"Experience may possibly be the best teacher, but it is not a particularly good teacher." You might think that Winston Churchill or perhaps Mark Twain spoke those words, but they actually come from James March, a professor at Stanford University and a pioneer in the field of organizational decision making. For years March (possibly be wisest philosopher of management) has studied how humans think and act, and he continues to do so in his new bookThe Ambiguities of Experience. He begins by reminding us of just how firmly we have been sticking to the idea of experiential learning: "Experience is respected;experience is sought;experience is explained." The problem is that learning from experience involves serious complications  , ones that are part of the nature of experience itself and which March discusses in the body of this book. In one interesting part of the book, for example, he turns a doubtful eye toward the use of stories as the most effective way of experiential learning. In our efforts to make stories interesting, he argues, we lose part of the complicated truth of things. He says "The more accurately reality is presented, the less understandable the story, and the more understandable the story, the less realistic it is." Besides being a broadly knowledgeable researcher, March is also a poet, and his gift shines through in the depth of views he offers and the simple language he uses. Though the book is short, it is demanding: Don't pick it up looking for quick, easy lessons. Rather, be ready to think deeply about learning from experience in work and life. According to James March, experience   _  .
is overvalued is easy to explain should be actively sought should be highly respected