10 Brutal Truths About Rules, Fairness, and Human Nature

We say we value fairness.
But most of us only like rules until they inconvenience us.

After 20+ years of building and scaling teams, here’s what I’ve learned about justice, structure, and hypocrisy; not from books, but from boardrooms, politics, professional and personal life:

1. People love rules until those rules apply to them.
Everyone’s ethical until it hurts their paycheck, ego, or power.

2. Fairness isn’t automatic. It’s engineered.
If you don’t design systems that enforce justice, people will cheat. Even the “good ones.”

3. Freeloaders survive in ambiguity.
Weak cultures protect the lazy. Strong ones make them uncomfortable.

4. Most don’t want equality. They want advantage.
Deep down, most don’t want justice. They want an edge.

5. The line between ‘brilliant disruptor’ and ‘toxic rule-breaker’ is results.
If it works, we call it innovation. If not, it’s misconduct. Same behavior. Different outcomes.

6. ‘Good culture’ without accountability is just PR.
Justice isn’t about values written on a wall. It’s about what happens when no one is watching.

7. The strongest pushback comes when you start enforcing rules.
That’s when the masks drop. Silence is consent; enforcement is rebellion.

8. We admire rebels until they rebel against us.
We love rule-breakers until the rules they break are our own.

9. People test boundaries to feel power, not freedom.
The goal isn’t liberty. It’s dominance, status, and control.

10. You don’t rise to your values. You fall to your systems.
Justice isn’t in your mission statement. It’s in your daily ops.

Justice isn’t a feeling. It’s a design choice.
Rules don’t stifle greatness. They make it sustainable.

If you want a fair world, start by building one, not tweeting about it.

Which of these truths have you seen in action in your organisation?