Think Talk Create

Make better decisions by balancing the quantitative with the qualitative.

Quantitative evidence, math and data analyses have vastly improved life for billions of people. Advances in medicine, computing, finance – and most everything else – benefited from quantitative analysis. On their own, however, numbers tell an incomplete story because they omit empathy and dehumanize organizations. 

Unfortunately, in the pursuit of metrics, many firms have embraced a singular focus on data-based decision-making – worshipping at the altar of numbers while ignoring joy, inspiration and creativity.

An obsession with shareholder value has brought capitalism and society to the brink.

In 1970, University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman released an influential paper telling CEOs their only responsibility was generating returns for investors. Harvard professor Michael Jansen extended Friedman’s work in 1990 when he aligned executive interests with shareholders by suggesting companies pay leaders in stock options. 

CEO’s relentless pursuit of shareholder value has driven a deep, widening ...