Steve Jobs said, “In business, a lot of things are folklore.” Yet despite the fundamental changes in business in recent times, most people
In Great by Choice, Jim Collins explains why so many business folks follow such folklore. And what 10Xers (high performers who beat their industry by at least 10 times) do instead —
Mr. Collins writes:
“Social psychology research indicates that at times of uncertainty, most people look to other people — authority figures, peers, group norms — for their primary cues about how to proceed.“10Xers, in contrast, do not look to conventional wisdom to set their course during times of uncertainty, nor do they primarily look to what other people do, or to what pundits and experts say they should do. They look primarily to empirical evidence.
“The point here is not to be contrary and independent just for the sake of being contrary and independent. By “empirical,” we mean relying upon
direct observation … rather than relying on opinion, whim, conventional wisdom, authority or untested ideas.”
But Mr. Collins doesn’t walk his own talk. In the rest of his book, he shares his expert opinion — which he acknowledges 10Xers don’t/shouldn’t rely on.
Also, Mr. Collins doesn’t go far enough:
Most people have no clue how to observe. They’ve simply never been taught. All they’ve ever been taught is how to look to others for their cues on what to do.
Time to change that.
We cannot create observers merely by saying ‘observe,’ but by giving them the means for this observationMaria Montessori
