220. Cobra Effect: No Loophole Goes Unexploited, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, we get to talk about a very fun concept known as the cobra effect or the cobra problem. It is something I included in my upcoming book,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and I was very surprised at some of the early readers who work in the field and wrote comments like “WOW!” or called out this concept by name in their endorsement blurbs for the book.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As I have said on the show before, there are hundreds of concepts, biases and heuristics in behavioral economics and behavioral science that are impacting our actions every day – it is near impossible to keep up with all of them, and sometimes you find a little golden nugget like this one which can be a new discovery for people even when they are experts in the field. I’m definitely not saying that I am the first person to talk about it or that no one knows about it. Rather, when I realized that it might be a little more obscure than I thought, it became a clear contender for its own dedicated episode sooner than later – plus it is awesome and the story of how it got that name is really interesting. Wanna hear that story and how you can use the cobra effect in business? Listen in…</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Show Notes:</span></h3> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">[00:41] Today, we get to talk about a very fun concept known as the cobra effect or the cobra problem. It is something I included in my upcoming book,</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You</span></em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">[03:18] It all started way back when the British ruled India and the city of Delhi was infested with cobras. In order to help with the problem, the British set up a bounty and would pay anyone who brought in a cobra skin to help clean up the streets and keep people safe…b