October 2005 Archives

Here you’ll find a collection of articles published during the month of October 2005.

Questioning the Unquestionable

By Nilofer Merchant on October 1, 2005

From time to time in business, an idea emerges that sounds obviously good — so good, in fact, that it becomes accepted wisdom almost immediately. Product managers quickly incorporate it into their assumptions, marketeers let it shape the way they approach the project, and executives quickly incorporate it into their presentation slides so that it ceases to be mere idea and becomes… (drum roll) fact.

The idea makes the leap from theory to principle without ever being subjected to rigorous testing. Often, the idea eventually gets proven out. But what if the so-called fact turns out to be false? Or what if an idea that once was true becomes false? What happens then? Has it happened to you?

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