I believe that education has been highly overrated. Now don't get me wrong, I have a B.A. in Commerce from Waseda University. This is not something that I am gripping about because I feel that I don't have certificates to proof my worth to the job market. It's just that I think now there is more stress on educational background than there is on experience.
Education gives knowledge, yet the consumer market requires applicable knowledge. That means that buyers prefer an engineer who can design a functioning rice cooker instead of one who knows five theories on fuzzy technology. Likewise, if a company wants to sell reliable rice cookers they should give more value to the practical designer instead of the theoretical designer. The reason is simple, applicable knowledge generates money; theoretical knowledge generates funds for more study. Hence if you are not a Research and Development company that sells patents and ideas to others, you can't afford to employ a theorist.
Relying on theory instead of experience can also lead to an error in judgment. The problem usually occurs when decision makers are in denial. Educated people know ten different methods and analytical tools to describe one phenomenon. They have the means to recommend a method that will put their opinions in the best light possible. Which means that the original conditions set out by the creator of such tools may be ignored.
For example; a marketing committee did a survey of 500 people on their product preferences. In the first year 350 (70%) people voted for product A, in the second year 362 (72.4%) voted for it. The conclusion made was that product acceptance had improved by 2.4%, hence the current production of product A should be increased by at least another 2%. But is there really an improvement? Statistician understand that people have moods, so they created another equation called Margin of Error which is (1/√n). The MoE for this population is (1/√500) which returns a value of 4.5%. This means that there is a ± margin of 4.5%. Hence the correct conclusion should be that there is no change in customer preferences.
Since leaders of large organizations have to rely on advisors because they cannot be everywhere and know everything, his decisions will only be as good as the counsel he gets.
Allow me to explain this with parable. Imagine one small country with a ruling monarch. The king was like every other king; pompous, generous and brave. Everyday he would do his kingly duty and meet with his ministers and priests. The ministers would tell him what was going on at that time, or rather a week ago, since the dateline for reports from their administrators was a week from the day of occurrence. The priests were there to tell him about the movement of the stars which affected the tides and showed them when the people could start sowing their grains. They also collected news from far and wide to help the king decide on whether to get the people to plant more wheat or more corn for the new year. The kingdom was young and had a bright future, so people started to flock into the capital city, expecting to make a good living out of its trading potential. Assistant priests stood at every street corner and told the people that the stars promised good fortune to every hard worker.
By and by a prophet came through the city gate. He had grown up in a city of great suffering and he had learnt to recognize impending disaster. He walked amongst the people, listened to them, slept in their alleys and begged for food. After a year living in squalor, he walked to the palace and demanded for an audience with the king. The king was, as his Public Relations Minister insisted, an open-door-policy ruler. The prophet informed the king that the city was overcrowded and that the streets were filled with human and animal filth. Disease was the only outcome of such a condition. He advised the king to expand the city walls.
The priests sniffed and reminded his majesty that they were better than a beggar in predicting such things. Are they not the ones who stood next to the king, while the visitor smelled so bad even a lowly servant girl covered her nose when he passed. The prophet walked out of the palace and resumed shouting in the streets; telling the people to clean up. Everyone called him a madman because nobody was sick. In fact, all were eating well and even the beggars had meat in their plates.
Six months later, an epidemic started. The priests rushed into the king's chamber and told him that the prophet had put a curse on his people. The king had no way to prove or disprove their accusations. Then he decided that since the priests had come to him highly recommended, he would listen to them.
The priests seized their opportunity and requested for more gold chalices and spices to use as offerings to the gods. The prophet stood before the king once more and asked that he open his wide fields and palace to the people. The priests warned the monarch against it and told him to increase tax so they could employ people to clean up the city. The prophet reminded the king that without his subjects, he would have no crown and if he rules a diseased city he would become a poor king. The priests called the prophet a traitor and reminded the king that he was divinely appointed for such a time as that. The prophet went out and came back carrying a sick and dying child in his arm. The priests exclaimed in horror and accused the prophet of trying to curse the divine body of the king.
For weeks the argument continued. In all that time the priests steadily collected gold and spices from the king's treasury. And in all that time the prophet walked amongst the sick; tending the untended and burying the dead. Then one day the prophet had a revelation. There were other kings and other countries. If he remain and continue to give hope and comfort to the people, it would only prolong their suffering. So he walked out of the same city gate, in the sight of the jeering masses.
Some people have the luck to work for a wise king who knows how to use the foresight of his prophet and the spiritual authority of his priests. These leaders run the kind of businesses that make us feel that selling is easy. But is it really so? A good product can end up being perceived as bad if managed badly. Think about it; are you making your choices today because it is the right thing to do or because it is the easy thing to do?
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