How too many rules at work keep you from getting things done

Paul Krugman the Nobel Prize in economics
once wrote,

"Productivity is not everything,

but in the long run,
it is almost everything."

So this is serious.

You know there are not that many
things on Earth

that are almost everything.

Productivity is the principal driver
of the prosperity of a society.

So we have a problem.

In the largest European economies,

productivity used to grow five percent
per annum in the 50s, 60s, early 70s.

From '73 to '83: three percent
per annum.

From '83 to '95: two percent per annum.

Since 1995, less than one percent
per annum --

the same profile in Japan,

the same profile in the US,

despite a momentary rebound
15 years ago

and despite all the
technological innovations

around us --

the internet, the information,
the new information

and communication technologies.

You know, when productivity grows
three percent per annum,

you double the standard of living
every generation.

Every generation is twice as well off
as its parents.

When it grows one percent per annum,

it takes three generations
to double the standards of living.

And in this process, many people
will be less well off then their parents.

They will have less of everything:

smaller roofs, or perhaps no roof at all.

Less access to education, to vitamins,
to antibiotics, to vaccination, everything.

Think of all the problems that
we're facing at the moment, all.

Chances are that they're rooted
in the productivity crisis.

Why this crisis?

Because the basic tenants
about efficiency, effectiveness

in organizations, in management

have become counterproductive
for human efforts.

Everywhere in public services,
in companies

in the way we work,
in the way we innovate,

invest, try to learn to work better.

Take the holy trinity of efficiency:

clarity, measurement, accountability.

They make human efforts derail.

There are two ways to look at it,
to prove it.

One, the one I prefer, is rigorous,
elegant, nice math.

But the full math version takes
a little while,

so there is another one,

it is to look at a relay race.

This is what we will do today.

It's a bit more animated, more visual,

and also faster; it's a race.

Hopefully, it's faster.

(Laughter)

World championship final, women

eight teams in the final.

The fastest team is the US team.

They have the fastest women on earth.

They are the favorite team to win.

Notably, if you compare them
to an average team, say the French team,

(Laughter)

based on their best performance
in the 100-meter race,

if you add the individual times
of the US runners,

they arrive at the finish line 3.2 meters
ahead of the French team.

And this year, the US team
is in great shape.

Based on their best performance this year,

they arrive 6.4 meters ahead
of the French team

based on the data.

We are going to look at the race.

At some point you will see,
towards the end,

(?), the US runner, the fourth US runner,
is ahead -- not surprising.

This year she got the gold medal
in the 100-meter race.

And by the way, Chryste Gaines,
the second runner in the US team,

is the fastest woman on earth.

So there are 3.5 billion women on earth,

where are the two fastest on the US team?

And the two other runners on the US team
are not bad either.

(Laughter)

So clearly, the US team has won
the war for talents.

But behind, the average team
is trying to catch up.

Let's watch the race.