What You Don't Learn At Business School

Do We Still Think?

So, let me guess, organisational knowledge, culture, a learning organisation Blahh Blahh Blah… the typical concepts thrown around in business lectures, speeches, essay questions and exams. But wait… Hold on.. lets break this down. Have you heard the famous cliché ‘think outside box’?... yes? Woohooo, great start.. why?.. Because I want you to do exactly that.

First… Clear your mind, stop thinking of him or her, forget the assignment for a minute, and yes I know you have an early start but this isn’t going to take long… Now, take a few deep breaths, and please make use of that amazing gift god gave you.. Which one? Like please.. Did you really just ask me that? Common Sense off course!

Let’s talk, me and you, one on one… topic of discussion? Knowledge… So your telling me you know more (mentally) than you can say (physically)? (I also have that problem) sorry what’s that?.. and you can say more than you can write??.. (me to, HI 5!)… Then why do the majority of organisations base their entire operation on codified principles?.. wait you don’t  get it?... no problem, let me break it down.

So I want you to think of an organisation as a brain. So for argument sake let’s make this simple, let’s say its capacity to think is 100%... and as we've already agreed the brain knows more than it can say right? So let’s say its ability to say is 75% and finally its ability write is 50%... now before I take this one notch further I want you to quickly go down memory lane and think of a time when you knew what you wanted to say but didn't know how to say it, or articulate it. Done? Great. Now I want you to think of a time when you had an A4 sheet of paper or a blank word document in front of you, waiting to be written on, but; although you knew what you wanted to say, you couldn't quite articulate it through text. Done? Great. 

At this point I take it you've got what I’m trying to say, if you haven’t please move the cursor to the red box on the top right hand corner of this page and do yourself a favour and click the button on the right of your mouse or touch pad

Now my question is why would you chop your legs off? Why would you halve your own ability?.. It’s like superman getting a pair of scissors and detaching his cape from his top. Why do 21^st century companies rely so heavily on written, codified principles, rules strategies etc. etc. Are the employees of the 21^st century actually given a platform to think, are they given the opportunity to be creative? Are they given the scope to be innovative, are they given an environment in which divergent thinking and artistic flair is valued? Or are they mere carriers of mediocrity, or are they the leaders of normality and routine or are they simply connectors. Although I don’t fully agree with the concept of “Sustainable Competitive Advantage” (why, I’ll discuss in another blog) but are they not killing their SCA by doing this?.. Although at this point you would think I will give you an answer of why they do this or why they shouldn't… well sorry but I’m not going to, in fact I don’t even know if I have one. However; the purpose of this post is to make you think and to make you question the reasons behind this.

All these different concepts, terms and theories we learn in business school, are they valid, or more importantly how apparent are they within the work place?.. Question yourself.

Now, let’s add some meat to the discussion, so let’s look at 2 organisations, Facebook and Google… why are they so successful?... Well I can think of at least one reason, maybe because they refuse to submit to this current codified hype? Just think, these organisations are based upon thinking… thinking, imagining and visioning beyond explainable lengths and heights. Not just jotting down the ordinary and using it company-wide, neglecting the specialism and the ideas that already loosely exist within the firm. 

As academics, individuals, business owners and organisations, it is essential we think. To progress and develop we have to challenge the norms and finally it is vital we spread the knowledge we have, as tacit knowledge is only valuable when it become explicit.

So going back to the point; why oh why! Why do the majority of organisations do this? Have we forgotten to think, or have we forgotten how to think?