What data can not tell you.
I don't have a GPS. Well strictly my phone has one and I did play with it for a while however I never got around to subscribing for the map updates and it remains one of my phone's many unused features. Instead Google maps is my friend. So when I'm meeting a new client, Google is open, the destination is found and the route is planned. I don't always estimate the travel time correctly however I rarely get lost.
So it's always been a source of wonder to me how someone can get lost with a GPS.
They have a device that gives them their location, has regularly updated maps and even gives a suggested route.
Well it was a source of wonder until the day I travelled with a friend from her office to the restaurant we were having dinner. The restaurant was probably 3-4km from the office (Ang Mo Kio to Bishan for readers familiar with Singapore). On went the GPS and off we drove. All was well until the device directed us north onto a major expressway (CTE). Quizzical looks however we gave it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it had found a more circuitous but faster route? Next the chirpy little device announced, "follow this road for the next 48km". 48km! Unless you travel in complete circles, any route of 48km from Singapore requires a passport.
So, the device was switched off and we followed the landmarks.
Now I understood how someone could get lost with a GPS.
Managers do the same. They fill their minds with spreadsheets, quarterly forecasts, research reports, magazines, newspapers and consultants. Fill their mind with data and do the equivalent of blindly following a GPS.
It's like the two sports fans planning their day at the big game. The first with his head in the newspaper comments that it's a great day for the game. The weather bureau is predicting a fine, clear day. The second man replies he wouldn't be so sure. The first man looks up to see the sky open and release the latest burst of torrential rain.
Make a practice of looking up every so often. Learn the landmarks.
Don't just listen to the reports, walk around the company.
Don't just read the sales reports, watch customers using your products.
Don't just read the market reports, get out into the market.
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