A thought about expertise

One thing that holds me back from being an expert is that I don't want to know so much about one thing that I don't know anything about anything else.

AB -- 9/09/08

Experts blinded by their biases

Just wanted to hold on to this excerpt from the Amazon blog of biologist Michael Behe -- I was drawn by his comment about expertise:

"Well, it seems to me that a country which places control of the military in civilian hands is a country which recognizes that experts, like other people, can be blinded by their biases. If control of the military is too important to be left to the experts, control of education is, too. Even to experts who are as sure of themselves as Kenneth Miller is."

Behe was commenting on a new book by biologist Kenneth Miller.

AB -- 6/18/08

Rhetorical Intimidation

I've noticed that many experts, and other people interested in asserting authority, will use what I call rhetorical intimidation to gain the upper hand in a dispute. One way they do this is through the use of certain expressions. Here are some examples I can think of:

"Pure and simple" -- As in, "This is theft, pure and simple." This is sometimes used to add artificial certainty to an assertion, to make things seem black-and white.

"Just plain wrong" -- Used in similar ways to "pure and simple" to impose an oversimplified certainty to your own side in an argument.

"There is no dispute that ...." -- Followed sometimes by a statistic, sometimes simply by the speaker's opinion. My immediate urge when I hear this is to respond with, "I hereby dispute you."

"Nonsense" -- Used to describe someone else's idea and to position your own as superior.

"Utter" -- This one occurred to me just now, as it is sometimes used with a word like "nonsense" or "hogwash" to make the other person's idea sound even more unreliable.

"Pseudo-science" -- Used to describe an area of inquiry that conflicts with your own deeply-held opinions. A celebrity not long ago used this term to disparage psychiatry. It is often used to describe any investigation into the paranormal, and is sometimes used by partisans on either side of the evolution-intelligent design debate to describe one another's models.

AB -- 16 March 2007

Spin and Gaffes

An essay by Michael Kinsley in Time, "Gaffes to the Rescue," offers some interesting insights into the public utterances of politicians. It's sad to think what it must be like to follow a profession in which you have to manipulate your words (spin) in furtherance of your quest for power and control, while at the same time you have to be ever vigilant not to say something that can get you in trouble or possibly even chased off the field (gaffes).

Kinsley gives some useful definitions of "spin" and "gaffe" in his essay:

"Spin is often thought to be synonymous with falsehood or lying, but more accurately it is indifference to the truth. A politician engaged in spin is saying what he or she wishes were true, and sometimes, by coincidence, it is. Meanwhile, a gaffe, it has been said, is when a politician tells the truth--or more precisely, when he or she accidentally reveals something truthful about what is going on in his or her head. A gaffe is what happens when the spin breaks down."

Kinsley uses recent examples of gaffes by Jacques Chirac, Joseph Biden, and Barbara Boxer, but some classic examples of gaffes that come to my mind are two that seriously derailed the political careers of the utterers:

+ Al Gore's statement that he was one of the people in the legislature who took the initiative providing the funding to build the Internet -- which somehow got twisted around to make it look like he was taking credit for inventing the Internet

+ Trent Lott's tribute to Strom Thurmond, in which he said things probably would have been better if Thurmond had been elected as President -- which always sounded to me like one of those things good ol' boys say to each other at banquets to make each other feel good. Seems pretty unlikely that Lott had in mind endorsing Thurmond's long-ago segregationist stance.

I think there's a lot more to say about spin, which I plan to write about in the future. But in brief I think my point will be that spin is employed much more often than we acknowledge, in all kinds of situations, and can be very hard to identify and expose. I think it is often used as a tool to gain power by rhetorical intimidation.

This takes place in all kinds of arenas -- including more public arenas such as politics, academia, science, and marketing -- but also in groups and interpersonally.

AB -- 23 February 2007

Messy worker: Your piles are all right.

Recently a colleague pointed me to Malcolm Gladwell's 2002 article in The New Yorker, "The Social Life of Paper." I read this article yesterday in connection with a research project I'm doing on the future of print and paper. Gladwell confirms a thought I've had frequently in the past: Paper is a great interface.

Gladwell's article considers paper as a tool for knowledge workers, and he cites some interesting research about messy desks. The research suggests that actually a messy desk with piles of paper everywhere can be a sign of an effective worker and does not necessarily imply disorganization.

