Loyal dissent

The comments on the recent Bad Science posting on Brain Gym included several in which the commenters indicated not having the courage to question the introduction of pseudoscience nonsense in their school or business. I've had corporate managers tell me that they've submitted to the indignity of performing pseudoscientific activities such as those of Brain Gym and Neurolinguistic Programming, rather than protest and being seen as not "being team players".

I've mentioned before that nonsense congregates. It also migrates. Brain Gym has moved from the school environment to the corporate environment. It is one thing for a grade one child to press his Brain Buttons, it is something quite different for an adult manager. Yet, this kind of indignity is often expected when companies embrace pseudoscience.

Harvard University's Bob Sutton of the No-Asshole Rule and Evidence Based Management fame, has 15 rules he believes in. I'd like to single out number 11, which in a small way is relevant to this discussion:

"The best people and organizations have the attitude of wisdom: The courage to act on what they know right now and the humility to change course when they find better evidence."

The message? Employees have to be able to question something as simple as the introduction of a pseudoscience technique and know that their argument and their evidence will be heard. Bringing in nonsense activities into an organisation will not normally threaten the future of that organisation, although it may divert valuable resources to nonsense. The question is whether organisational culture that suppresses dissent at that level, will allow it where more important issues are at stake?