1 Step to Business Success
Or, A Defense of Socratic Education
Continuing my Malcolm Gladwell as Last Man theme, Lane Wallace via the Atlantic Correspondents blog tries to explain why we get the management/self-help gurus we deserve.
“…humans are just so uncomfortable with ambiguity. We desperately want there to be a pattern, an orthodoxy, a model, or a formula we can simply implement or follow to find our way back to safe, clear, and happy endings….But whatever the reasons are, if her observation is true, then it’s cause for concern. Because there are dangers to oversimplification, as recent events in both our economy and Iraq have painfully reminded us. No matter what we might like to be true, successful leadership in an increasingly complex world is going to depend not on condensing it to simple terms, or finding the right prescriptive formula, but on getting comfortable enough with ambiguity and complexity to see a way through it.”
I think there’s a good point here, but I’d dispute that this oversimplification is somehow natural to the human condition. One can point to any number of nuanced, cautious thinkers writing about problems like the Iraq war, health care, etc.
However, it’s much more difficult to find this kind of nuance in business writing. As an example, Fast Company, a leading business magazine, rates business books on a rigor scale with the top comparison being a best-selling management tome Good to Great. However, even a modestly educated reader will finish the book and reflect that s/he has really just learned the following lessons: be a good leader, hire dedicated people, be disciplined, etc — the sort of list a Business 101 student might author the first day of class.
I think that Wallace has overgeneralized — it’s this particular genre of management literature that lacks nuance and any real methodological depth.
Surely a big part of the distinction is motivation. At the risk of generalizing, academics write to impress others in their field and advance knowledge. Business books are written to…sell business books, as well as create lucrative speaking and consulting opportunities. So business books tend to be written in a way that appeals not only to the CEOs of major corporations (generally Harvard et all business school grads), but also church groups, government offices, etc.
I also disagree with Wallace’s argument that the next generation will be worse at dealing with ambiguity (a conclusion she comes to after one interview with an admissions director). Those who acclimate themselves to dealing with disagreement and nuance will succeed — an education that is more suited to philosophy, literature, or the liberal arts much more so to a strict education in business. Meanwhile, those who believe they can gain something from the intellectual poor house that is management literature should mark down the contact information in their book jackets — they will require a lot of expensive consulting.
-John
Image used under creative commons
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