Even if a fact is cast-iron accurate, it’s meaningless if it’s handpicked — the exception that doesn’t prove the rule. Someone could trumpet a smoker who lived to 100, but hide the thousands of others who died from their habit.
"I am – I was – a geek. I played chess. I was the British girls under-14 champion."
So said Rachel Reeves in a Guardian interview. The Independent, Sky News, and
3 Jan 2025 | A fact is not data,A statement is not fact,Confirmation bias,Data is not evidence,Evidence is not proof
Chris van Tulleken’s “Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … And Why Can’t We Stop?”, on the dangers of Ultra-Processed Food (UPF), was one of the most successful books of 2023. It was a #1 Sunday Times Bestseller and an Economist, Daily Mail, Good Housekeeping, and Amazon Book of the Year. Even now (January 2025) it’s still #9 in the Amazon charts, having spent 88 weeks in the top 20.
Due to its popularity, I’d heard about it before reading it, and the punchlines resonated strongly with me. I try to eat home-cooked meals ...
A widely quoted statistic is that only 2% of VC funding goes to female founders. For example, this Forbes article highlights that "only 2% of all VC funding goes to women-led startups" and asks "Why is only 2% of VC funding going to female founders"? If true, this statistic is substantial underrepresentation and needs to be urgently addressed. However, it's problematic for several reasons.
1. The Statistic Ignores Diverse Teams
The 2% ...
23 Mar 2024 | A fact is not data,A statement is not fact,Data is not evidence
I was struck by the Harvard Business Review headline "Companies that Practice 'Conscious Capitalism' Perform 10x Better". On the one hand, it appealed to my confirmation bias. Conscious capitalism involves serving stakeholders, not just shareholders, in line with my book Grow the Pie and work on purposeful busienss more generally. On the other hand, the effects seemed too big to be true. If conscious capitalists could really perform ten times ...
25 Nov 2023 | A fact is not data,A statement is not fact,Confirmation bias,Diversity
Last week, Harvard Business Review published an article entitled "Research: How Women Improve Decision-Making on Boards". It was widely shared on LinkedIn and someone tagged me in it, given my research on diversity, equity, and inclusion. When I became Managing Editor of the Review of Finance, I appointed the first women to its board of editors in our 20-year history, so I'd like to believe the findings. However, it's important not to take claims at face value, particularly when ...
Britain’s leave-voting areas are falling even further behind three years after Brexit. Our Levelling Up Scorecard shows how they are far more likely to face a widening wealth and opportunity gap relative to richer regions. That’s an excerpt from a Bloomberg Close email I received in January 2023.
