The Two But Rule

CHAPTER 2No Buts Allowed

Have you ever found yourself in the shoes of Cassandra, the priestess of Apollo gifted with foresight but cursed so that all her prophecies fell on deaf ears? Or have you ever found yourself in a company full of would-be Cassandras, always predicting disaster? Neither situation is much fun.

It's true that cultures dominated by negativity tend to be stagnant cesspools of inaction. And habitually saying “But that won't work” will get you nowhere (and earn you a reputation as an obstructionist to be ignored), but there's another momentum killer that's even more insidious. And it's on the rise.

We live in a culture of correctness, toxic positivity, and general avoidance that leaves us utterly bereft of our buts, incapable of pointing out problems or even fully realizing there are any problems to solve. In such an environment, nobody wants to hear about your but, even if you come with two buts in hand. Call it the no-buts policy.

Admittedly, the proximate cause of a no-buts policy is usually a long-standing culture of negative 1Butism that long ago eroded the organization's ability to innovate. Unfortunately, if 1Butism is a momentum killer, a no-buts policy is worse.

The Tragic Buts of Facebook and Lehman Brothers

Sandy Parakilas was a Facebook platform operations manager responsible for protecting the personal information of the social network's users. His special focus was third-party developers that provided a variety of services—from games like