Two Loops Model is old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new. It sits in the Systems dimension (SYS) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-SYS-0026, within the Systems family. The core principle: old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
Old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new.
Plain-English Definition
Old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new.
Feynman Explanation
You can't replace what you haven't first composted.
Core Principle
Old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
You can't replace what you haven't first composted.
Examples
- Margaret Wheatley & Berkana Institute's framework for system transitions.
- Why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside.
Pending editorial review.
Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
Most organizations meet this element as a personnel problem. It is not one. The mechanism underneath it is straightforward: old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: you can't replace what you haven't first composted. Every element in the Systems dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside. It is amplified whenever why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside. Inside organizations that shows up as why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to name where each initiative sits on the two loops. Allocate different leadership styles to each. Watch for it at the boundaries: handoffs, promotions, incident reviews, and budget cycles are where this element gets its power.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Name where each initiative sits on the two loops. Allocate different leadership styles to each.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Name where each initiative sits on the two loops. Allocate different leadership styles to each.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Outputs of a system are routed back as inputs, amplifying or dampening change.
Map reinforcing (R) and balancing (B) feedback loops between variables to see system behavior.
A system with many interacting parts that learn and adapt.
Many interacting parts producing emergent behavior nobody designed.
Interdependent network of actors evolving together.
The whole has properties that the individual parts do not.
Systems maintain stability by self-regulating around a setpoint.
Stocks are accumulations; flows are rates of change that affect them.
Behavior emerges from structure, not from individuals.
Systems that gain from disorder.
Approach motivation — pursuit of rewards and goals.
Avoidance motivation — sensitivity to punishment, uncertainty, and threat.
Where Two Loops Model is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayPolicy Is Incentive Design
System-level payoff structures.
- Field guidePublic sector incentives
Budget rules, election cycles, blame avoidance.
- EssayAI Agents Inherit Your Incentives
How this element propagates into automated systems.
- EssayThe Comp Plan Is the Strategy
Where this element meets compensation design.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
- CourseIncentives 101
The free ten-part primer on reading a payoff structure.
Questions about Two Loops Model
- What is Two Loops Model?
- Two Loops Model is old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new. It sits in the Systems dimension (SYS) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-SYS-0026, within the Systems family. The core principle: old systems decline as new ones emerge in parallel; leaders steward both, not just kill the old or chase the new. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- What is an example of Two Loops Model?
- Why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-SYS-0026).
- How is Two Loops Model exploited?
- Why succession, transformation, and platform migrations look like chaos from inside.
- How do you design around Two Loops Model?
- Name where each initiative sits on the two loops. Allocate different leadership styles to each.
- Which behavioral dimension does Two Loops Model belong to?
- Two Loops Model is classified in the Systems dimension (SYS) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Systems", class "Mental Model". Its permanent identifier is HBT-SYS-0026 and its evidence grade is B.