James March

Most claims of originality are testimony to ignorance and most claims of magic are testimony to hubris.

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton

At least since Plato’s time, people have appreciated that true wisdom does not come from the sheer accumulation of knowledge, but from a healthy respect for and curiosity about the vast realms of knowledge still unconquered. Evidence-based management is conducted best not by know-it-alls but by managers who profoundly appreciate how much they do not know. These managers aren’t frozen into inaction by ignorance; rather, … [ Read more ]

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton

Facts and evidence are great levelers of hierarchy. Evidence-based practice changes power dynamics, replacing formal authority, reputation, and intuition with data. This means that senior leaders – often venerated for their wisdom and decisiveness – may lose some stature as their intuitions are replaced, at least at times, by judgments based on data available to virtually any educated person. The implication is that leaders need … [ Read more ]