How do Murphy's Laws affect entrepreneurs?

HOW DO THE MURPHY LAWS AFFECT ENTREPRENEURS?

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Murphy's Laws are principles that are used in many different fields, including business and entrepreneurship. They state that "if something can go wrong, it will go wrong" and are used to illustrate the inevitability of mistakes and problems.

In the context of entrepreneurship, Murphy's laws can affect entrepreneurs in a number of ways including

  1. Planning: Murphy's laws suggest that even with careful planning, unforeseen events and problems can arise. Entrepreneurs should take this possibility into account and plan realistically, including a margin for contingencies.
  2. Decision-making: Murphy's laws also suggest that decisions can have unintended consequences. Entrepreneurs must make decisions based on sound information and by considering possible future scenarios.
  3. Risk management: Murphy's laws illustrate the importance of risk management in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs must have a plan to manage risks and minimise the impact of problems.
  4. Attitude: Finally, Murphy's laws can affect the attitude of entrepreneurs. It is important to have a positive attitude and persevere despite the obstacles that may arise.

In a nutshell, Murphy's laws are a reality in entrepreneurship and can affect entrepreneurs in various ways. The key is recognise the possibility of unforeseen events and problems, and plan, make decisions, manage risks and maintain a positive and persevering attitude.

Practical examples of Murphy's laws in entrepreneurship

Some practical examples of Murphy's laws in entrepreneurship include:

  1. Murphy's Law in the launch of a product: Despite all the necessary tests and verifications, the product does not work properly at the time of launch, which can lead to delays and financial losses.
  2. Murphy's Law in the financing of a company: When an entrepreneur needs funding for his business, he may find that investors are not interested in investing in his project, even though he has made an impeccable presentation.
  3. Murphy's Law in the selection of a team: Despite having hired the best professionals, communication problems or internal conflicts may arise, which can negatively affect the team's performance and the company's productivity.
  4. Murphy's Law in project development: In the development of a project, unforeseen events such as delays in the delivery of materials, supply chain problems, among others, may arise, which can cause delays in the schedule and increase project costs.
  5. Murphy's Law in strategic planning: In a company's strategic planning, it can happen that a strategy that seemed to be the most appropriate one does not have the expected result, which can lead to rethinking the strategy and looking for alternatives.

In summary, Murphy's laws can affect entrepreneurs in various aspects of their business, and it is important to be prepared to face unforeseen situations and to have a contingency plan to minimise risks.

Murphy's Law, which can be summed up in the phrase "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". This law was coined by a US air force engineer, Edward Aloyusius Murphy Jr. in 1947. Although the law may seem negative, some argue that it can also have a positive approach, since if one is striving to achieve a goal and puts all one's efforts and dedication into it, the outcome will be much better and more positive than expected.

In the context of entrepreneurs, Murphy's laws can be applied to everyday situations, such as project management, administration and decision-making. By accepting that things can go wrong, entrepreneurs can be more proactive in finding solutions and planning to mitigate potential risks. Some corollaries of Murphy's Law for entrepreneurs include phrases such as "nothing is as easy as it looks", "everything takes longer than you think" and "every solution brings new problems".

In this TIP we discuss the importance of accepting that things can go wrong and being proactive in finding solutions. Murphy's laws can be applied by entrepreneurs in project management and decision making, helping to prevent or mitigate potential problems in the future.

Murphy's Law for Entrepreneurship

You could say yes:

  • Are you one of those who tend to see things positively or negatively?
  • Do you consider yourself a proactive or reactive person?

Surely, on some occasion you have had to attend an event at work, or a party at home, one in which you have had to buy a few things, indispensable things such as food, drinks, cutlery, etc.

And, upon arrival at the supermarket, Having just filled your shopping trolley, you approach to pay, and find that there are about 20 tills set up but only 5 are open, and they have long queues.

