If you change what gets measured, you’ll change what gets done. The nodes in the system work to achieve their goals, and that effort, coordinated without a coordinator, creates the forward motion and power of the system. How do people know what to do? They know what they want. They want status, affiliation, comfort, freedom from fear, and convenience. But each of us is a bit unsure how to get those things. And so we seek out proxies. Getting into a famous college isn’t the cause of satisfaction. It’s a goal, an achievable proxy, a way to tell ourselves a story. The same is true with making
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