{"id":1093,"date":"2012-08-18T13:34:36","date_gmt":"2012-08-18T17:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2013-09-18T15:28:53","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T19:28:53","slug":"the-value-of-stories-and-rehearsal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.darden.virginia.edu\/brunerblog\/2012\/08\/the-value-of-stories-and-rehearsal\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of Stories and Rehearsal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 the truth of the statement I heard long ago in the Army: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.<\/em> There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency you must start with this one thing: the very definition of “emergency” is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning.\u201d — Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

T<\/span>his is an apparent contradiction that is relevant to all students: if the future is unknowable, why should we plan or train? Navy SEALS<\/a> are renowned for relentless training. Yesterday, I asked a SEAL who just enrolled at Darden, \u201cgiven that there is so much uncertainty in special operations, why do you go through drills, scenarios, and exercises of all kinds? Critics suppose that such training just teaches you how to handle those specific <\/em>situations. Are they right?\u201d One critic I had in mind is Peter Thiel<\/a>, a big private equity guy, who is telling 19-year olds that more training isn\u2019t worth it. I\u2019ve already blogged about the objection that \u201cSteve Jobs didn\u2019t go to b-school!<\/a>\u201d But a SEAL who was signing up for more training <\/em>(21 months at one of the more demanding MBA programs) piqued my interest: SEAL vs. Thiel.<\/p>\n

So the SEAL responded, \u201cActually, the training we do helps us anticipate <\/em>and deal with uncertainty, surprises, and clever adversaries; it helps us deal with all <\/em>situations.\u201d Like Dwight Eisenhower\u2019s view (\u201cplanning<\/span><\/em> is everything\u201d), it isn\u2019t the specific plan or scenario that matters in training SEALS, but rather it is the discipline and capacity for response that training and planning create.<\/p>\n

We see countless examples of this in professional life: business negotiators and trial lawyers who rehearse through scenarios before going in to meet their counterparties; consultants and sales professionals who rehearse presentations and practice responding to objections; general managers rehearse giving difficult feedback before meeting with an employee.<\/p>\n

The 2012 Olympics offered relentless reminders that training pays. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers: The Story of Success<\/em><\/a> devotes a chapter to the \u201c10,000-Hour Rule.\u201d He quotes a neurologist Daniel Levitin, \u201cThe emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert\u2014in anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rehearsals, stories, and simulations are good for us. In his review of the interesting book, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human<\/em><\/a>, David Eagleman wrote, \u201cNeuroscience has long recognized that emulation of the future is one of the main businesses intelligent brains invest in. By learning the rules of the world and simulating outcomes in the service of decision making, brains can play out events without the risk and expense of attempting them physically. As the philosopher Karl Popper wrote, simulation of the future allows \u201cour hypotheses to die in our stead.\u201d Clever animals don\u2019t want to engage in the expensive and potentially fatal game of physically testing every action to discover its consequences. That\u2019s what story is good for. The production and scrutiny of counterfactuals (colloquially known as \u201cwhat ifs\u201d) is an optimal way to test and refine one\u2019s behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darden\u2019s developmental approach relies on rehearsals, stories, and simulations probably more than any other business school. Occasionally I\u2019m challenged to justify what we do. After all, wouldn\u2019t a lecture-based curriculum be more efficient in time and effort? Perhaps. But as the SEALS, Olympians, and many business professionals demonstrate, mere lecturing is not as effective<\/em> as a developmental approach based on rehearsals, stories, and simulations.<\/p>\n

In the course of our MBA program, our students will wrestle with several hundred business situations. Each case will seem to be unique, but when combined with hundreds of others, will form a truly impressive mosaic of risk, opportunity, and most importantly, of wise action. Rarely will there be a \u201cright\u201d or correct answer to a case study\u2014but there are many wrong ones. Repeated practice helps one to anticipate error. Wrestling with the case studies helps you grow in wisdom.<\/p>\n

But there is more. Simply putting in the time (be it 10,000 hours to get to the Olympics or 2 years to get an MBA) is no guarantee of mastery. More work is not the answer; the right kind of learning <\/em>is what\u2019s important. Simply reading cases and offering one casual comment per class won\u2019t get you where you need to go. Each case offers a rehearsal or practice session. If you practice deliberately<\/em> you will accelerate your development.<\/p>\n

The concept of deliberate practice is discussed in two good books: Geoff Colvin\u2019s Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else<\/em><\/a> and David Shenk\u2019s The Genius in All of Us: Why everything You\u2019ve Been Told about Genetics, Talent, and IQ is Wrong<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> As Colvin writes, \u201cDeliberate practice\u2026is activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher\u2019s help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it\u2019s highly demanding mentally, whether the activity is purely intellectual, such as chess or business related activities or heavily physical, such as sports; and it isn\u2019t much fun.\u201d (p. 66)<\/p>\n

A program such as Darden\u2019s has all of these attributes; and<\/em> it can be fun, though the rigor feels pretty demanding. Colvin says, \u201cIf it seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is no fun, take consolation in this fact: it must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and they would not distinguish the best from the rest. The reality that deliberate practice is hard can even be seen as good news. It means that most people won\u2019t do it. So your willingness to do it will distinguish you all the more.\u201d (p. 72)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my take on Thiel vs. SEAL. Thiel\u2019s skepticism is worth pondering. Not all MBA (or other degree) programs are created equal. You need to be a careful consumer and weigh the pros and cons of each. Getting a degree is no guarantee of reaching your life\u2019s goals. If you simply can\u2019t wait to start a business, then any kind of formal training will be a tremendous bore. As I have said in this blog in numerous ways, you must listen to your head and your heart\u2014when called seriously, follow.<\/p>\n

But if forced to bet on Thiel or the SEAL, I would put all my chips on the SEAL. Training pays. Indeed, research ((See four studies: Card, D., 2001. \u201cEstimating the Returns to Schooling: Progress and Some Persistent Problems\u201d, Econometrica, 69(5), 1127-1160. Palacios-Huerta, I., 2003. \u201cAn Empirical Analysis of the Risk Properties of Human Capital Returns\u201d, American Economic Review, 93(3), 948-964. Psacharopoulos, G. and H. Patrinos, 2002. \u201cReturns to Investments in Education: A Further Update\u201d, World Bank discussion papers 2881. Heckman, J, Lockner, and P. Todd, 2003 \u201cFifty Years of Mincer Earnings Regressions\u201d<\/a>.)) suggests that the return on education is very high, perhaps the highest available to most consumers. The correlation between years in school and earning power is strong and positive. But I would add that some <\/em>kinds of training are bound to have higher returns than others. Your return will be higher if you, the student, bring great commitment and energy to the enterprise. And like Darden\u2019s learning experiences, the training you choose should harness insights of extensive research on high performers:<\/p>\n