So you’ve been running your organization a certain way successfully for a long time but you’re wondering whether tweaking a single element might make a difference in your performance. Do you dare test your assumption? Or do you play it safe and leave it alone?
Next month Southwest Airlines will test assigned seating. They’re testing a 35 year old assumption that has been a distinctive element of their boarding strategy. Could you bring yourself to do it?
Picked up a really interesting book the other day: Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management. Great insights into the kind of management, evidence-based management, that is willing to test long-held assumptions in order to improve performance. Opening illustration? President George Washington died two days after his doctor drained nearly 5 pints of blood to treat a sore throat. Why in the world would he do that? Common practice in the 1700s. Why are they not doing it today? Today’s medical practice tends to be evidence-based. Amazing the difference between medicine and so many other fields where a gut sense and impression often replaces hard facts.
Thanks to Church of the Customer Blog for the tip on the Southwest story!
