When to get Divorced or Changing Tack

I'm reading an old but very interesting book by a business management Guru and the most interesting thing (and the book is full of pearls) he says is that he is not afraid to contradict himself. At first it sounded really strange but the explanation is beautiful in its simplicity. All he is saying is that don't be afraid to say that, with new knowledge at hand and the benefit of hindsight you now disagree with yourself. There is absolutely no shame in that. You don't really find this is academia as the tendency there is to defend your standpoint to the death, camps form and friendships disintegrate. The shortage of grant funding sometimes drives this but whatever the reason its unhealthy.

Thoughts leaders need to be just that, thinking and speaking and postulating on the fringes and boundaries. If you're operating there then, there are bound to be instances when you change you mind about something, be it a principle, model or equation. The most important thing is to say:'Yes that's the way that I was thinking but I have now changed tack and this makes more sense for me now'

That's about embracing the knowledge that's out there and not blindly defending theory or modelling that no longer makes sense to you. So don't be afraid to get divorced from an idea and change tack. The aim, or point of your involvement is to provide a solution that best suits the situation and you can't do that if you're blindly faithful.

I believe they were a 60's rock band, Blind faith, they were very successful but that is for another blog..