Many people—probably with the exclusion of politicians—have come to believe data based decision-making is the way to effective action. In the words of Lord Kelvin, “to measure is to know” and so if our decisions and actions are to be directed by knowledge—not just by what we believe—then we must base them on data. While this may hold some truth it is not true enough! Continue reading
Problem Solving
Time to Get Heretical
Capitalism is so much held in reverence that for some it is like a religion. In fact people proudly proclaim I’m a capitalist! Seemingly it provides the guiding principle for behavior and thus the basis for how to structure life. In effect (putting their faith in capitalism) people have allowed the pursuit of (personal) wealth to define the measure and means of how one should live his/her life. Their faith in the capitalistic dictum of maximizing material self-interest has become so powerful that they believe it to be the answer to all societal problems. Continue reading
Rethinking a Fixed System
Is the system broken? No, not at all! It is fixed just as desired.
Our economic system has no (explicit) concern for ‘we’ in its design, it is all about ‘me’ getting what I can for ‘myself’—it is best labeled an egoistic economic system. The pursuit of material self-interest is the guiding principle for all action. Continue reading
A Wake Up Call
The fact that Wall Street and other corporate executives are not only allowed but helped in gaining so much from the general public while they generally thumb their nose at the general public is not the problem, though it is symptomatic of a serious problem. The fact that more and more people continue to lose so much ground is not the problem, though it is symptomatic of a serious problem. The fact that our elected officials (the representatives of the people of society) are not just emissaries but employees of those contributing vast amounts of money to their livelihood is not the problem, though it is symptomatic of a serious problem. I could go on almost endlessly, but the point is that these are just effects of our problem. Continue reading
Better Questions Afford Better Solutions
There seems to be a debate over the use of standardized test results for accountability as the way to improve student achievement, and thus our education system. Effectually, this debate is turning attention away from understanding the concrete educational experience toward the abstract measures. No wonder teachers and children have to be incentivized to respectively teach and learn! Continue reading
Rethink or Reload
In his OP-ED column in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman briefly summarizes two books, “The Great Disruption” by Paul Gilding and “The Power of Pull” by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown & Lang Davison that each speak to the many social protests (a.k.a. The Great Disruption) we are seeing throughout the world—Occupy Wall Street is among these. Continue reading
Reformer Education
A recent Huffington Post article describes the agreement and disagreement between Arne Duncan (Secretary of Education) and Dennis Van Roekel (President of National Teachers Association) over the preparation and evaluation of teachers respectively. Sadly what is not being discussed—as can be inferred from the article—is the very process of learning. Continue reading
Act on Causes not Outcomes
Properly reporting and interpreting the movement in the monthly unemployment rate requires one to have an understanding of variation. Yes, while it may be a surprise to many, monthly outcomes do vary from month to month irrespective of whether there is an identifiable cause—you can call this random noise. There are also variation patterns that are not noise but signal that something has changed, that something is different in the system. Being able to discern signal from noise is critical to the proper interpretation of what is going on (or not) in the system that produces the outcome—it informs sound decision-making. Continue reading
Reductionism Can Reduce Everything
What is reductionism? It is the theory and practice of solving problems by placing attention on its simpler constituent parts or components. In other words, solving problems of the whole—which can be quite complex—can be realized by attention to the most important constituent—the one cause or the one outcome—of the whole. Moreover this approach to decision-making and problem resolution is likely not only quite widespread it is also a way of thinking that most are not consciously aware they practice. So why should we care? Continue reading
Cheating Is No Surprise
Many will acknowledge that while we may not measure what’s important, the important thing becomes what we measure. Why? It keeps us exclusively focused on what in-practice we (often tacitly come to) value. Continue reading
Gregory Gull 