Back to source…

I’m often asked (and was recently, hence this article) if my study of classics/ancient history and philosophy at university has been of any use during my business career. My answer is yes and to prove my point I sometimes tell the following story.

Many years ago, when I had just started university my lecturer (classics/ancient history) made what was, to all those present in the lecture theatre, thought to be a scandalous remark. He said “The fact that you know that the Battle of Marathon was fought in 490BC isn’t actually very useful to the world at large. How you know it was is.”

And he was right. While it’s interesting and fun to know the dates of major historical events these are of little use in the modern business world (except during the office / pub quiz) but the ability to draw a conclusion based on a variety of imperfect primary and secondary sources is useful.

While it is true that today we have access to more – and more immediate - information than ever before via the internet (e.g. free and subscription news sites, social media, subscription online information portals for specific industries such as Bloomberg etc.) as well as the traditional mainstream media, so much of it is dross that it’s often difficult to understand what’s real and what’s false. Equally, information fed to us is often contradictory – even if true or thought to be true at the time of broadcasting / publishing/ issuing. One’s perspective also plays a part and although it’s almost impossible, one should try and be as objective as possible when reviewing information.

One should look for patterns and if possible cross check and decide how likely is the scenario presented and what is the source of the information. All too often these simple things aren’t done. I was always taught that when in doubt (and if possible) go back to source.

The study of history (and other similarly academically rigorous subjects) allows us to learn and hone skills that help filter out the rubbish (e.g false information, bias, mis-direction etc.) and look beyond the immediate as well as to be objective. These skills can be used in almost all facets of business whether it be marketing, sales, business development, accounting, administration, HR, operations or governance. Often one just needs to cross reference and compare information / data but, more often than not, we can get to the truth – or as near the truth as we can - by going back to source.