Would You Rather Be Accurate Or Precise?
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I’ve
never met Karthik Rajan, but occasionally he sends me a link to one of
his posts, as he did this morning. Today’s article stopped me in my
tracks, because it described a fundamental reason why some people
succeed and others don’t. This one lesson also explains why different
types of people – say IT vs. business unit managers, or detail-oriented
vs. big picture professionals – have so much trouble working together.
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His lesson?
Be more accurate than precise.
At first glance, it wasn’t clear to me – or probably you – what this means. Accurate and precise seem to mean roughly the same thing. For example, if you are precise in your execution, isn’t that the same as being accurate?
Not at all, and that is why this insight is so valuable. Please bear with me for just a minute longer, and you’ll understand.
Karthik learned this lesson from a former boss, someone he admired a great deal. This boss explained by drawing a picture like the one you see here. I hope you have the reaction that Karthik had, which is the recognition that he had just been given a career-changing gift.
Image by Karthik Rajan
To paraphrase Karthik, the
left dartboard shows the ideal result. If you have the talent and
opportunity, it is always best to hit the bullseye every time. But that
doesn’t happen very often in business, where you often don’t know for
sure where the dartboard is, nevermind how to hit the bullseye.
The odds are that you work in a volatile marketplace; many variables are constantly changing. If you can adapt fast enough to be accurate in achieving your goals, you will enjoy tremendous success.
The right dartboard shows what many people and companies do in the mistaken belief they operate in a precise and proven manner. They are spectacularly consistent… and off target. In other words, they are consistently mediocre.
I’ve seen this happen with technical experts who take great pride in their precision, but who fail to understand that the time and money their precision requires means that the project can’t possibly succeed.
I’ve also seen business unit managers who are so precise in controlling all the variables that they prevent technical experts and others from being successful.
No simple solutions
One of the things I like best about Karthik’s article is that it caused me to stop and think carefully about what it really takes to succeed in complex environments. If I asked you five minutes ago to choose between being accurate or precise, like me, you probably would not have had a good answer.
I learn a lot from the comments readers add following articles, and especially like this comment from Srinath Srivatsavan about Karthik’s piece:
An accurate individual understands the organization’s goals and delivers results as close to the goal while a precise individual is consistent in the deliverance (either in the positive or negative direction).Go forth and be accurate!
Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter and speaker.
