Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-based Management

by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton

The best organizations have the best talent. . . Financial incentives drive company performance. . . Firms must change or die. Popular axioms like these drive business decisions every day. Yet too much common management “wisdom” isn’t wise at all—but, instead, flawed knowledge based on “best practices” that are actually poor, incomplete, or outright obsolete. Worse, legions of managers use this dubious knowledge to make decisions that are hazardous to organizational health.

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton show how companies can bolster performance and trump the competition through evidence-based management, an approach to decision-making and action that is driven by hard facts rather than half-truths or hype. This book guides managers in using this approach to dismantle six widely held—but ultimately flawed—management beliefs in core areas including leadership, strategy, change, talent, financial incentives, and work-life balance. The authors show managers how to find and apply the best practices for their companies, rather than blindly copy what seems to have worked elsewhere.

This practical and candid book challenges leaders to commit to evidence-based management as a way of organizational life—and shows how to finally turn this common sense into common practice.

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership, Nonfiction, Psychology, Education, Entrepreneurship

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979. He is the author or co-author of thirteen books including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First; Managing with Power; The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action; Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People; Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management; and What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, as well as more than 150 articles and book chapters. Pfeffer’s latest book, entitled Power: Why Some People Have It—And Others Don’t was published in 2010 by Harper Business.

Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford. He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Pfeffer has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, Copenhagen Business School, and for the past 8 years a visitor at IESE in Barcelona.

From 2003-2007, Pfeffer wrote a monthly column, “The Human Factor,” for the 600,000-person circulation business magazine, Business 2.0 and from 2007-2010, he wrote a monthly column providing career advice for Capital, a leading business and economics magazine in Turkey. Pfeffer also was a regular blogger for the Corner Office section of BNET (CBS Interactive), and currently writes for the Harvard Business Review website, Bloomberg Business Week online, Inc., and for the “On Leadership” section of The Washington Post. Pfeffer has appeared in segments on CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, and CNBC as well as television and radio programs in Korea and Japan and has been quoted and featured in news articles from countries around the globe.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit Quantum Leap Healthcare. In the past he has served on the boards of Resumix, Unicru, and Workstream, all human capital software companies, Audible Magic, an internet company, SonoSite, a company designing and manufacturing portable ultrasound machines, and the San Francisco Playhouse, a non-profit theater. Pfeffer has presented seminars in 38 countries throughout the world as well as doing consulting and providing executive education for numerous companies, associations, and universities in the United States.

Jeffrey Pfeffer has won the Richard I. Irwin Award presented by the Academy of Management for scholarly contributions to management and numerous awards for his articles and books. He is listed in the top 25 management thinkers by Thinkers 50, and as one of the Most Influential HR International Thinkers by HR Magazine. In November, 2011, he was presented with an honorary doctorate degree from Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

Reviews

[Jered Skousen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapters 1 & 2: The Case for Evidence-based Management
In too many businesses, we do things because of tradition or “everyone knows you should.” Not all of those assumptions are correct.
How to recognize the poor decision practices:
1) Casual Benchmarking. A few case studies are cited, often by those that have already drawn conclusions.
2) Doing what seems to have worked in the past. Why did it work? Sure it was the reason for success?
3) Following deeply held but unexamined ideologies. High rollers are the key to casinos growth (wrong). Stock options are a good employee reward system for increasing the company’s long-term growth (wrong).
What if there is no sound data available? Do some research (try to buy your own product, for example), and look at the underlying assumptions—there is probably some research on that subject.
Decisions based on facts reduce the hierarchy of a corporation (an opinion—even from a high level manager—doesn’t matter as much).
The authors list the following as ways evaluate management ideas:
1) Treat old ideas as if they are old ideas (in order to sell news, old ideas are recycled as new)
2) Be suspicious of “breakthrough” ideas or studies (like the previous desire for new, this is the desire for big)
3) Celebrate/Develop collective brilliance, not lone gurus (often those ideas oversimplify management issues)
4) Emphasize virtues and drawbacks (physicians will tell you the potential drawback, but sometimes in business we talk as if ideas are perfect)
5) Use success/failure stories to illustrate sound practices, not as a valid research method (reports from the winners and losers of the company are not a good way to do things in the future)
6) Take a neutral, dispassionate approach to new ideas (our own past thinking is the hardest thing to overcome)


