You Don’t Earn Big Rewards by Chasing Small Wins
The long-term strategy you need if you want to be successful
In a pre-independent India, the Government found itself in a tough spot in Delhi. The capital had an unusually high number of deadly Cobras. It was an issue they needed to solve. So to they acted fast to announce bounty for every dead cobra.
It was an instant hit! The natives started killing a large number of snakes every day. Not a single Englishman’s life had been endangered in this operation. And the problem was taking care of itself.
The plan worked well. Almost too well!
It turned out some natives were craftier than they looked. In this reward program, they saw the potential to generate money. So they started breeding cobras.
However, soon enough Government learned about the problem. What did they do next? Once again, they reached for the quickest solution. They scrapped the entire reward system and called it a day.
Now, when the natives’ scheme was called off, they had no use for the Cobras anymore. So they set them free, increasing the wild cobra population.
In the end, the Government did not see the bigger picture. They went for an instant solution…
