Many companies and organisations these days use what they call a culture of “challenging” or being “data driven”. They apply purportedly scientific methods which give managers the impression of being in control as they look at dashboards, cockpits, graphs of units sold, project timelines and so on. This culture of challenging things owes it’s origin to Socrates. The Socratic method of challenging ideas, of chipping away at people’s logic until it crumbles and is replaced with a better belief, is powerful but frustrating for those involved. People lose their motivation when continuously challenged. Anyway not every manager is as smart and neutral as Socrates. When they bring their preconceptions and politics to bear, then this becomes exactly that which Socrates hated, that is Sophism, where the more skilled (or more senior) will defeat the ideas of the less skilled (or more junior). Just as in Athens, in modern companies people like the idea of truth and fairness; they just aren’t willing to let it get in the way of their own personal interests.
Liam Mor's Blog