The homeopathic fantasy is that extremely microscopic doses are sufficent to engender desired outcomes. It’s a kind of action at a distance fantasy. The managerial equivalent is that one slight lifts the left pinky; mumbling “make it so” and vast armys of talent and pools of capital snap into action.

The desire for such miraculous powers and nostrums is strong; so suppliers are happy to step up and sell you quart of panacea. You can’t argue with such strong desires. Strong desire for effective cures of these kinds engenders strong faith in their efficacy. It’s always a bit dangerous to argue with a true believer. In point of fact it’s a bit rude to destroy another’s faith, particularly if all you have to offer in return is dispair.

But I can rarely resist confusing the situation by throwing another dozen or more miracle cures into the pot. It’s fun to watch them duke it out. Ted just gleaned a nice set of management flashcards out of a book. I’m jealous! Oh! I know – I’ll steal them by reference!

Once you get past the enthusiasm of strong faith your still maybe stuck with grains of truth left behind. I don’t doubt that some homopathic remedies work great with tiny dose triggering large outcomes. You need to mud wrestle with the ideas to get to those grains of true. That exercise is dangerously close to arguing with the true believer.

Consider this one.

To mitigate risk: The plan has to precedes materialization.

Isn’t planning materialization? Don’t plans create rigidities that create their own risks? What of the rule’s complement.

Planning is what we do to avoid action.

Or one of my favorites.

The function of the plan is so we all know from whence we are deviating.

Planning is hard in the time of Moore’s law and his friends. Building houses on sand.