It’s better to do the right things poorly than the wrong things well
Russell Ackoff made a distinction that holds as true in business as anywhere else: success depends more on choosing the right actions than on perfecting the wrong ones. Imperfect execution can be recovered. A flawed strategy, executed well, just gets you to the wrong place faster.
That tension has become more pressing as organisations hand more of their research to AI.
The problem isn’t the tool; it’s the trust placed in it without scrutiny. AI-generated information, accepted uncritically, can quietly steer organisations in the wrong direction. When that same information then feeds into early strategy decisions, the error compounds. You can’t substitute human judgement at this stage of the process. AI can support the work, but it can’t replace the thinking.
This is why research matters most at the beginning: in the planning and discovery phases, before direction is set. Good information leads to better decisions. Better decisions mean you start moving the right way. After that, you can focus on doing it well.
