# The Net Worth of Thinking By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-03-07 What is the net worth of analysis at an organization? Many would say it is the incremental profit generated by analytics work less the cost of the professional analysts. Whatever anyone tells you, it is nearly impossible to calculate this number. Humanity and thinking don't work in economic ways. Remember, all models are wrong, and some are useful. We may think the economic view of business and the world is the way the world works, but this is not true. Economics is merely a theory. It is a model of how we think value operates in the human world. It is wrong by definition. It does not mean it isn't useful. But it fails whenever you attempt to venture beyond easily quantifiable conditions. What's love worth? What about trust? What about new ideas and art? Economists and businesses have found creative ways of applying a monetary value to these qualitative things, but it never feels right or perfectly predicts the future. It's like trying to explain the physical nature of the universe when you only believe in fire, air, earth, and water. You can explain some things but you'll fall short. We often find ourselves stuck in the paradigms of thought that surround us. Instead of questioning it, we try to make everything fit into it (see [The Structure of Scientific Revolutions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions) for more details). Identifying the net worth of analysis within an organization is flawed from the start and steeped in the economic value model. When someone asks you the value of analysis in monetary terms, you have two options. Get creative and look at the problem all wrong, or simply ask them if thinking is better than not thinking. If they ask you to quantify the value of thinking, I suggest you head for the hills at your earliest convenience. If they ask you what's the line between too much thinking and not enough, you have ventured into a meaningful conversation worth having. #### Related Items [[Thinking]] [[Economics]] [[Paradigms]] [[Analytics]] [[Value]]