[April 27, 2015] Failure to recognize possible unintended consequences from decisions anticipated otherwise, is a failure of leadership. On this date in 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act; designed as an advantage to both the British Empire and the American Colonies. Unexpectedly, the American revolutionary leadership convinced other colonists that the Tea Act was another example of taxation tyranny.
So what? What does history have to say about present day? Passage of the Tea Act pushed the colonies onto a path that led directly to the American Revolution … and that is a lesson for all senior leaders. The failure of Lord North Frederick, the British Prime Minister, thought it impossible that the colonist would protest cheap tea … he was wrong.1
The Tea Act, while it lowered the cost of British tea, left in place an earlier duty on tea entering the colonies, removing only duty on tea entering from England. It did not go unnoticed that the act also created a monopoly for the British tea with its lower price.2 Due to the passage of the Tea Act, later in 1773, American Patriots famously dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped the British tea chests.
Outraged, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts and closed Boston Harbor. Less than two years later, the American Revolution began in earnest. At the end of the war, the cost to the British Empire was more than the loss of a war but the loss of its reputation as a world power that was defeated by a ragtag group of savage revolutionaries.3 There were, of course, a number of misjudgments about the American colonies that the British failed to recognize … the Tea Act being simply one of the biggest problems.
Leaders must be able to predict potential consequences of any of their actions, regardless of whether they will come true. Contingency plans should be made to overcome specific problems associated with them. Predicting those consequences is the peak of skill in any leader and conversely those who cannot are doomed to fail.
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[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/frederick-north
[2] http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/parliament-passes-the-tea-act
[3] http://www.ushistory.org/us/11.asp