Chapter 3: Half-truth: Work is Different from the rest of your life
Somehow we got this idea that people should behave different at work. There are some good applications for this, such as objective decision making and following roles and rules. But other ideas are not healthy such as: people have to compete against each other, you can’t have emotions/opinions (or you are only allowed to have mad or rude emotions), or that clothes make the person.
To guard against this half-truth: Don’t permit behaviors at work that wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere. Recognize and accommodate the needs of the whole person.
Chapter 4: Half-truth: The best companies have the best people
Some feel that if we just hired the smartest guys, the best salespeople, etc. we would be the best company. And there is some truth to the fact that the best will perform so much better than the rest (the 80/20 or even 90/10 rule applies here).
But that assumes that you can find the best talents for your group and that people are static—once they are the best (or not) they will always be. Those assumptions aren’t correct. Rather, great process/systems trump great people.
To guard against this half-truth:
1) Treat talent as something almost everyone can earn, not just a few people own.
2) The law of crappy systems trumps the law of crappy people (even the smartest people put in a job/position with bad systems will not be productive)
3) Wisdom: perhaps the most crucial talent (wisdom: know what you know and know what you don’t know)
4) Encourage people to be noisy and nosy—it promotes wisdom (make reporting mistakes something people feel comfortable about so that the company can improve)
Overall, try to get (and treat) as many “top dogs” as you can in your organization—not just a select few.
Chapter 5: Half-truth: Financial incentives drive company performance
This seems to be a “known.” Everyone is trying to align pay with company performance. But often these cause more harm them help.
In order for it to work, the performance outcomes must be under the control of the people who receive the incentives. And one need to be very careful of what they say is important (via incentives)—sometimes a “do it at all costs” will result.
Ironically, when we ask people what they are motivated by money isn’t usually listed first (or even second). But when we ask what others are motivated by, we all think money is #1.
Incentives also signal what is important, but it can be very blunt. And sometimes the incentives unintentionally motivate the wrong behavior (some may not report negative information, for example). Another consequence is you often are attracting the wrong kind of people—those that are in it for the money and have less loyalty or willingness to do more if it isn’t related to the incentive.
Guidelines for using incentives:
• Don’t try to solve every problem with financial incentives
• Sometimes less is more effective (a small incentive may still keep teamwork and be rewarding)
• Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it
• Worry about comparisons and distributions, not only individuals or levels (a small difference in pay can make the lesser paid employee feel they are not as valued)
Chapter 6: Half-truth: Strategy creates destiny
The pendulum may have swung too far in the strategy camp. Successful founders admit that luck/flexibility plays a part in their companies triumph.
If strategy was the end-all that it seems to be talked about right now, it would mean that others could copy a company’s strategy and equally compete with them. Rather, implementation deserves some credit. And we are all aware of the large companies that could/would not champion new technologies because they were linked to the old way of doing things.
So where should strategy’s role be?
• In a sentence (from John Sall, cofounder of SAS Institute), “listen to your customers, listen to your employees, do what they tell you.”
• Don’t confuse operational/implementation problems with a need to change strategy
• Keep it simple (a strategy should be able to be explained in a few sentences—something everyone in the corporation can get their brain around)
• Learn as you go (spread lots of seed and feed the ones that grow)
• Balance the attention to strategy with the attention to the details of implementation
Chapter 7: Half-truth: Change or die
Contrary to some modern writings, change isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Some questions that deserve to be asked before implementing significant change:
1) Is the practice better than what you are doing right now? (done elsewhere, or testable on a small part of the organization)
2) Is the change worth the time, disruption, and money? (are these realistic projections?)
3) Is it best to make only symbolic changes instead of core changes? (will it hurt company performance if done? Worth doing something to keep reputation or relationships?)
4) Is doing the change good for you but bad for the company?
5) Do you have enough power to make the change happen?
6) Are people already overwhelmed by too many changes? (this is the change-of-the-month?)
7) Will people be able to learn and update as the change unfolds? (employees must feel the change is a work-in-progress)
8) Will you be able to pull the plug? (how will you know when it is failing?)
If you can get through these questions and are ready to move forward with the change, it doesn’t need to be painful. You can help by doing the following four things:
1) Dissatisfaction: people need to be unhappy with the status quo. If unhappiness isn’t there, create it.
2) Direction: relentlessly communicate what the change is, why it’s necessary, and what people ought to be doing right now.
3) Overconfidence—punctuated by self-doubt and updating: create a self-fulfilling prophecy that the change will succeed and be worth the pain. But to avoid blind faith, have episodes where people can openly discuss their doubts and uncertainties. The update your plan of change with the new facts.
4) Embrace the mess: there will always be errors, setbacks, frayed nerves, etc. Treat glitches as part of the process: learn from them and focus on fixing the problem. Point at solutions not at each other.
Chapter 8: Half-truth: Great leaders are in control of their companies
We all want to believe that leaders are in control of their companies. And there is no doubt that leaders can make a big difference. But they aren’t omnipotent. And an honest leader will admit that they get too much credit and too much blame.
We as humans ascribe more credit to leaders than is due. Studies show that we use cognitive shortcuts to interpret information, and in doing so we place excessive faith in leaders. Another part of the reason this half-truth persists is because of the leaders themselves. They are positive, can-do people that want to drive their success. And they are compensated to be in charge.
And there is good evidence that we don’t want leaders to really have total control. Even though they sometimes think they have the best ideas, usually a group will do much better.
So what should a good leader do? Walk the seemingly contradictory middle ground.
• Act and talk as if you are in control and project confidence about the future (at times that may mean faking it until you actually are able to have more confidence/control of the outcome)
• Take credit and some blame (give your team as much credit as possible, and personally take some blame—insisting that you know what is wrong and have a plan to fix it)
• Talk about the future (optimistically describe how things will be)
• Be specific about a few things that matter and keep repeating them

