There’s a fine line between being data-driven and losing touch with the people behind the numbers.
“Data-driven” is overused. It’s actually very easy to be misled by data. I’ll post a link to an article on that topic below.
“Data are just summaries of thousands of stories—tell a few of those stories to help make the data meaningful.”
— Chip & Dan Heath
That’s a good point, but what I especially like is that it requires you to make sure your interpretation of the data lines up with reality.
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion. But data without understanding is just noise.”
— Adapted from W. Edwards Deming
There’s a fine line between a visionary leader and an out of touch dreamer.
When does something move from being deep and insightful to being crazy?
“Vision without execution is hallucination.” — Thomas Edison, although it seems to be a variant of an old Japanese proverb.
There’s a fine line between an inclination to action and being a bull in a china shop.
An “inclination to action” is a good quality. You don’t want people who are content to sit around waiting. At the same time, you have to look before you leap.
“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”
— Alfred North Whitehead
There’s a fine line between attention to detail and being a micromanager.
It’s very possible to be aware of the details of a project without making sure everything is done the way you want it to be done.
“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”
— George S. Patton
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
There’s a fine line between standardization and stifling creativity.
I was riding with my dad in a rental car one time, and he couldn’t find the switch for the wipers, or something. He said “there should be a law that every car made in America has the wipers in the same place.” Which makes sense from one point of view, but it doesn’t allow carmakers to innovate and come up with new ideas that work better.
“Rules should be guidelines, not straitjackets.”
— Douglas Bader (can’t confirm this attribution)
“Efficiency is important, but it’s the creative breakthroughs that drive real progress.”
— Bill Gates (paraphrased)
There’s a fine line between striving for excellence and being paralyzed by perfection.
“Perfect is the enemy of done.”
— lots of people, with apologies to Voltaire who said “perfect is the enemy of good.”
“Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.”
— Salvador Dalí
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