The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

Among the companies that Pfeffer and Sutton say do it right: General Electric, the Men's Wearhouse, SAS Institute, Southwest Airlines, Toyota, and British Petroleum. The book, based on four years of research, is broken into chapters with titles such as "When Talk Substitutes for Action," "When Fear Prevents Acting on Knowledge," "When Internal Competition Turns Friends into Enemies," and "Turning Knowledge into Action." Each chapter contains tips on what to do and what to avoid, and provides examples of how a lethargic company culture can be transformed. The Knowing-Doing Gap is a useful how-to guide for managers looking to make changes. Yet, as Pfeffer and Sutton point out, it takes more than reading their book or discussing their recommendations. It takes action. --Dan Ring

Product Description
The market for business knowledge is booming, as companies looking to improve their performance pour billions of dollars into training programs, consultants, and executive education. Why, then, are there so many gaps between what firms know they should do and what they actually do? Why do so many companies fail to implement the experience and insight they've worked so hard to acquire? The Knowing-Doing Gap is the first book to confront the challenge of turning knowledge about how to improve performance into actions that produce measurable results.

Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, well-known authors and teachers, identify the causes of the knowing-doing gap and explain how to close it. The message is clear-firms that turn knowledge into action avoid the "smart talk trap." Executives must use plans, analysis, meetings, and presentations to inspire deeds, not as substitutes for action. Companies that act on their knowledge also eliminate fear, abolish destructive internal competition, measure what matters, and promote leaders who understand the work people do in their firms. The authors use examples from dozens of firms that show how some overcome the knowing-doing gap, why others try but fail, and how still others avoid the gap in the first place.

The Knowing-Doing Gap is sure to resonate with executives everywhere who struggle daily to make their firms both know and do what they know. It is a refreshingly candid, useful, and realistic guide for improving performance in today's business.

If you want a hand-holding spoon-feeding checklist, look elsewhere. The authors show specifically why this kind of "checklist" attitude is a BIG part of the problem (notice how the summaries they provide at the end of each section pull together their main points nicely without oversimplifying them). However if you're looking for a guide to help you to actually think your way through these kinds of problems, as they beset you in your organizational life (and possibly in your personal life), then this is a definite "must read."

For these reasons (and both because of and in spite of its critique of MBA education practices), this book will become definite required reading in our core management course.


Why can't companies do what they know is right?   November 19, 1999
Prof. Kimberly Elsbach (Davis, California)
24 out of 25 found this review helpful

Pfeffer and Sutton provide two important lessons for managers: 1) they define the major impediments to implementing performance-enhancing innovations, and 2) they describe dozens of real-life examples of companies that either fell prey to these impediments or conquered them. The great thing about this book is that it uncovers some common mistakes that we all make, but are afraid to correct. Things like confusing "smart talk" for smart actions and relying on fear as a motivator are easily recognized as dumb managerial thinking. Yet, we've all sat in meetings and conceeded to the speaker with the big words and the intimidating manner - even if we know he or she is wrong - because we're afraid to acknowledge that we know better and because we assume that anyone with this vocabulary must be working as well as he or she is speaking. I've already used this book as an illustration of wrong management practices in my research, and intend to use it in my MBA courses.


A well-written book that's right on the money   November 22, 1999
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

I purchased this book after reading the authors' Harvard Business Review article on the "smart talk trap." I found myself nodding in agreement with the points they made in that article, and their book has proven to be equally insightful. In a clear, concise manner, Pfeffer and Sutton describe (and illustrate) some of the key organizational impediments to action and implementation, and perhaps more importantly, highlight ways to circumvent them. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone in industry who feels analysis should be a means, not an end. And if you've grown weary of reading about the latest management fads and buzzwords, this book is a refreshing departure.


A very good addition for a well-balanced management library   December 4, 1999
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I found this work to contribute a much-needed balance to the vast number of books that only deal with strategy recommendations; this text in contrast provides ample case studies and a framework for considering how to wrestle with the hard work of strategy execution. The balance of chapters is unusual for a management text -- 5 full chapters highlighting various classes of problems that occur in organizations -- but I think this is appropriate. I found myself seeing many instances of the same traps the authors cite in my own organization and now have a new approach to seek solutions. Again, a good addition for a well-balanced management library.