[Martin Smrek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great guidelines for evidence-based management. Definitely should be on the top your leadership and management reading list.

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Интересные мысли, хотя и книга ненуачна и не “evidence based” настолько же, насколько и те книги, с которыми воюет

[Taras Fedoruk · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this book, which was not a pleasant exercise on its own, the big question remains. Why did authors select this specific set of examples, and how to connect these examples to each other?

It could easily be a set of articles instead of the book.

[John Petrocelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone serious about deleting the bullshit and leading and managing with evidence. This book is perhaps the very best and most useful book about applying evidence in a way that completely obliterates the unwanted and harmful effects of the mountains of bullshit in the marketplace of business ideas. A must-read provided by Pfeffer and Sutton with Hard Facts.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts out great. It really brings home the idea that very few if any business practices are ever really tests. People make assumptions that not only they never question, but that eventually become part of established business literature.

Then it slowly devolves into your standard blah blah business text where the points are so vague, or contradictory, as to make the book not that worthwhile.

But the essentially point is good. If you want to know if something is working, test it.

[Mark Polino · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some great ideas in this book and they are totally obscured by the way the book is written. The book actually focuses on Dangerous Half Truths more than anything. The problem is that half truths are half true so the authors end up praising an item, then debunking it then suggesting its useful if not taken to the extreme. Isn't that effectively the definition of a half truth?

There was enough in here to keep me reading to the end, but I couldn't wait to get there.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like the principles in this book and the fact that it's written for a "lay" audience, and would probably recommend it to master's level students. it is not, however, rigorously supported with evidence the way you might expect a book about EBM to be (and i think therein lies the problem with trying to convince non-academics to take an academic approach).

[AC Capehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite "business" book so far. A compelling case for evidence based management

[Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management" is a book co-authored by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton. The authors provide a critical examination of popular management practices and business beliefs, urging leaders to base their decisions on evidence and facts rather than common myths or half-truths. The book challenges many widely accepted ideas in the business world and encourages a more thoughtful and data-driven approach to management. Here's a brief summary of some key concepts from the book:

1. The Importance of Evidence-Based Management:
The authors argue that many management practices are not supported by evidence and can even be harmful. They emphasize the need for leaders to make decisions based on empirical evidence and real-world data rather than relying on conventional wisdom or popular trends.

2. Common Myths in Management:
Pfeffer and Sutton debunk several common myths in the business world, such as the idea that financial incentives are the primary motivators for employees or that mergers always lead to improved performance. They challenge these myths by presenting evidence that contradicts these widely held beliefs.

3. Half-Truths and Misconceptions:
The book addresses various half-truths and misconceptions prevalent in the business world, including the belief that pay-for-performance systems enhance productivity or that a positive workplace culture alone is sufficient for success. The authors argue that these ideas oversimplify complex issues and may lead to misguided management practices.

4. Balancing Competing Priorities:
Pfeffer and Sutton emphasize the need for leaders to balance competing priorities and recognize that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions in management. They encourage a more nuanced and evidence-based approach that considers the specific context of each organization.

