Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense

I have just finished reading Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton (Harvard Business School Press, 2006).  This is perhaps the most useful business book I've read in some years.

The book is a description - and argument for - evidence-based management.  Evidence-based management is about making decisions based on facts rather than conventional wisdom, history, ideology or assumptions.

There is much to Blog about in this book, but I'll confine this post to two things:  a quick outline of the book, and a list of six guidelines the authors present for judging business ideas.

Outline

Chapter 1 describes three non-fact-based practices, and some of their consequences, and it sets out the basics of evidence-based management.  Chapter 2 presents six guidelines for the practice of evidence-based management.  Chapters 3 through 8 use evidence-based management principles to pull apart six "Dangerous half-truths about managing people and organizations."  Chapter 9 presents nine principles for building an evidence-based organization.

Guidelines for judging business ideas

Use these guidelines the next time you pick up a business book or article, consider hiring a consulting firm to help you implement the latest management fad, or are tempted by a management guru's speech.

1. "Treat old ideas like old ideas."  No idea springs full blown out of nowhere.  And many - if not most - management ideas are really repackaged old ideas.  Insist that the authors of "new ideas" provide reviews of past work that led to this "new idea" and information on the sources of ideas.  Don't throw out a program that works just to implement something with the latest catchy name.
2. "Be suspicious of breakthrough ideas and studies."  Breakthroughs are actually pretty rare.  Instead, knowledge moves forward as the sum of previous work suggests the next step.  Look for patterns across a wide variety of studies and writings.
3. "Celebrate collective brilliance, not lone genius."  Gurus don't generate ideas - communities do.  And a single person cannot implement a change in your organization - it will take the collective wisdom of all your folks.
4. "Emphasize the virtues, drawbacks and uncertainties of research and proposals."  So many authors and consultants present only the virtues of an idea or proposal.  Insist on honest exploration of the negative possibilities.
5. "Use stories to illustrate practices, not as valid evidence."  Anecdotes and stories are not valid evidence that a hypothesis is correct.  And observation is much better than recollection.
6. "Take a neutral approach to ideologies and theories."  The authors quote Simon and Garfunkel, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."  Work to be sure that you see all the data and evidence about a suggested practice, not just that which fits your assumptions and biases.