Summary: The Knowing-Doing Gap

Review and Analysis of Pfeffer and Sutton's Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Publisher: Must Read Summaries
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9782511021767
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Knowledge Capital
• Index: Business

The must-read summary of Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton's book: `The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action`.

This complete summary of the ideas from Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton's book `The Knowing-Doing Gap` raises a crucial question: why do elements such as education, training and business research generate so little change in what managers and organisations do? According to the authors, knowledge is good, but action is better. They demonstrate that value in the real world is created by the transformation of knowledge into action.

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To learn more, read `The Knowing-Doing Gap` and find out how you can take your knowledge and turn it into valuable action.

Summary of The Knowing-Doing Gap (Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton)

Bridge #1
Understanding the “why” of anything is always more important than the “how”.

Main Idea

Knowing what to do is far less important than knowing why something should be done. In other words, before getting down to details, spend more time understanding the philosophy of why that task is important.

Supporting Ideas

Smart organizations always lay a foundation of their basic principles with employees before they start training on specific techniques or practices. In doing so, they create the conditions within which a learning organization can flourish.

For example, many organizations teach about:

• Their general business model – how the business generates a revenue stream and profits.
• Their theories on operational performance – how the business is organized, and how to obtain help when needed.
• The core values which guide the firm.

Armed with that philosophical base, the organization can then move on to develop specific skill sets which are relevant and important to the execution of that philosophy. Since everyone understands the underlying philosophy, they then become empowered to try new things and to blaze new paths. In other words, precedent does not substitute for thinking or the trying of original ideas.

The practical benefit of the philosophy-first approach is specific practices won’t become enshrined as sacred and unvarying. The basic philosophy will be constant, but new practices will be welcomed and encouraged. In that way, these organizations will be able to adapt to new and previously unexploited business opportunities.

There are also some other important benefits that can be derived from the philosophy-first approach:

1. It will be harder for competitors to copy.
   If a competitor attempts to copy what’s done without understanding the underlying philosophy of why it’s done, they’re unlikely to be successful.
2. A competitive advantage can be earned.
   Simply, competitive advantage means to be able to do something others can’t. Thus, knowing something unique isn’t a competitive advantage. Doing something unique is.
3. You learn far more by doing than by reading.
   Many occupations call for essential skills and knowledge to be acquired through practice rather than by study. For example, pilots, military personnel and surgeons learn primarily by doing. Business managers that do the same will understand everything better than others.
4. You won’t mistake tradition for original thinking.
   Organizations that are able to learn and adapt to the evolving needs of the marketplace have a significant competitive advantage. That flexibility allows them to learn and adapt, to communicate with and serve new market segments, to enter into new strategic alliances with other market partners and to do whatever is required to achieve a high level of performance. In short, they create success.

Key Thoughts

“I think a lot of people got misled when they started to study Saturn. They thought it was an answer, when in fact, it’s fundamentally a process you could use whether you are going to fry chickens or make cars. The process is founded in this focus on people and their need to understand before they can do it. When you came into the organization, the first thing the leader did was to introduce themselves to everyone who came into our company. And, the leaders taught the new people who the leaders are and what our philosophies are, what our background was and what we hoped to be able to achieve. We laid the philosophical base. That’s the first thing you get when you join Saturn. I can’t tell you how many people from General Motors came to Saturn and said, “I’ve been with General Motors for 25 years and I have never met a plant manager, let alone the president of the company”. So I would tell them their input is important. That they have a responsibility to understand, so that when they do something, they’ll understand not only what to do but why they are doing it. If you don’t understand how and you ask questions, it’s okay. This is a learning organization, and the leaders will teach.”

– Skip LeFauve, president, Saturn Car Company

“What creates longevity in a company is whether you look at the assets of your company as the untapped human potential that is dormant within thousands of emp...