That question was posed by Brian Hoffstein in his, What's The Big Idea? post on the big think. Brain science is certainly getting a lot of play in business. I even have a brain scientist I regard highly – Srinivasan (Srini) Pillay MD. He has written a very credible book, Your Brain and Business, with lots of testable ideas for business people about how the brain works and how, for example, it impacts our decision making abilities in different circumstances.
But absent an intimate knowledge of someone's work how do we sort out what works from what's waste?
Which had me thinking about all the models, theories, frameworks and guru's insights that we now know were just speculations at best, or plain old money spinning hype.
I am also assuming that we are not much smarter now than we were then. By that I mean, we are probably still buying hype dressed up as the latest and greatest road tested idea/methodology to improve our businesses.
So, how do we be sure we are not buying into the latest fad? How do we ensure we don't miss out on genuine business improving ideas and methodologies simply because we are uptight and skeptical about every claim that is unfamiliar?
Can we trust ourselves to take risks and experiment? Can we trust ourselves to be observant and discern what works from failed experiments?
Well, my advice [but go with your own intuition], is don't sacrifice your own good sense and experience – be informed by experts you trust for sure, AND be shaped by your own willingness to run experiments. Then watch what happens. Be willing to be your own empiricist, your own scientist, your own researcher – when in doubt, run an experiment.
If we live in the world of observation, not just the world of ideas and "expert" opinions, we'll soon discover for ourselves what works and what is hype, myth or just plain nonsense.
But absent an intimate knowledge of someone's work how do we sort out what works from what's waste?
Which had me thinking about all the models, theories, frameworks and guru's insights that we now know were just speculations at best, or plain old money spinning hype.
I am also assuming that we are not much smarter now than we were then. By that I mean, we are probably still buying hype dressed up as the latest and greatest road tested idea/methodology to improve our businesses.
So, how do we be sure we are not buying into the latest fad? How do we ensure we don't miss out on genuine business improving ideas and methodologies simply because we are uptight and skeptical about every claim that is unfamiliar?
Can we trust ourselves to take risks and experiment? Can we trust ourselves to be observant and discern what works from failed experiments?
Well, my advice [but go with your own intuition], is don't sacrifice your own good sense and experience – be informed by experts you trust for sure, AND be shaped by your own willingness to run experiments. Then watch what happens. Be willing to be your own empiricist, your own scientist, your own researcher – when in doubt, run an experiment.
If we live in the world of observation, not just the world of ideas and "expert" opinions, we'll soon discover for ourselves what works and what is hype, myth or just plain nonsense.
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