How to Not Attribute to Malice Things Adequately Explained by Stupidity

It can definitely be a challenge to be self-aware of cognitive biases, but my personal variation of Hanlon's razor would be closer to "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by extrinsic motivation". The article has a longer version attributed to Douglas W Hubbard: Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following incentives in a complex system of interactions..

An outcome may be interpreted as stupidity, but I've seen otherwise smart individuals make poor decisions because of extrinsic motivation like meeting the expectations of their manager in order to succeed at (or maintain) their job, aiming for personal incentives, or avoiding consequences. If the extrinsic motivation is not (or cannot be) shared, actions or goals may appear to be irrational (or stupid).