# No Cuts, No Buts, No Coconuts By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-11-04 Thinking back on my youth, I am amazed at how quickly groups of children establish rules. One of the first rules I remember at school is the “no cuts, no buts, no coconuts” rule. This rule was invoked as children got in line to leave one room in the school to travel to another. This was usually either to go to a “special” class (e.g., gym, art, computers) or, more importantly, to lunch. Occasionally, a child would attempt to gain a position closer to the front of the line or to be next to one’s friend. Whatever the rationale, the children near the infraction point would chant the rule, and the child would move to the back of the line. This is just one of the rules. There were others. What is interesting, in retrospect, is the organic emergence of the rules and the near-universal enforcement of them. Collectively, the rules were presented, adopted, and enforced. They were used to guide and constrain behavior. They constituted our limited conception of fairness. This isn’t how organizations seem to operate. People within organizations do not collectively make or enforce the rules. Those in organizations try to isolate themselves from what anybody else is doing. Maybe cutting in line has become such a prohibition by adulthood that organizations no longer need the rule. Its absence might explain why organizations are overflowing with Coconuts. #### Related Items [[Norms]] [[Culture]] [[Organization]] [[Rules]] [[Behavior]] [[Children]]