HR Technology Conference Opening Keynote

Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at Stanford Business School, gave a great opening keynote presentation on evidence-based management.  I think many people, to some extent myself included, have focused on leveraging sophisticated analysis techniques to identify how different interventions affect business outcomes.  Pfeffer points out that sophisticated analysis is good, but there is a lot of common sense things that one can do too by doing experimentation to see what works and does not work.  Prototype and pilot to see if the intervention produces the desired results (and any unintended consequences).  This is good advice.  You need to manage that portfolio of experiments actively and make sure you learn from mistakes (some of these prototypes will not work).  Pfeffer also noted that you should use these experiments to challenge the conventional wisdom,  based on facts.  The results can be counterintuitive and dramatic. Good food for thought.