You get behind the people with the least stuff, the ones you think will pay the fastest. In the meantime, you notice that the queue on your right is going faster than you, time passes and you don't make any progress; more people keep arriving to pay, so you get desperate looking at the clock, and you change to the queue on the right.

Just as you change, the person who is paying starts to have problems, one of his items is not priced, or he didn't weigh the tomatoes, then the cashier calls the manager to authorise a price, and you are stopped. In the meantime, you see how everyone behind you is moving on, and some of them have even left the supermarket,

No matter what you do, you see with despair that all the ranks are advancing, except yours.

When you finally get to the box, you realise that you are practically the last one to pay, you look at your watch and see with despair that you can't do anything to be on time for your appointment: You have wasted too much time!

These kinds of everyday situations, between surreal, comical and irritating, can be classified or described under the well-known Murphy's Law:

"Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong".

This famous law was coined in 1947 by a US Air Force engineer. Edward Aloyusius. Murphy Jr. while participating in a sled rocket programme, which totally failed because 16 accelerator instruments were incorrectly installed, a fact which inspired Murphy to coin the following phrase/Law:

"If there are two ways of doing something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will take that way.

In fact, this last law was the first law that Murphy proposed:

Edward Murphy then generalised his concepts with the now popular law: "Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong".which is considered the mother of a series of phrases, laws and corollaries that he and other authors dedicated themselves to creating and compiling in order to publish that famous book with the title: Murphy's Law and other reasons why things go wrong (Author: Arthur Bloch).

Different views of Murphy's Law for entrepreneurship

In principle, Murphy's Law for entrepreneurship seems to be coined from an entirely negative point of view, because its advocates just expect and almost take it for granted that everything will go wrong, no matter what they do or don't do. However, this law is not without controversy, because many of us are of the opposite opinion, and argue that the law is positive.

Murphy's Law for entrepreneurship is positive

in the sense that if you are striving to achieve an objective, or complete a goal, as long as you put in as much effort and dedication as possible knowing that everything will go wrong, the result will always be much better and more positive than you expected from the beginning.

Inspired by the above, I propose a selection of some phrases and laws of Murphy's Law for entrepreneurship (From the book by Arthur Bloch)We hope that they will provide us with positive insights, especially for the purposes of entrepreneurship, project management and administration:

Some corollaries to Murphy's Law for entrepreneurship:
  • Nothing is as easy as it seems.
  • Everything takes longer than you think.
  • When things are left to their own devices, they will go from bad to worse.
Murphy's philosophy: Smile, tomorrow could be worse.
  • As soon as you start doing something, you will realise that there is something else you should have done first.
  • Any solution entails new problems.
  • It is useless to make anything foolproof, because fools are very resourceful.

Boling's postulate: If you feel fine, don't worry, it will pass.


Ken's Law: A moving particle will seek the nearest eye.


Law of the lie: No matter how often a lie is proven false. There will always be a certain percentage of people who believe it to be true.


Kranske's Law (corollary to the previous one). If you explain something so clearly that no one can misunderstand it, don't worry, someone will.


Fahnstock's rule on failure: If you don't get it right the first time, destroy all evidence that you have tried.


Finagle's second law: No matter what the expected outcome. There will always be someone impatient for:

  1. Mby interpreting it.
  2. Imitate him.
  3. Believe it was because of their pet theory.

Murphy's Law paradox for entrepreneurship:

It is always easier to do it the hard way.

  • Tylczak's postulate on probability: The most accidental (or fortuitous) events tend to happen all together.
  • Observation of Oiens: The fastest way to find something is to start looking for something else.
  • Boob's Law: Things are always found in the last place you look.
  • Heid's Law on queues (or rows): Whatever time you arrive, there will always be more people in the queue.
  • Johnson and Laird's Law: Toothaches always start on Friday nights. Corollary: If you are the boss, your employees' toothaches always start on Monday mornings.

Annex to Murphy's Law: In precise mathematical terms, 1+1=2, where the symbol "=" means "rarely", "if at all".

