Unconventional Wisdom – John Kenneth Galbraith coined the term “conventional wisdom” which is what people generally believe to be true. But some people never let go of it. Consider Ashley Smith who, by gaining the trust of her assailant, caused the capture of the Atlanta courthouse killer. But that didn’t stop hostage negotiators, psychologists, and other pundits to declare that she had done the wrong thing. The outcome was the best that could have been hoped for, but they still said it was wrong. On the other hand, attorney Mark Geragos decided that he would not allow his client Scott Peterson to take the witness stand in his own defense. Even after the verdict, many legal analysts agreed that Geragos had done the right thing. But the result was that his client received the death penalty!! There was no other outcome that could have been worse, but many still said it was the right thing to do. What can happen is that we get so wrapped up in what we know is the “right thing” that we lose sight of what actually happened. This might happen to you when a young salesman starts out by quoting your lowest price, but ends up getting the deal you didn’t think you could get. What do you do when the wrong method produces the best results? The “conventional wisdom” would say you should go back to doing it the old way. But maybe more time should be spent figuring out why the old way didn’t work this time.