Opinion: Learning by doing has more impact than learning by rote

Now, I'm not saying that understanding the law is unimportant, rather that by itself such understanding has very limited utility. What practitioners and leaders need, at every level, is a deep understanding of the work we do. Putting it personally, internally, I have valued the theoretical above the real world.

This came into focus for me while I was reading Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. In it, he describes the "Econs", who do everything on a data-driven and rational "Mr Spock" basis. He contrasts the Econs with the Humans - real people - who are not consistently rational and often have systematic biases in their beliefs. Applying this theory to myself, while I like to think of myself as rational and driven by the evidence, the reality is often rather different. Kahneman demonstrates that almost everyone believes that they are rational, and then proceeds to demolish any basis for that belief - not exempting himself.