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The Most Exciting Science
Astronomy is one of the most exciting sciences ever known to man. Since time immemorial mankind has relied more on conjectures and speculations sewn together into theories to explain mesmerising phenomena. With the advances in sciences we started gathering evidence and thereby initiated the process of filtering out obsolete popular facts and theories.
In astronomy, like other sciences, we progressed into the realms of genuine facts because we started giving more credence to the evidence to either prove or disprove facts & theories.
Just a few days back one momentous event has occurred which is set to change the course of study of astronomy. The launch of the James Webb telescope will give us never before available insights into the birth of the universe as well as the origin of mankind with hard evidence. It will look up into the past as much as 14 billion years ago and thereby change astronomy for the better.
The Great Determinant
Let us discuss a little about the subject of evidence and the Sources which plays an important part in our life. Yet we have very less regard for such an important determinant to our leadership. When we study the past (history) just like astronomy we must base our belief on evidence from the sources only. In this post-truth world with alternative facts it is more imperative that leadership must know about the importance of evidence and sources.
One of the most common avoidable mistakes we make is that first we create or believe in certain theories and then manufacture evidence in favour of it. This is the way most of the popular controversial facts are created and imposed upon.
The most credible way is to first gather the evidence from the sources and then make theories or belief systems out of it.
Demand The Test
If anybody comes up with any theory seemingly controversial we must first demand the evidence and the sources for it. The FIRST TEST is the availability of the source and then the authenticity of the source itself. If that person fails to show up the source then it must be concluded safely that the theory of the fact is not correct.
But there is a caveat to it also. Most of the time people may come out with sources but again if the fact is startling we must verify the sources also. If the sources are not primary and original then we may not give much credence to that fact at all.
As a leader of our domain we must not accept anything without hard evidence. The first evidence we must ask is to produce the source and that too the primary and original sources. However exciting and startling the facts may be or coming out from institutions or the persons of imminence, we must apply the “Test of Source ''.
In the field of knowledge nobody is sacrosanct neither the institution nor the individual but the evidence only.
Test of Source and Decision Making
The reason I am saying this is that we as leaders sometimes have to make decisions which have a huge bearing on the vital aspects of organization as well as on the lives of many people. Many times we base our decisions simply on certain popularly accepted facts or well-known biases. We consider it to be true as it has been accepted for a very long time and many decisions have been taken before based on these premises. This is the most dangerous, wrong and unscientific way to make decisions.
But the greatest damage the acceptance of unverified facts does to us is that it corrupts us intellectually. It severely limits our thinking process and thus compromises our belief system. It makes us mentally more prone to biases. When biases increase the ability to make decisions is hugely compromised. Thus we start relying more on opinions than on hard facts for important decisions whether in personal or professional life.
In the decision making process the simple “ Test of Source'' is the need of the hour. This process can create credibility, durability and above all the visionary element in your leadership style.
My advice is to never dishonour your intellect by believing in facts that have no credible sources and evidence. It will ruin your leadership abilities especially in decision making domain.
