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Remember The Heart

When I worked for GE and I was learning project management, they had a popular expression that was often spoken with pride and just a touch of arrogance. "In God we trust, all others show us the data."

We used to say that opinions were like noses. Everyone's got one. So what. What does the data say?

Since then data has become even more important. We rely on data for so much. It drives decisions. It sorts product offerings. It calibrates without feeling the temperature of the times.

And yet...what about the heart? Haven't you sometimes had a feeling that something wasn't right and discovered that you were right? There wasn't any data to tell you, it just hit you as true.

Relying on your gut instincts can be dangerous. Our intuition is wrong at a surprisingly high frequency. But data isn't everything. How we feel matters. How our customers feel matters. What we bring to our work through our emotions matters.

Rely on the data. What other choice do you have? But please, remember the heart as well.

-- Doug Smith


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  1. David SpiegelAugust 2, 2016 at 7:39 AM

    Okay....you're back in New Jersey now...and you know what we say about opinions!

    ReplyDelete

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