Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog: Magical Thinking and Management
Jerry was one of our best salespeople, even if he was a little strange.
Before he went in to a customer's office he went through an elaborate ritual that involved rolling his shoulders, touching his toes and wiggling his fingers. "It looks weird," he would say, "but it helps me sell."
Jerry was doing what lots of people do. He was connecting some practice, routine, or ritual to his success even though there was no actual, causal connection between them. Some scientists, such as Pascal Boyer, a professor of psychology and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, think that our brains may actually be wired to make connections like this.
It's called magical thinking. Magical thinking is non-scientific causal reasoning. Magical thinking connects the dots between action and result without worrying overmuch if the action and result are actually connected in some kind of causal way.
That's not always a bad thing. The confidence that Jerry got from doing his ritual probably contributed to his stellar sales record. The high school coach who won't change his clothes while his team is winning probably feels that he's doing absolutely everything he can for them.
But in management, magical thinking can be dangerous. Making decisions and committing resources without checking the facts can put you on the slippery slope to failure. Here are three kinds of magical thinking that are especially common. ….
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