Leading Thoughts for September 17, 2026

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with:

I.

Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter on inertia:

"Our default response in life is not to experience meaning or happiness. Our default response is to experience inertia. We think of inertia as the state of being inert or motionless—one of our purer displays of passivity and disengagement. It's not. Inertia is an active event in which we are persisting in the state we're already in rather than switching to something else."

Source: The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment

II.

Sebastian Wernicke on data objectivity:

"It's easy to understand why one would intuitively view data as a kind of 'objective truth.' After all, we assume that data originates from objective measurements, making the resulting numbers clear and unequivocal. However, capturing our reality in numbers is rarely straightforward. Defining precisely how we arrive at a number isn't mere nitpicking, as these choices can carry significant consequences when we use that number to make a decision. Fundamentally, there is no single 'right' method to translate reality into data. Usually many valid methods exist, but each will turn the facts into a different number. Data compresses a subjective view of the world. Those who look at data see not an objective truth but rather a specific (hopefully at least consistent and documented) interpretation of the world, expressed as numbers."

Source: Data Inspired: Building an Organizational Culture of Inquiry for Lasting Transformation

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Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:46 PM
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