RALPH VON KOENIGSWALD found a pile of old human bones in Java in the late 1930s. The paleontologist was not a student of human nature, but he taught us about it inadvertently. He offered the local people a dime for every hominid bone they brought to him. He would have gotten larger, more impressive pieces for study, it turns out, if the locals had not broken up the bigger bones into smaller pieces to maximize their commissions.
Are you using commission to maximize your profits? Just remember, you are hiring good people with their own best interests at heart, too. You can't just pay commission. Teach your staff about the rules that maximize the long-term goals of the enterprise. Otherwise, they'll do what humans do, and simply worry about their own short-term goals. Teach long-term goals. Seriously.
