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A good social system aligns self-interest with the social interest. A successful organization aligns self-interest with the organization’s interest.

Organizations—businesses, governments, teams—whose interests conflict with the interests of their members don’t last very long. It’s often not easy, however, to align everyone’s incentives. Incentives matter—this is one of the key lessons of this book—but getting the incentives right is not always easy. Managers of businesses and sports teams, voters, politicians, parents, all must think about and choose incentives. This chapter is about getting the incentives right and what happens when we get the incentives wrong.