This is the title of a new working paper at Harvard Business School. The paper, found here, is the result of some great research being conducted by Lisa D. Ordóñez, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Adam D. Galinsky, and Max H. Bazerman, all professors at various business schools. The premise is that goal setting may cause more damage than benefits. This may be cause for concern if you have been creating personal scorecards or otherwise been working to link your employee performance to the Balanced Scorecard.

One of the most notable current trends in the nonprofit arena is for donors to look for a "return on investment" for their charitable giving. They want to know that their donation to one organization will yield social impact. More than that, they want to know that your organization will yield a greater impact than another cause to which they could donate.

This is a positive trend for sensible- dare I say- strategic charitable giving. However, the outcome results or impact measures are not the indicators that leaders of nonprofits should be managing. Rather, leaders need to focus on the underlying cause and effect linkages that drive impact.