Episode 901: Misner’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law (Classic)

Summary

Summary of "The Official BNI Podcast"
Episode 901: Misner’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law (Classic)
Hosted by Dr. Ivan Misner
Release Date: March 12, 2025

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Introduction

In this classic episode of The Official BNI Podcast, Dr. Ivan Misner delves into a unique perspective on business challenges by introducing Meisner’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law. Hosted by Priscilla Rice from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California, the conversation offers invaluable insights for entrepreneurs and business professionals seeking to anticipate and mitigate potential obstacles in their ventures.

Understanding Murphy’s Law and Meisner’s Corollary

Dr. Misner begins by revisiting Murphy’s Law, a principle he encountered during his graduate studies: “What can go wrong will go wrong.” He acknowledges the seemingly pessimistic nature of this law but emphasizes its value in providing a framework for identifying and addressing potential flaws in business strategies.

Notable Quote:
"Murphy’s Law gives a framework for people to look for the flaws in their thinking. And when one does that effectively, it's easier to address potential issues before they arise."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [02:30]

Building upon this, Dr. Misner introduces Meisner’s Corollary: “Sometimes what can't go wrong will go wrong.” This corollary encourages business leaders to consider not only what might go wrong but also the unforeseen consequences of actions that seem foolproof.

Notable Quote:
"Sometimes what can't go wrong will go wrong. If you go about this in a thought-provoking manner, you can truly think through potential challenges before you proceed."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [04:15]

Practical Application of the Corollary

Dr. Misner shares practical examples from his extensive experience in various businesses, including property and publishing, illustrating how Meisner’s Corollary has been instrumental in preemptively identifying and addressing unintended consequences.

Example 1: BNI’s Substitute Program
BNI implemented a substitute program allowing members to send a representative to weekly meetings in their absence. Initially, the idea seemed beneficial, ensuring continuous participation without disrupting the member’s presence.

Unintended Consequence:
Some members began sending substitutes who did not adequately represent them, often pitching their own businesses instead. This undermined the original intent of the program and created dissatisfaction within groups.

Notable Quote:
"The substitute would represent the member. Employees and customers were the prime substitute candidates... However, some members would look for virtually anyone to be a sub."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [06:45]

Example 2: Transition from Paper to Digital Referral Slips
BNI transitioned from physical referral slips to digital ones to streamline the process. While the change improved efficiency, it resulted in a sense of loss among members who valued the tactile aspect of passing referrals.

Notable Insight:
The shift to digital was eventually embraced more fully with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated online interactions, thereby mitigating initial resistance.

Notable Quote:
"The lingering feeling was quickly erased with the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and the transition of all of our groups to meeting online."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [08:20]

Case Study: Massive Transition to Online Meetings

One of the most compelling examples Dr. Misner discusses is BNI’s swift transition of 10,000 chapters from in-person to online meetings in January 2020. Anticipating resistance, BNI’s CEO, Graham Weimiller, strategically phased the transition, starting with regions like Asia where it was most necessary and experimenting in North America subsequently.

Outcome:
This proactive approach allowed BNI to handle pushback effectively and execute an unprecedented pivot, ensuring continuity and adaptability during a global crisis.

Notable Quote:
"By moving forward and experimenting with the program, the organization was able to prepare for much of the pushback that we expected."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [09:00]

Implementing Meisner’s Corollary in Your Business

Dr. Misner emphasizes the importance of thinking both critically and creatively when evaluating new ideas. By considering what can and can't go wrong, business leaders can better anticipate and navigate potential challenges and unintended consequences.

Key Takeaways:

• Proactive Evaluation: Regularly assess both potential risks and overlooked consequences of business decisions.
• Experimental Testing: Implement limited trials of new initiatives to uncover unforeseen issues before full-scale rollout.
• Continuous Learning: Use each experience as a learning opportunity to refine strategies and improve resilience.

