Chapter 23 5.c The method defect of success study--case analysis

It is an indisputable fact that all books on "Success Studies" can be fascinating.The reason why these books can do this is that there are always vivid and specific so-called "cases" everywhere in the books.This reasoning method is estimated to have originated from the "case analysis" teaching method pioneered by Harvard Business School in the late 1980s and mid-1980s. In fact, when HBS first started, professors quickly found that there were no suitable teaching materials available.Therefore, the solution they first thought of was to interview those top businessmen, and then come back to record in detail what these outstanding leaders are doing and what their methods are--the so-called "cases".These professors then discovered that they could not take the records of these "individual cases" according to the scriptures, because in fact there is no established "standard" to measure "what will succeed and what will fail".Therefore, the way professors instruct students is to ask them to read these "cases" carefully first, and then carefully prepare class discussions and propose further action plans.Basically, this is still how this so-called "teaching model" is used to this day14.

Although the "case study method" is a relatively advanced teaching method, it has its own limitations like all teaching methods-it is easy to fall into some common fallacies.In "success" books, the "case study method" (case study method) that business schools "admit flaws but have to use" is often used as a natural method.Therefore, there are all kinds of logical fallacies everywhere. The most common one is "overgeneralization".Just because a certain experience works for one person does not mean that it will work for everyone.For example, Edison's words are often quoted in various success books:

Eddie lived at the age of 84 and invented more than 1,100 inventions in his life. He once said about the reasons for his success: "Some people think that I am successful in many things because I have some 'genius'. This is not true. No matter who has a clear mind, if he is willing to work hard, he can achieve as much as I do." Edison's famous saying is: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." 15 "Hard work" isn't the only thing that leads to success.For example, it is obvious and crucial, but not often mentioned, that Edison was fortunate to be born in a country with a "relatively complete intellectual property protection system".If we go back further, there is one most important reason for Edison's great success - he was lucky and had a great mother.Edison went to school at the age of 8, but after only three months of reading, he was dismissed by the teacher as an "imbecile" and kicked out of school-in any country, he ran to the henhouse to hatch eggs with his own body when he was free. Most children may be considered "imbecile" by most teachers.From then on, his mother was his "tutor".Because of his mother's good education methods, he became very interested in reading. "He not only read a lot of books, but also read ten lines at a glance, and he can recite them from a glance."Just imagine, if Edison was born in China at the end of the last century...

In fact, there are other people in this world who adopt the behavior pattern that is exactly the opposite of "working hard", and also achieve or achieve success, although the manifestations of success are different.After Warren Buffett buys stocks he thinks are worth holding, he only takes one action equal to "no effort, no action"-"wait for the opportunity to sell"; even, for some stocks of companies like Coca-Cola , Buffett simply did not take any action after buying.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's strategy of "non-resistance, non-cooperation" is also the exact opposite of "action hard".

Note, I'm not saying, "shouldn't work hard" - I'm someone who believes that "should work hard".I even think that Buffett's "forever holding" after buying is an action that requires hard work to persist, and Gandhi's "non-resistance, non-cooperation" is an action that requires more mental strength to practice. What I want to say is that Edison's "case" can only tell us that Edison worked very hard, worked very hard, loved work, and loved life.However, this "case" cannot prove that as long as each of us "works very hard, very diligently, loves work, and loves life" like Edison, we can achieve the same achievements as him. --Obviously many other factors are needed for their effects.Whether Edison is a particularly hard-working person has nothing to do with us in essence. We should work hard and we should not give up just because others work hard or don’t work hard.

The master of success said, "If you want to be successful, you have to imitate those successful people!" It seems that many people do not understand the story of "imitation".However, looking at the root cause, it is not because the story of "Dong Shi's imitation" is too difficult to understand, but because no one believes that he is "Dong Shi".If it is too difficult to think of yourself as an "Eastern Shi", then it should be obvious that you are not a "Xi Shi"?A mentally healthy person should not only have the ability to see the real world clearly, but also have enough ability to perceive the real self.Blaming differences and rejecting limitations are both pathological psychology and behavior.

Another more subtle logical error is "one-way establishment".Many assertions are nothing more than "one-way establishment".For example, the sentence "Many students cannot understand pure English spoken at a normal speed" is a one-way establishment.The reverse is absurd-does it mean that what students can't understand (English) must be pure English with normal pronunciation? The most obvious example related to "Success Study" is "XXX succeeded because he persevered! Therefore, you must persevere in everything you do. As long as you persevere to the end, you will be able to succeed!" Encouraging others is a virtue, But bewitching others is immoral.Who said that perseverance will surely succeed?joke.You insist on developing "perpetual motion machine" and "immortality pill" to try?Whoever likes to persist should persist.The premise of success if you stick to it to the end is that the expected goal is not only realistic and feasible, but also the best method is correct.In short, if you persist blindly, there will probably be no good results.

