For over two-and-a-half decades, in thousands of meetings, with an incalculable number of people, I have seen the full spectrum of human behavior at work, at work.<\/p>\n
Scratch any consultant, and you\u2019ll find a theory to explain such behavior. (\u201cWhy do they have a poster with seven strategic objectives but only fund four of them?\u201d Well, you know, I have a theory about that\u2026.<\/em>) Come to think of it, sit next to a drunk and you\u2019ll find universal theories explaining behavior. (\u201cYou know how Grandpa\u2019s eyes follow you around the room in that painting? I have a theory about that\u2026\u201d)<\/p>\n Trouble is, \u201ctheories\u201d only take you so far \u2013 just ask Charles Darwin.<\/p>\n A \u201ctheory\u201d is not<\/strong> unfounded, unstructured, indefensible idea generation. In fact, by definition, a theory must be \u201ca comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n Remember that gravity <\/em>is also a theory. Yet gravity happens. With scary regularity. There\u2019s no \u201cI don\u2019t believe the theory so maybe this time it won\u2019t work\u201d. If you tilt your bottle of beer, it will spill onto the carpet.<\/p>\n It\u2019s almost like it\u2019s the law. But it\u2019s not. And that\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n Ironically, properly crafting a \u201ctheory\u201d \u2013 especially one of human behavior \u2013 requires a remarkable amount of diligence, prescience, understanding, empathy, and brainpower. (For those keeping score, those are all qualities I lack.) A theory needs not only to explain what is happening, but why <\/em>it is happening. Remember, by definition, a theory is \u201ccomprehensive\u201d, \u201csupported by evidence\u201d, and an \u201cexplanation\u201d.<\/p>\n Theories of human behavior are great for\u2026 well, for behavioral theorists. Most of the time, I have zero interest in why<\/em> something happens; my concern is being able to understand and classify what<\/em> is happening. I just need to fathom what my team is facing, so we can get some shit done.<\/p>\n Over the years, during those thousands of meetings, and discussions, and performance reviews, and presentations and negotiations and\u00a0 interviews, I have discovered three immutable truths.<\/p>\n Binney\u2019s Three Laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cLaws\u201d explain what<\/em> is going to happen, each and every time, but will not tell us anything about why<\/em> it will happen. At this point, if you decide to pour that beer on my head, the \u201claw\u201d of gravity will dictate it will leave the bottle at 32 feet per second per second. However, we still need a \u201ctheory\u201d of gravity to explain why it\u2019s coming toward my head and not floating off to the side, or flowing back up toward you.<\/p>\n Of course, laws need to be empirically proven, which is why I, to date, have only coined three. There are various postulates, corollaries, and addenda to support and enhance these laws. There is always the possibility a Fourth may be proclaimed (hello, \u201cIf you have to make a point to say how smart your employees are, they probably aren\u2019t\u201d)<\/em>.<\/p>\n But, in the spirit of taking Action, being ready to move and get some shit done, here are links to Binney\u2019s Three Laws:<\/p>\n If you say you have a Process, but you don\u2019t follow your process, you don\u2019t have a Process.<\/em><\/p>\n All problems are either training problems or leadership problems.<\/em><\/p>\n You are either a Man of Action or a Man of Excuses.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For over two-and-a-half decades, in thousands of meetings, with an incalculable number of people, I have seen the full spectrum of human behavior at work, at work. Scratch any consultant, and you\u2019ll find a theory to explain such behavior. (\u201cWhy … Continue reading Intro to Binney’s Laws<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2147,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1223","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2476,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1223\/revisions\/2476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Binney\u2019s First Law<\/a><\/h4>\n
Binney\u2019s Second Law<\/a><\/h4>\n
Binney\u2019s Third Law<\/a><\/h4>\n