Don’t get blinded by the numbers by RoRoger L.

Martin is the dean of the University of

Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and the author of The Design of Business (Harvard
Business Review Press, 2009).

1. This article explains the importance of using qualitative method/judgment in business

decision making for managers.
2. Many managers nowadays are trained and applied heavily on quantitative method in
their decision making.
3. There is a believe that a firm’s success was driven by the quantity of its data and the
ability to model them.
4. For instance, the deciding factor to purchase a car, we must not only measure its fuel
consumption and interior space but also take into account the beauty of its design and
the exhilaration of driving it.
5. Although factors such as design and trust can’t be reduced to numbers, they can be
interpreted and understood. Even though trust is something come from internal, but it
can be transformed into action or behaviour.
6. For instance ex CEO of P&G, A.G Lafley was using a qualitative judgment
successfully in his career.
7. He countered back the result of a survey by reading comments from hundreds of
consumers.
8. By doing so, he knew exactly the customer wants.
9. Firms are putting aside data-driven approaches and borrowing from disciplines like
ethnography.
10. They study consumers interacting with products.
11. They give consumers cameras and diaries to record their experiences. They even visit
consumers home.
12. In order to implement it, we completely need new capabilities.
13. Therefore, business schools need to make changes to materialise this approach.