Management is much more than a science: the limits of data-driven decision making

The rise of big data has bolstered the presumption that business decisions should be made using scientific analysis. However, this approach can reduce strategic options and impede innovation. This is because the scientific method is meant for understanding phenomena that do not change, but is not designed to assess things that as yet do not exist. To make effective decisions about possibilities, managers should compose narratives about potential outcomes using the Aristotelian principles of logic, metaphor, and emotion. Next, managers should hypothesize what would be necessary for the narratives to occur, and validate these hypotheses via prototyping.