In the four years of research at more than 100 companies, the authors observed a phenomenon they term the 'knowing-doing gap', which is the inertia of knowing too much and doing too little. "It can often be traced to a basic human propensity: the willingness to let talk substitute for action." In particular, they identify an especially insidious inhibitor of organizational action, 'smart talk' which focuses on the negative and is unnecessarily complicated and/or abstract. Most importantly, 'smart talk' stops actions in its tracks. According to Pfeffer and Sutton, managers let talk substitute for action because that's what they've been trained to do: "Smart talk is the essence of management education at leading institutions in the US and throughout the world. ... Once in the workplace, business school graduates continue to be rewarded for talking" (consultants). The authors are not looking for silence, they are looking for the right kind of talk, which can inspire and guide intelligent action. Their research suggests five characteristics of organizations without this 'knowing-doing gap': i) They have leaders who know and do the work; ii) They have a bias for plain language and simple concepts; iii) They frame questions by asking "how", not just "why"; iv) They have strong mechanisms that close the loop; and v) They believe that experience is the best teacher. The authors conclude that closing the 'knowing-doing gap' can provide the great rewards of action.
I think that most of us do agree with the authors' statement about the talk-instead-of-action problem at organizations, but the authors do not convince me with their solution. Yes, they provide a list of five characteristics (all very much in line with Peters & Waterman's excellence and Porras & Collins' built-to-last models), but there is no advice on implementation of those characteristics. This advice might be included within their book 'The Knowing-Doing Gap'. The authors use simple business US-English.