Notable Quote:
"Test the idea in some limited way to identify the things you thought couldn't go wrong. And that's what Graham did with flipping the B and I chapters to online."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [09:45]

Conclusion

Dr. Ivan Misner’s exploration of Meisner’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law offers a nuanced approach to risk management in business. By anticipating both what might go wrong and what seemingly cannot go wrong, entrepreneurs and business leaders can develop more robust strategies, fostering resilience and adaptability in an ever-changing marketplace.

Final Thought:
"The experimental testing phase is critical to avoid Meisner's corollary to Murphy's Law. That's my message for today."
— Dr. Ivan Misner [09:55]

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This episode serves as a valuable resource for those looking to enhance their business planning and risk assessment methodologies, ensuring that they are well-prepared to handle both expected and unexpected challenges.

Transcript

[Priscilla Rice]

Hello, this is Priscilla Rice, and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio. This week we're going to have a rebroadcast of one of our earlier classic podcasts. We hope you enjoy it, and thanks so much for listening. Episode number 703, Meisner's Corollary to Murphy's Law.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You're listening to the official BNI podcast with BI founder and chief visionary officer, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Stay tuned for networking and referral marketing tips from the man who's been called the father of modern networking, along with suggestions and insights into getting the most from your membership in the world's largest networking organization, bni.

[Priscilla Rice]

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice, and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the Chief visionary officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Hello, Ivan, how are you? And where are you?

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

Still traveling the world via Zoom. I've been to Australia, I've been to Japan, did several presentations there, and greater China, as well as a number of presentations throughout the U.S. so, you know, I don't get very many frequent flyer miles right now, but I sure am zooming around the world.

[Priscilla Rice]

Yeah, that's great. Okay, well, tell us about what you're going to share with us today.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

I have what I think is an interesting topic, and it's this one's not about networking. It's more about business and a way of looking at your business that I have found to be a value. I've called this Meisner's Corollary to Murphy's Law. Now, I learned about Murphy's Law in graduate school. For those of you who don't know what it is, it basically says that what can go wrong will go wrong. And although this law feels very pessimistic, I believe there is value to it. It gives a framework for people to look for the flaws in their thinking. And when one does that effectively, it's easier to address potential issues before they arise. Now, this leads me to Meisner's corollary, and here's Meisner's corollary. Sometimes. Sometimes what can't go wrong will go wrong. Here's what I mean by that. When I have introduced something new into B and I, and I also own, as you know, property business and publishing business, I've often thought about what could go wrong with a new approach or idea that I'm doing. And if you do that in advance, you truly help to head off challenges. However, what I've learned over the years is that you also need to think about what can't go wrong. I know this sounds crazy and even more pessimistic. However, if you go about this in a thought provoking manner, you can truly think through potential challenges before you proceed. In particular, you want to consider what I call the unintended consequences of a seemingly good idea. This tends to happen when you have a solution to a problem and almost everyone agrees agrees that that solution will definitely help with the problem. You think about how you'll roll it out and avoid all those things that could go wrong with that rollout and its implementation. You then roll out the idea and it all goes well. What we tend to forget, however, is the unintended the unintended consequences of that new idea. In other words, the rollout goes great, but then you create a whole new set of problems that never existed and were never considered when dealing with the original problem. Now this has happened several times in my career. An example of this is something I've talked about on BNI podcast before, and that's the implementation of the substitute program relating to attendance. In bni, it took many months to figure out a program where BNI members can send a substitute in their place to the weekly chat after a meeting. And the idea was that the substitute would represent the member. Employees and customers were the prime substitute candidates, and then the member would be well represented and wouldn't have an absence. Sounds good. Look good on paper. However, there was a long term unintended consequence. Some members would look for virtually anyone to be a sub. Anyway, you got a pulse, you're in. Breathe on this. Mirror fogs up, you're in. This created a less than satisfactory situation for the group, especially when the sub basically just pitched their own business instead of representing the person they were supposed to be there for. And this was the unintended consequence of a seemingly good idea. And it's taken years to address this issue and it's still not perfected, but it's taken a long time to address it. Another example of the impact of unintended consequences was my was BNI's transition from paper copies of referral slips, the small paper slips that included the name and contact information of a referral, over to digital online referrals. Now, despite the massively improved process of passing and tabulating the information digitally, there was a sense of loss by many members in the physical passing of a referral to another member. Priscilla, you and I have talked about this. Now, luckily this Lingering feeling was quickly erased with the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and the transition of all of our groups to meeting online. This meant the physical referral slips were no longer even relevant. And that helped with the transition. But we didn't, it wasn't on our radar to think that people would go, no, I want to pass that physical referral slip out. And so one of the problems with Murphy's Law and Meisner's corollary is that you never know for sure if it would have an issue because the problem never surfaced, which is probably a good thing. In other words, if you really think through Murphy's Law and you think through Meisner's corollary and you address all of those issues, you may not ever see the issue and you may think, well, I went through a lot of work, nothing happened. Well, nothing happened probably because you really gave it great consideration. And that's the theme of this podcast, is give change great consideration and look for things that can and can't go wrong. There have been some occasions where employing these strategies do have a clear cut result and they can be identified. One Such occasion was January 2020, when B&I CEO Graham Weimiller began to transition 10,000 B&I chapters meeting in person to online meetings. And he expected the pushback early on and started the transition where it was necessary, Asia in January and experimented in areas where it wasn't necessary yet in North America in late January, February. By moving forward and experimenting with the program, the organization was able to prepare for much of the pushback that we expected. And the result was an incredible pivot. I mean, an incredible pivot of 10,000 in person meetings to online in literally a matter of weeks. It was rolled out country by country across the globe. And yes, we envision going back to in person over time, as most people know, but we have many chapters who've even as of this podcast, have never met in person because they started online. And so we now know that the online process can work when necessary. The lesson that I learned here is that when you have a good idea, think about what can go wrong with that idea, then spend some time thinking about what can't go wrong. And this means you need to really think outside the box to consider the potential unintended consequences. Most importantly, test the idea in some limited way to identify the things you thought couldn't go wrong. And that's what Graham did with flipping the B and I chapters to online was he tested it to see what we didn't even think of that could go wrong. And we were able to fix a number of things before the complete rollout. Believe me when I say you still might discover unintended consequences. But the experimental testing phase is critical to avoid Meisner's corollary to Murphy's Law. And that's my message for today. Priscilla, any thoughts?