5. The Role of Leadership:
The authors discuss the critical role of leadership in promoting evidence-based management. They highlight the importance of leaders who are willing to challenge prevailing assumptions, question popular beliefs, and actively seek out and use data to inform their decisions.

6. Organizational Learning:
The book promotes the idea of continuous organizational learning. Leaders are encouraged to foster a culture that values experimentation, data collection, and learning from both successes and failures.

In essence, "Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense" serves as a wake-up call for leaders to critically assess their management practices and make decisions grounded in evidence and a deeper understanding of organizational dynamics. It provides a valuable resource for those interested in adopting a more evidence-based approach to leadership and management.

[Harry Harman]

struck a chord with lots of people

There is nothing wrong with learning from others’ experience—vicarious learning, as contrasted with direct experience

it is a lot cheaper and easier to learn from the mistakes, setbacks, and successes

When U.S. automobile companies decided to embrace total quality management and emulate Toyota, the world leader in automobile manufacturing, many copied its factory-floor practices. They installed pullcords that stopped the assembly line if defects were noticed, just-in-time inventory systems, and statistical process control charts. Yet even today, decades later, U.S. automakers for the most part still lag behind Toyota in productivity—the hours required to assemble a car—and many trail in quality and design features as well. Similar failures have plagued retailers’ efforts to copy Nordstrom’s sales commission system to achieve higher service levels, and the numerous organizations that attempted to mimic General Electric’s forced-curve performance-ranking system.

much as bees spread pollen across flowers, take ideas from one place to the next

Southwest Airlines is the most successful airline in the history of that industry. Herb Kelleher served as CEO during most of Southwest’s history and remains the chairman to this day. Kelleher drinks a lot of Wild Turkey bourbon. So does that mean that if your CEO starts drinking as much Wild Turkey as Kelleher, your company will dominate its industry? Get the point? If you can’t explain the underlying logic or theory of why something should enhance performance, you are likely engaging in superstitious learning and may be copying something that is irrelevant or even damaging.

Suppose you went to a doctor who said, “I’m going to do an appendectomy on you.” When you asked why, the doctor answered, “because I did one on my last patient and it made him better.” We suspect you would hightail it out of that office

The aphorism that nothing predicts future behavior better than past behavior. There is nothing wrong with learning from experience. The problems come when the new situation is different from the past.

[Melsene G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somewhat intriguing although so many of the principles are familiar from other business and leadership books that I've read. I agree with the premise that evidence-based management is the way to go, because I agree that basing decisions on facts is correct. Facts matter. The authors take a number of so called truisms and turn them on their heads. They challenge the status quo thinking and that's a good thing. They do provide a number of high profile examples from companies such as IDEO, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Google and other less known tech companies.

I would recommend this book to folks in leadership roles at any size business. Most of these type of books focus on larger organizations but a good leader will learn and use what they can, even in a smaller setting.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the management equivalent of Freakenomics. Pfeffer and Sutton take very well documented stats, apply them to existing companies for context, and show the reader that what we've been doing all along is wrong. This book is necessary and will not be read by those that need it. It reads like a text book at times, but then reads like Malcolm Gladwell focused only on management and made you think twice about your behavior.

[David Goldfarb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Pfeffer and Sutton's work. They are the antidote to leadership industry platitudes and look hard at how things do and don't get done in the real world. However, Hard Facts is a DENSE read. It has lots of wisdom, but there are better books written by both that are more accessible, such as Managing with Power, Leadership BS, and Sutton's No asshole rule. If you love there work, buy it, but don't start with this one.

[Synthia Salomon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating my DNF Books for the end of the year goal.

At its core, evidence-based management is about exchanging speculation for hard facts and outdated assumptions for proven principles. Implementing EBM may initially seem daunting but the payoff is monumental. Basing decisions on evidence catalyzes success and steers companies clear of perilous traps.

[Dennis Chow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book holds a lot of truths. Some chapters feel a bit outdated especially after covid. The examples used of companies is also a trip to the past with intel, dell, nokia. But all in all a very interesting book.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for developing or furthing your critical thinking, starting with all the things you THINK you know.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a valuable book. Thank you for writing this!

[Mads Gorm Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does not live up to the title - there is not enough hard facts in it.

[Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book on myths of the business world and in leadership. Definately took away some good info from this book.

[Ciprian Bujor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesantă, unele lucruri bune de aplicat în viață ori business.

