Speak With Facts
“Speak With Facts” was one of several slogans tossed around while I learned about and helped facilitate the Quality Improvement Program at Florida Power & Light Company back in the dim ages (lighting pun intended). FPL won the Deming Prize in 1989 in no small part because of that slogan and others (then promptly put them all in a deep file drawer in a hidden file room so they could get back to the business of generating electric power; but that’s another story), but that slogan stuck with me.
Of course we all agree that measurement is important. Measurement of everything, not just learning, not just business measures, not just our grocery spend for the week…everything. But we also make decisions every day in the complete absence of measureable data.
You’re freaking out right now from the very thought that a decision could be made without data and I am SO with you on that. But we must persevere.
How then, do we balance our appreciation - our desire – for data to backup our decisions, with the need to listen to that internal voice that tells us whether a decision just feels right? I think there is a zen state of internalizing data and information; of keeping (if you will) a mental spreadsheet with high level data or at least high level themes that inform your decision making.
Some could (and likely should) note that this is a little crazy and not bound to make me popular at cocktail parties, but to heck with them.
~Geek~
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Hi Geek-
To the contrary, this would make you very popular at my cocktail party!
Your ideas remind me of Malcolm Gladwell’s book *Blink* and Jonah Lehrer’s recent book, *How We Decide*.
Both argue that we are, in fact, processing lots of data in just milliseconds when we make decisions in the absence of “measurable data”.
Lehrer takes the argument further by talking about the equally important roles our emotional and rational brain centers play in decision-making. This could explain why a decision sometimes just feels right, as you said.
Now, how can I achieve that zen state you were talking about? That sounds nice.