[Priscilla Rice]

Yeah, that's a good one. No, I mean, it's great. It's like checking and double checking and triple checking and thinking of every possibility. I think that's a good idea.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

And, you know, the bigger the challenge, the more important it is to check and double check, to look at what can go wrong and look at what can't go wrong and think those through so that you can be a little bit more prepared for a transition that you may have in your own business. And what I'm talking about is really something that I think affects the BNI members business. This is a concept that you in business can apply to your own individual business and try to help transition change within your own organization more effectively. That's my message for today. Priscilla.

[Priscilla Rice]

Okay, that's great. I just want to say it's amazing that you are able to transition all of those chapters to online do.

[Dr. Ivan Meisner]

You know, I do a lot of interviews with the media and, and they always have a double take when I give them those numbers and they just. Are you serious? You transition 10,000 chapters in weeks. And that to me, is one of the greatest pivots I've ever seen done in business. And Graham, our CEO is really. And every time I talk about this, he's points to everyone else. Well, it was because they had a great team. Yeah. But it really started with him and he was the one that really made that happen and I'm very grateful for it.

[Priscilla Rice]

Yeah, I can see why. Well, thank you so much for the great information. I want to tell you about our new sponsor for this podcast. It's MeisnerAudioPrograms.com these audio programs are going to provide you with tools and inspiration to powerfully enhance your BNI experience and help you build your business. Whether you are a new or a seasoned member, these audio programs will help you unlock the power of networking. So check out the great material available to [e-mail] and then use the promo code IVAN50. And you can get 50% off of all the audio programs. And just so you know, all the proceeds go to the B and I Foundation. So thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of the official BNI podcast.