[Ko Matsuo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Pfeffer is really smart. Some of his concepts are really helpful. This book does a decent job dispelling management half-truths. I like how he frame when change happens (when there's dissatisfaction, clear direction, overconfidence that the plan will succeed, and an acceptance that change is a messy process). I also like how he describes how Leaders change organizations by talking and acting as if they are in control.

Unfortunately, he's a little long-winded. Also the book was published in 2006 so some concepts are covered better in more recent books. Overall, I had a hard time getting through this book.

[Infini · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you had my contentious little soul, you too would like to pick up a book titled "Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense", and see if it does indeed live up to the promise of its title.

Written by Stanford Professors, Robert Sutton and Jeffery Pfeffer, this book first came to my attention through an article in The Economic Times back in December 2005. I'd even blogged it on Core77. So when I had the unexpected good luck to have Prof Sutton email me asking me if I'd like to take a look at it, now that it was almost published, I leapt at the chance to get my hot little hands on it. You know me, I need to feed my reading habit, and who doesn't like a freebie? :)

I must say that I ran the gamut of emotions while reading it, from "Oho, that makes sense, I wished I'd said that" to "Hmmm, what is he going on about? That's a silly idea" and didn't know whether I like it or not. However, I can say that it fulfills the primary function of any good business book very well. It's an effective and actionable idea, simple to implement and very powerful. Sutton and Pfeffer's contention is that managers make decisions all the time based on the wrong reasons and that the "concept" they introduce is evidence based management.

About three years ago, when I was in my first semester of working for the Institute of Design as Director, Graduate Admissions, I first heard about the conventional wisdom long held at ID, that the majority of the enquiries from prospective students came from outside of Illinois and Chicago, therefore there wasn't any local market. Something didn't sit right about this factoid, and since I had to respond to enquiries by email, phone or walk ins, I knew that a high proportion of them were local candidates. So I set about analyzing the database of enquiries by State and Country for all our data, in 2003 going back to 1998. So I had enough years to do a trend analysis. The numbers showed that 65% of our enquiries were from Illinois, and almost a third from Chicago alone. This changed our communication focus and style, to respond to the evidence of the numbers rather than a long held belief.

What is so remarkable about this story is that I wouldn't have understood its significance if I had not read this book. I learnt to analyze the situation and find the words to frame the problem from their articulation of what evidence based management really is. It is using the evidence of the facts to derive goals and strategy rather than beliefs or aphorisms, and thus improving performance in all areas.

It's a challenging book, but, imho, a much awaited and well deserved one. I'm not comfortable with a book that makes me rethink some of the things I thought, i.e. it challenges some of my long held beliefs, but the force of their argument is such that I was willling to open my mind to read their message. It's not going to be easy to change the way you think about something, especially when you've been around for a while, 15 years of reasonably improving performance sets up little habits, routines and problem approaching techniques that have always served you well and now take on the mystical qualities of a 'ritual' or 'lucky charm', but Sutton and Pfeffer are worth listening to. That's scary. Here's my favourite bit:

Design thinking is one of enlightened trial and error wherein one observes the world, identifies the patterns of behaviour, generates ideas, gets feedback, repeats the process, and keeps on refining.

That's how I live my life. You see the irony is that here I was hoping Prof Sutton would take me on as a student :) but I found that we're saying the same things. Just our choice of words are a little different.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is about evidence-based management, which is the opposite of management where decisions are taken upon ideology or beliefs that are not based on facts.
it covers areas like:
- work-life integration
- selecting talent
- structuring rewards
- how much to emphasize strategy
- managing change
- leadership

My personal take-aways from this book:

