The Cobra Effect: When Your Best Intentions Backfire

What this episode covers

Many years ago in India, the story goes, there was a cobra infestation in the city of Delhi. So the British - who were running the place at the time - created a bounty for cobra skins. They thought by offering a reward for dead cobras, the public would solve the snake problem. But instead of capturing feral cobras and killing them, people started farming cobras for their skins. The British eventually got wise to the cobra-farming industry, and canceled the bounty. But with no bounties to collect, the cobra farmers set their snakes free in the city —  making the infestation even worse than before. It’s from this likely ahistorical story that the so-called Cobra Effect gets its name. Join me today as we examine the Cobra Effect. The systems that have fallen victim to it and how you - and your brand - can outsmart it.