“The truth is more important than the facts.”
– Frank Lloyd Wright, legendary architect
“You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.”
– Gilbert Keith Chesterton
“A mathematician is a device for turning coffee in to theorems.”
– Paul Erdos
If we only focus on numbers we lose sight of the drivers that matter – the things we do that ultimately produce our numbers. Sometimes, in the presence of the truth, but without the support of numbers, we have to decide.
A couple years ago, Harvard Business Review released a great series on leadership, titled “Decision Making: The Heart of Strategy.” It captured a series of HBR articles spanning nearly 20 years, all of which focus on some of the aspects of decision making.
In one article, David Garvin and Michael Roberto (“What You Don’t Know About Making Decisions” HBR 2001) caution against treating decision making as an “event,” and instead promote an approach steeped in “inquiry.” There are frequent mentions of constructive conflict – and the productive role it plays in leadership and in decision making.
Leaders have to decide when a different course is called for, and it is incumbent upon us to lead by deciding.
Here’s a solid anecdotal angle: Warren Buffet famously cautioned, “When you find yourself in a hole, the best thing you can do is stop digging.” (Yes, that was a 4th quotation. Sue me!)
We have lots of tools available to us. Numbers, admittedly. Faith, predominately. But also, logic, wisdom, experience, intelligence, training, and expertise. Intuition and instincts, common-sense and commitment are on the list, too. With all the tools available to us, though, unless we have some digging to do, we have to be very careful not to use our shovels.
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