A coach who sticks with the conventional strategy is protected by a “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM” attitude, whereas a coach who does something unconventional (but probabilistically correct) runs the risk of getting fired if it doesn’t work out.
This reminds me of the TV series House. Dr. House, the maverick, is always coming up with courses of action that are rationally correct, and Dr. Cuddy, his boss, is always striking them down as unethical or something. I wonder how many members of the general population side with Cuddy.
But House’s “rationally correct” courses of action are only eventually proven so with hindsight. They often involve harsh experiments that directly endanger the patient, and each episode generally includes at least 2 dangerous false diagnoses for dramatic effect.
In real life, House would by now have killed an unacceptable proportion of his patients and got himself fired and sued. I love the series, so I don’t mind suspending disbelief about that.
You should be able to make a correct but unexpected decision without being branded a maverick—sometimes. To be a successful maverick your correct decisions have to be unexpected most of the time. But then those around you who supposedly know the subject would have to be badly miscalibrated...
To be a successful maverick your correct decisions have to be unexpected most of the time. But then those around you who supposedly know the subject would have to be badly miscalibrated...
Supposedly this is House’s gift; he is able to figure out cases that are mysterious to other doctors. So it makes sense that, with respect to the cases he sees, other doctors’ calibration would be poor. (But then you wonder why they don’t defer to him more...)
The specific example I had in mind was in the episode “Son of Coma Guy”, in which a father, who is going to fall into a coma for the rest of his life, can save his son’s life with a heart transplant, and decides he’d rather die to save his son’s life than live in a coma while his son dies. House would like to proceed with the transplant, but Cuddy refuses.
This reminds me of the TV series House. Dr. House, the maverick, is always coming up with courses of action that are rationally correct, and Dr. Cuddy, his boss, is always striking them down as unethical or something. I wonder how many members of the general population side with Cuddy.
But House’s “rationally correct” courses of action are only eventually proven so with hindsight. They often involve harsh experiments that directly endanger the patient, and each episode generally includes at least 2 dangerous false diagnoses for dramatic effect.
In real life, House would by now have killed an unacceptable proportion of his patients and got himself fired and sued. I love the series, so I don’t mind suspending disbelief about that.
You should be able to make a correct but unexpected decision without being branded a maverick—sometimes. To be a successful maverick your correct decisions have to be unexpected most of the time. But then those around you who supposedly know the subject would have to be badly miscalibrated...
Supposedly this is House’s gift; he is able to figure out cases that are mysterious to other doctors. So it makes sense that, with respect to the cases he sees, other doctors’ calibration would be poor. (But then you wonder why they don’t defer to him more...)
Because they hate being shown up. Plenty of real life precedent for that.
The specific example I had in mind was in the episode “Son of Coma Guy”, in which a father, who is going to fall into a coma for the rest of his life, can save his son’s life with a heart transplant, and decides he’d rather die to save his son’s life than live in a coma while his son dies. House would like to proceed with the transplant, but Cuddy refuses.
That seems closer to shut up and multiply.