by watching others to avoid danger, and often warns others when it’s present—but humans don’t seem to learn.

Animals learn of danger and, by instinct, avoid it; whereas human animals learn of danger, and, by intelligence, often choose to ignore it.

What is it in the human animal that prevents deterrents from having their desired effect?

It’s the dark side of what I’ve previously described as the “but me” factor.

It’s certainly something to think about, and to remember, the next time you’re tempted and have a choice to make.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 11:54 am and is filed under Business info, Culture, Leadership, Motivation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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