Negligence

Negligence is the failure to exercise the level of care that a reasonable person would exercise in the same circumstances, resulting in harm to others. It sits at the intersection of law, ethics, and risk management. Legal negligence requires four elements: a duty of care, a breach of that duty, causation, and actual damage. But the concept extends well beyond courtrooms. In business, negligence is shipping a known defect, ignoring safety data, failing to supervise, or making decisions without reasonable investigation. The key insight is that negligence is not about intent — you don't need to mean harm. It's about the gap between what you should have known and done versus what you actually knew and did. Ignorance and inaction are not defenses; they're often the mechanism.

Apply the "reasonable person" test to your decisions: would someone with ordinary prudence, in your position, with access to the same information, have acted differently? If yes, you're in negligence territory. Build systems that make negligence structurally difficult: mandatory reviews for safety-critical decisions, clear escalation paths for risk signals, and documentation requirements that force decision-makers to show their work.

Negligence is the failure to exercise reasonable care, resulting in foreseeable harm. It doesn't require intent — only a gap between what you should have done and what you did. Build systems that make negligence structurally difficult rather than relying on individual diligence.