The director is not a database

“Actually, every director is just one big repository,” a communications staff member told Pim van Meer. That immediately got him thinking. Because that exposes a vulnerability.

Managers often seem smart. And sometimes they actually are. But most of the time, they’re just experienced. They’ve paid a hell of a lot in tuition fees. They’ve seen many projects, witnessed a lot of trouble, recognized many patterns, had many discussions, and, above all, seen many things go wrong. That makes sense, because it’s precisely when things aren’t going well that a lot of it eventually ends up on a director’s desk.

That doesn’t automatically make a director or manager smarter.
Above all, it leaves him vulnerable.

And let me be honest about this right away: seniority matters. Experience is very important. I’m certainly not going to pretend that an organization is better off without experienced people. On the contrary. Experience is often the reason you can spot sooner where things are likely to go wrong, where people are fooling themselves, or where a project still has an unpleasant surprise in store. Meanwhile, AI without guidance is a loose cannon.

But that’s exactly where the problem lies.

Because experience is not a neutral data source.
Experience is biased.

Shaped by time.
By the crisis that shaped you. Just like me.
By the projects that left an impression on you.
By the mistakes you never wanted to make again.
By opinion.
By context.
Through the way the human brain simply works.

In other words: is it really such a good idea that we in the supply chain still rely so heavily on a single large repository that is partly filled with valuable lessons, but partly also with old habits, outdated context, and past grievances?

I don't think so.

And that’s exactly why I keep hammering home the importance of digitization. Not because I want to replace directors. Not because I want to throw away experience. Quite the opposite. But because I believe that experience needs to be supported, corrected, and challenged by something that is less forgetful or prone to unsubstantiated opinions and less susceptible to emotional bias.

Because if we keep pretending that experience alone is a good system, we’ll perpetuate a world in which important decisions too often depend on who has been through the most, speaks the loudest, or exudes the most authority. That isn’t always the same as quality. Back it up with data!

As far as I’m concerned, we need to move toward something different. Toward a world in which:

• knowledge is shared more effectively,
• The rules of the game should be made more explicit,
• Standards help make information comparable,
• Digital gateways show whether something is complete enough,
• And AI or other systems don’t replace our judgment, but they do help us recognize patterns and prepare for decisions more effectively.

That way, you end up with something much healthier.
The director remains responsible, but is no longer the only living database in the room. Experience then becomes one source among many, rather than the sole source. You can still seek advice from a senior colleague, but you’ll also know when they’re relying too much on memory and too little on shared, up-to-date, and verifiable information.

And I think that’s where the real sign of maturity lies.

Not less experience.
But less reliance on experience as the sole system.

Because let’s be honest: if AI is now surprisingly good at predicting what a director will think about something—especially when that director publishes often enough or makes decisions in a predictable pattern—then that also reveals something uncomfortable. In that case, his wisdom is partly based on experience, but partly just predictable behavior. And predictable behavior is very important, but it’s not always the best solution.

Filing moment

A director doesn’t have to be a database.
In fact, it’s unhealthy if he’s expected to be one.

Experience is valuable.
Seniority is, too.
But if your organization still relies on information silos instead of shared, up-to-date, and verifiable knowledge, then you’re not managing based on wisdom.

If we do it right, digitization is a friend that keeps us on our toes.

About Pim's digital maze

In this column, Pim takes you on a journey through the sometimes wondrous, confusing, yet rapidly changing world of digitization. He draws on his experiences as VORM’s director of digitization. Pim is outspoken and critical, but above all, he wants to help you. Are you stuck in the digital maze? Pim will help you find your way out…. Read all the episodes here.