AB -- 1/10/07

New Research: Big Company Execs on Innovation

The organization I work for has just released some valuable research about support for innovation within large companies. The finding that stands out most is that executives feel that their companies are picking up the pace of product innovation but that market's interest lags behind.

Here's the entire press release:

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Big Company Innovation Picking Up Speed, But Marketplace Interest Lags

Gap Between Company Support and Market Readiness for Innovation Shows "New" May Not Be Good Enough, According to First Annual ILO Institute Innovation Index

FAIRFIELD, CT -- (MARKET WIRE) -- January 09, 2007 -- Overall support for innovation both inside and outside large organizations is higher this year than last year, according to an ILO Institute survey of 50 senior executives at multi-billion dollar companies. While support for innovation is rising across all categories explored -- inside the company, in the marketplace, among suppliers and vendors, and among employees -- a notable gap between the perception of internal support for new-product development and market friendliness to new-product initiatives stood out in the survey results.

The survey asked about support for new product development, new market entry, and development of new business processes. With a score of 1.0 representing no change over one year ago, the overall average score was 1.41. The biggest gap in the survey results came when executives were asked about internal support for new-product development initiatives at their companies, which rated an average of 1.475, and then were asked about market friendliness to new-product development initiatives, which rated 1.275.

(Click here for details) The ILO Institute Innovation Index Survey required responders to comparethe current climate of support for innovation to one year ago, in fourareas -- inside the company, in the marketplace, among suppliers andvendors, and among employees. The questions specifically asked, in eachof these areas, about support for new product development, new marketentry, and development of new business processes.

"We're getting a glimpse of the brick wall that a number of companies are running toward right now," said Dr. Peter Temes, president of the ILO Institute. "Innovation is in the air as the big new idea and internal support is high, but the marketplace does not appear to have the same appetite."

Temes points out that failure is a necessary and often positive part of the process of crafting new products and entering new markets -- but that many big companies are talking the innovation talk without preparing for the inevitable marketplace bumps. Firms that lower the cost of failure and shorten the cycle time of experimentation are best positioned to apply the lessons of these failures to refine or redirect innovation initiatives.

"The real question now is how much time and money companies are willing to invest to bridge that gap between internal enthusiasm and market realities," Dr. Temes continued. "New products usually fail. Smart companies learn from those failures and use them as platforms for bigger and better things."

About the ILO Innovation Index

In the fourth quarter of 2006, the ILO Institute asked fifty senior executives at multi-billion-dollar companies a series of questions about support for innovation inside and outside their companies, to establish a baseline for an annual "innovation index." The questions required responders to compare the current climate of support for innovation to one year ago, in four areas -- inside the company, in the marketplace, among suppliers and vendors, and among employees. The questions specifically asked, in each of these areas, about support for new product development, new market entry, and development of new business processes.
The titles of the executives completing the survey included Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning, Vice President for Innovation, Senior Vice President for Marketing, COO, and Business-Unit President.

About the ILO Institute

The ILO Institute is a membership organization focused on knowledge sharing and research into innovation in large organizations. ILO stands for Innovation in Large Organizations. Global corporations across all industries form its membership, including Eli Lilly, Microsoft, Motorola, Toyota Motor North America, Bayer Material Sciences, and UnitedHealth Group. Members of the Institute gather three times a year to share knowledge with each other and with advisors to the Institute, including Nobel Prize-winning economists, political and policy leaders, and distinguished researchers at leading universities. Recent guests at member meetings have included Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Gary Becker and James Heckman, authors Clayton Christensen, Esther Dyson and Michael Treacy, and former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. For more information about the I L O Institute, visit www.iloinstitute.org

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AB -- 1/10/07

How to Cheat at Cleaning

My brother Jeff Bredenberg is about to release his new book, "How to Cheat at Cleaning." Jeff has been starting to generate a lot of exposure with his books. He's been on Letterman and is scheduled to be on the CBS morning show Jan. 3, 2007. Plus, his publisher Taunton Press is arranging a 10-city book tour in Q1 2007.

"How to Cheat at Cleaning" is kind of a lazybones guide to keeping your house clean enough. The book is scheduled for release January 2, but you can pre-order it an Amazon now. This video on Jeff's site is a real hoot, and has an amazing shot of how to fold a shirt quickly.

AB -- 12/28/06