  • Flugg's Law: It is when you need to knock on wood that you realise that the world is made of aluminium and vinyl.
  • Inapplicable law: Washing the car to make it rain does not usually work.
  • Perrusel Law: There is no task so simple that it cannot be done badly.
  • Murphy's Law on thermodynamics, and I would say on decision-making: Everything that is subjected to high pressures gets worse.
  • Allen's Law: It is almost always easier to get in than to get out.
  • Owen's theory of organisational deviance: "Every organisation has a certain number of places allocated for unqualified people to fill".. Corollary: "When one of these unqualified people leaves, another will be hired.
  • Goia's theory: "The least qualified person has the most say.
  • Observation on Management: Staff inefficiency and stupidity correspond to management inefficiency and stupidity. If you do something and you are sure that you will meet with everyone's approval, someone is bound to dislike it.
  • Amand's Law of Direction: Everyone is always somewhere else.
  • The danger of genius: Every boss will always fire an employee who is always right.
  • Lippman's motto: People always specialise in the subject they know least about.
  • The Law of the Great Idea: By the time you have come up with the ideal solution, someone else has already solved the problem.
Things to rely on during a crisis:
  1. Mecadotecnia (Marketing) says yes.
  2. Finance says no.
  3. The Legal Department has to review it.
  4. Human Resources is concerned.
  5. The Planning Area is in a frenzy.
  6. Engineering passes everything.
  7. Production wants more space.
  8. Management wants to hold someone accountable.
  • Jacobson's Law: The less work an organisation has, the more often it reorganises.
  • Roger's First Law: Authorisation for a project shall be granted only when none of the authorisers can be blamed if the project fails, and all can take credit for it if it is successful.
  • Conway's Law: In an organisation there is always one person who knows what is going on, or what is really going on. And that person needs to be fired immediately.
  • First rule of superior inferiority: Don't let your superiors realise that you are superior to them.
  • Whistler's Law: You never know who is right, but you always know who is in charge.

As you gain experience, you discover that you learn to live with many aspects of Murphy's law for entrepreneurship. To take these laws as valid is an intelligent way of seeing and accepting "...the law of the law".Failure"It is like accepting that something may not work out, and this is not conformism as long as we have tried hard enough.

If we do a job with dedication, efficiency and quality, we can expect it to be rated well or not, but if we do not put enough effort into it, failure, bad ratings, negative opinions and rejections are guaranteed.

MAXIMUM MATCH

A fool in an elevated position is like a man on the top of a mountain. To the latter everything seems small and he seems small to everyone.

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CASE STUDY

Juan is a young entrepreneur who decided to launch his own cleaning services company. From the beginning, Juan faced several obstacles that made him think that everything that could go wrong, would indeed go wrong.

At first, things seemed to be going well. Juan got several clients and his business started to grow. Soon, however, problems began to arise. One of his employees became ill and was unable to work for several days, which led to delays in cleaning services and customer complaints. In addition, a supplier failed to deliver supplies, further delaying the work.

Despite all this, Juan decided to keep a positive attitude and find solutions to the problems instead of letting the situation overwhelm him. He sought help from other suppliers to cover the lack of supplies, and hired a temporary worker to cover the work of the sick employee. He also communicated with his customers to explain the situation and ensure that they were satisfied with the work being done.

Thanks to Juan's positive and proactive attitude, he was able to overcome obstacles and keep his customers satisfied. Over time, his company grew further and became a successful cleaning services company in the area.

In short, John maintained a positive attitude despite the fact that Murphy's laws were at work in the creation of his company. Instead of being overwhelmed by problems, he found solutions and made sure to keep his customers satisfied.

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Picture of Jaime Cavero

Jaime Cavero

Presidente de la Aceleradora mentorDay. Inversor en startups e impulsor de nuevas empresas a través de Dyrecto, DreaperB1 y mentorDay.
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