Michael Schrage, a research fellow at MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business, is the author of the books "Serious Play," "Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become?" and "The Innovator’s Hypothesis."
"As an educator, (he) fears world-class business schools and high-performance businesses overinvest in 'education' and dramatically underinvest in 'training.' Human capital champions in higher education and industry typically prize knowledge over skills," the article notes.
"Crassly put, leaders and managers get knowledge and education while training and skills go to those who do the work. That business bias is both dangerous and counterproductive. The SEALS can’t afford it. 'Under pressure,' according to SEAL lore, 'you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That’s why we train so hard.' When I see just how difficult and challenging it is for so many smart and talented organizations to innovate and adapt under pressure, I see people who are overeducated and undertrained. That scares me."
Read this Harvard Business Review article in which Michael interviews Brandon Webb, an innovative SEAL trainer/educator, and CEO of Force12 Media for a "real-world perspective on what industry could learn from a special operations sensibility. Webb, who served in the Navy from 1993 to 2006 and radically redesigned the SEAL training course curriculum, graciously shared his insight about what works — and what fails — when effecting a training transformation."