1. It's very important to encourage people to deliver bad news because it helps to spot problems earlier and fix them faster which results in making less damages. Good news often even don't require major decision or action, just to be noticed and praised.
2. Some "unconventional wisdom" like in "First, Break all the rules" suggests to focus only on things that run high performance and to skip characteristics of bad performance. If we would look only at successful start-ups for example and make analysis on them in order to "extract" the key factors for success we would succeed or fail with the same probability - because it's more about taking risk and not applying particular principles or techniques. The higher the risk, the more likely it could be big success or big failure. If we would study also start-ups that failed we could learn from their mistakes.
3. Is laughing loudly at work really a sign of non-professional behavior? What is professional behavior? People should not behave in not natural way for them just to adjust to "culture behavioral guidelines" that are based on ideology and not on evidence.
4. The key to great performance (especially in IT or other highly specialized job) is to remove all possible distractions. If for example employee's child is sick, its natural that this person will think about the kid. Then the organization should figure out how to somehow help him to get more his attention.
5. Hiring. Early "predicting" of high future performance: mental ability (IQ, overall smartness), work sample tests, job tryouts.
6. Hiring. High performing persons usually attract other high performing persons. Some researches show that: A players hire other A players, B players hire C players and C players hire F players. Also bad managers hire bad people because they don't want anyone to be above their level and at the same time they lower the threat of being pushed away.
Definition of C players: they never bother to learn new things, don't help others to learn, don't try to improve how organization works. Getting rid of such people signals the org. that such behavior is not valued.
7. Exceptional people do much more than others. They have more successes but also more failures. The smartness is not taken from the cradle, it's extended by constant learning and experimentation.
8. Financial incentives have the following functions:
- they can increase the effort but not ability (at least in short run)
- informational effect - tell employee what org. values and what are priorities
- selection effect - performance based pay will attract people who are motivated to do good job (seniority-based pay attract people who perform low so that their results will not be penalized)
9. All purpose of financial incentives can be replaced by non-financial rewards. Praising has informational effect for example. Pointing out company's mission, technology, culture, believing in company, enjoying the work can have selection effect.
10. Treat your organization as an unfinished prototype - act what you know at particular time, based on best available data you have. No brag - just facts! (quality, efficiency, profitability)
11. Master obvious and try even those things that might look too easy. For example many empirical research has been done and proved that meetings where everyone stands take less time and are as effective as sitting meetings - just we don't use it because it's too obvious or too easy.
12. Leadership
- it's important to display and promote curiosity
- the leader should act as student and as a teacher
- the best leaders are lifetime students because they are curious and driven to keep learning what works best for their companies
- everyone needs to learn but also teach - to understand things better, what works and what does not work
- "hear one, see one, do one, teach one!"

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love data. I appreciated that this book really dove down into the data and evidence behind evidence based management practices should be followed and what should be thrown out entirely. Just because something has been done a certain way for eons does not mean it is the right or best way. How often have projects been started without stopping to consider if they are rooted in evidence or likely to succeed in the first place? I especially loved the chapter on leadership and how leaders get too much credit when things are going right and too much heat when things are going wrong. I see it in the media daily. I had to read this for a grad school class, and though it was written intelligently and thoroughly, it definitely wasn't a book I thought about reading in my spare time. But, such is life. Not all business books worth reading are sexy.

[Sarah Cupitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:
- Evidence-based management (EBM).
- Had Google embraced evidence-based management sooner, its efforts to cultivate effective leadership could have been more aligned with these findings from the get-go.
- Toyota’s success wasn’t solely due to its manufacturing practices. It also stemmed from its philosophy of total quality management and its approach to employee relations
- treat your organisation as an unfinished prototype
- How do you make data-driven decisions appealing? The key lies in enlisting respected thought leaders and weaving compelling narratives around solid data. It’s about bringing statistics and figures to life, making them resonate on a personal level for the management to act.
- when faced with a bad decision that cannot be changed, consider slowing its spread

[John Stepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems so obvious. So much of what we call management is unthinking and ineffective. And the authors are among the few well-credentialed people to point this out and back it up with solid evidence.

Performance management. Recruiting. Leadership. All of what we typically do simply isn't based on any evidence. I fact we plunge ahead *despite* the evidence.

The book's major accomplishments are that it will convince you to question the seemingly unquestionable practices and motivate you to do something different.

[Douglas · Rating 1 out of 5]

The irony of this book can't be overstated. In the chapter about the difference between correlation and causation (which explains ad nauseum how people confuse the two), there is a section about social promotion in schools, that lays out a cost argument... based on correlation.

And that's one of the most analytical pieces of the book.

I am a few hours closer to death. I want that oxygen back.

[Mark Dongen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that takes an analytical look on fads in management. Too many theoreis are assumed or believed without facts to proof them. An easy readable book, that gave me a lot of interesting views one existing beliefs, which makes you think twice before accepting new ideas in management.

I think a recommended read, not for holidays, but for people interested in management theories and their (true) value,

Mark

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Hard Facts..., Pfeffer and Sutton explore a lot of commonly held management beliefs. They present how the management practices may not be grounded in reality by comparing to solid data. Overall, I think the book was an enjoyable read.

My one critique is that I occasionally found it difficult to separate the belief they were describing from the evidence based approach they were suggesting. The distinctions were sometimes subtle.