
I would argue that people in business fall prey to this temptation as well. We focus only on the hard numbers - productivity, profit margin, operating efficiency, attendance, etc. - at the expense of qualitative observations that can make a difference. The worst leaders treat their employees as little more than math problems - "What variable x can be manipulated to increase the output y?" The best leaders remember, as Lehrer writes, "Not everything that matters can be measured."
Check out Jonah Lehrer's article here.
- Joel