I was re-reading Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check, and came on a quote that — for me — perfectly summarizes the need for evidence-based management (and the mindset that can make it so hard to implement):
One of the main enemies of truth — and the main causes of persistent but false myths — is what psychologists call confirmation bias — we tend to seek out, believe, and remember facts that support or beliefs, and avoid, disregard, and forget facts that clash with our myths. The upshot is that we travel through life seeing persistent support for the myths we cling to, despite the evidence. Simon and Garfunkel summarized this well when they said (I think I remember this accurately): "A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest." This applies to women to, of course.
One of the best defenses against "the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought" is to have strong opinions, weakly held.
P.S. John, thanks for the information and correction, the Simon and Garfunkel song is from The Boxer, and is ""Still, a man hears what he wants to hear;
And disregards the rest."
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