Another dumbfounding example is this widely circulated story: The pastor was preparing a sermon while his youngest son was making noise.The pastor had no choice but to pick up an old magazine, tore the brightly colored illustration - a map of the world into pieces, threw it on the ground, and said, "John, if you can spell this map, I will give it to you." Twenty-five cents." The pastor thought that this would cost John the whole morning, so that he could calm down and think about the problem.However, within 10 minutes, the son knocked on the door of his room, holding the completely spelled map in his hand.The pastor was amazed at how quickly John put together a map of the world, and asked, "Son, how did you put it together so quickly?" "Ah," said little John, "that's easy. On the other side there was a picture of a person, and I put the pictures of that person together and turned it over. I figured if the person is right, then the world is right." The pastor smiled and gave His son, twenty-five cents, said to him, "Thank you! You have prepared a sermon topic for me tomorrow: If a man is right, his world will be right."

Then, those who tell this story will say meaningfully: This story enlightens us: If you want to change your world and your life, you should first change yourself.If your mental attitude is positive, your life will be happy; if your mental attitude is negative, then your life will be sad. But in fact, this is a completely logical and confusing explanation.Even if the conclusion is correct, a person with thinking ability should reject those logically confusing arguments.What this story can tell us logically is: "From another perspective, we may be able to find a very simple solution to a complex problem." However, the pastor's conclusion and the success masters who retold the story "if If a person is correct, his world will be correct" is just a sneaky change of concept, not even "reasoning by analogy".In my terms, this is the true sense of "the donkey's lips don't match the horse's mouth", or "the donkey's lips match the horse's mouth"-it's not right anyway!

There is definitely nothing wrong with inspiration, because people just need encouragement, but they can't talk nonsense.As I get older, I hate many inspirational books more and more, and even feel that in many cases, "masters of success" are simply equal to "charlatans".And in a sense, they are worse than charlatans, because in the end they are just cheating you of something. If you are smart, you may not be cheated, or even if you are cheated, you can find a way to make up for the loss.But some success gurus are different. They take your money, gain your trust, and make you an even dumber fool.Of course, if you are smart, you can only be irritated and laugh helplessly.

The terrible thing is that this kind of logical confusion can really bring surprises in understanding.As a result, most people can't help but accept it without discrimination.But what is the use of foolishly accepting correct conclusions?This is indeed a meaningful story, and indeed many interesting and beneficial conclusions can be drawn.But, please, can you be a logical person first? In addition to "generalizing the whole" and "single-item establishment", there are even naked, shameless logical confusions in the "success study" books.The most blatantly confusing example of "success" that stands out to me is the one about "attitude changes everything."I know and believe that "sometimes just a change in attitude really can make a difference".However, I think it would be not only impossible, but even immoral, for me to accept, or for anyone to accept, the following logic. If the letters A to Z are coded with scores from 1 to 26, (A=1, B=2..., Z=26), then: * Your knowledge (KNOWLEDGE) gets 96 points (11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5=96) * Your efforts (HARDWORK) only get 98 points (8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11=98) * Your attitude (ATTITUDE) is all about your life, because 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5=100 Please, how about some basic logic?In fact, using this method to calculate, the result equals to 100 more words: alienation apoplectic (stroke patient) boycott (boycott) cacophony (noise, harsh tone) chimpanzee (chimpanzee) connivance (connivance) coyness (shyness) flurry (flurry) frisson (shudder) impotence inflation (inflation) pussy (kitten pussy/pussy) socialism (socialism) status (identity, status) stress surcharge (overload, additional fine, extra fee) syndicate tuppence (trivial thing) turkey (turkey, useless things) Wednesday (Wednesday) wholesale (wholesale) The above list is just a small part of the more than one thousand nouns I found in the BNC English glossary.By the way, if the adjective useless follows this algorithm, the result is also equal to 100.Addendum: I just finished writing, and I searched for "KNOWLEDGE 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5=96" on GOOGLE.The results obtained are particularly memorable: almost all of the top 150 items come from Chinese websites.On the 16th page of the search results, some English websites began to mention this inexplicable algorithm. I saw such an article on the 151st item of the GOOGLE search results: pointed out that bullshit = 103, so I continued, "So, it stands to reason That hard work and knowledge will get you close, attitude will get you there, but bullshit will put you over the top.” There is even more amusing, the author went on to point out another word: asskissing=127!