Chapter 10Measuring the Progress of Change

One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.

—Milton Friedman

In my first week of work after graduating from college, my manager told me, “People will respect what is inspected.” He proceeded to inform me of the exact criteria that he would use to measure my performance. I remember them clearly: “Make 10 sales calls and build displays of our products in three retail stores every day.” I had to complete and submit a daily call report to track my performance. I knew what he was going to discuss with me every week: my adherence to these criteria and progress in achieving even higher levels of results.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but having ...

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