Marshall Goldsmith [Archive.org URL]

Superstition is merely the confusion of correlation and causality. Any human (in fact, any animal) tends to repeat behavior that is followed by positive reinforcement. The more we achieve, the more reinforcement we get. One of the greatest mistakes of successful leaders is the assumption, “I behave this way, and I achieve results. Therefore, I must achieve results because I behave this way. […] One of my greatest challenges is helping leaders avoid the “superstition trap.” This occurs when we confuse “because of” and “in spite of” behaviors.

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