Friend David Burkus of Leader Lab has a book that is great! Below is a short piece about theory and its use.

A Word on Theory.

Two actually: useful lies.

All theories are useful lies. Theories are attempts to simplify what is happening in a set of observations. They are attempts to describe reality that typically fall short (otherwise they wouldn’t be so simple). Consider the opposing theories of the earth’s shape: flat or round. At first, mankind thought the earth of flat. Then, at a highly debatable point in time, it was decided that the world was a sphere.

Shipbuilders didn’t need to make any adjustments in designing boats with this new information, so the old theory worked. Ship captains, however, needed to adjust and use a round-earth theory if they were going to properly navigate the globe. Today, both theories are still being used, even though both are incorrect (the earth is actually slightly pear-shaped).

All theories have elements of both truth and uncertainty. What makes a certain leadership theory more useful than others is the same as what makes a certain earth-shape theory more useful than others: situation.

The theory that will be most useful is the theory that works best with the situation. This is why leaders and aspiring leaders both need to become students of leadership theories: in order to know which one the situation calls for.

Interested in more? click here…

michael cardus is create-learning