Great diaogue, all; thanks to Harold for kicking it off. As you noted, I'm certainly with you on noting the occasional jagged disconnect between our automatic instinct for measurement and the qualitative aspect of the things being measured.

It's not that you can't measure things like trust, love, democracy, or happiness; I believe that you can measure those things and just about anything else. But the more pertinent question is: why would you? Measurement is simply one route to broader goals; depending on the situation, it may be the best route. Or, it may not be.

And Andrew, I love your line "More managers should approach their workplaces as canvases rather than as machines." Amen to that.