It is said that Galileo conducted research by observing the swaying candles in the church in Pisa, checking the frequency of the swing against his own heartbeat. From what we know now, the swaying candles would have been a much more stable and reliable basis than his pulse.
In the 19th and 20th centuries the science of measurement was underpinned by physical objects. There was a standard kilogram (a platinum block in Paris) and also a standard metre (2 lines on a platinum-iridium bar, until 1960).
Since 2019 no SI definitions are based on instances of physical objects but are determined by choosing values for key physical properties such as the speed of light, Plancks constant, elementary charge and Boltzmann’s constant.
In day to day management we can all be tempted to treat some things as foundational or defining (rather than critically assess them in the context of other perspectives).