Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    big data analytics in transporation
    Turning Data Into Decisions: How Analytics Improves Transportation Strategy
    3 Min Read
    sales and data analytics
    How Data Analytics Improves Lead Management and Sales Results
    9 Min Read
    data analytics and truck accident claims
    How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
    7 Min Read
    predictive analytics for interior designers
    Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
    8 Min Read
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: How Good Leaders Keep Data in Perspective
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Data Management > How Good Leaders Keep Data in Perspective
Data Management

How Good Leaders Keep Data in Perspective

Larry Alton
Larry Alton
6 Min Read
How Good Leaders Keep Data in Perspective
SHARE

Increasingly, our world has become obsessed with data. Companies everywhere want to know who their customers are, how they behave, how they make purchasing decisions, and how they can be persuaded.

Contents
  • The Value of Data
  • The Problems With Data
  • How Good Leaders Keep Data in Perspective

In some ways, this concept is nothing new. Entrepreneurs, innovators, and creatives have always benefited from doing research and better understanding their business environments. The difference is, today’s world is abundant with data – and there are more tools than ever before to help us gather, organize, and analyze data.

This is strictly a good thing, right?

Not necessarily. To capitalize on all the benefits of a data rich business, we need good leaders who can lean into the benefits of a data surplus while minimizing the possible downsides.

More Read

data transit security
3 Crucial Data Transit Security Protocols Every Organization Must Follow
Big Data = Big Money: The ROI of Business Intelligence
The Secret BI / Big Data Playbook
In the World of Digital Storage, Size Does Matter [INFOGRAPHIC]
How to Compensate for Blind Spots and Biases in Your Security Strategy

The Value of Data

There’s no question that data is valuable, but only when it’s utilized properly. With better benchmarks, KPIs, and statistics, business leaders can better understand their environments and ultimately make more objective, logical decisions.

What’s important to recognize here is that it’s not the data itself that’s valuable. Simply having a graph in front of you isn’t what enables you to make better business decisions; instead, it’s your interactions with data that really matter. And unfortunately, many of those interactions can be corrupted by inherent problems with data fixation.

The Problems With Data

Believe it or not, there are some significant problems associated with organizations having too much data, or working with more data than they can reasonably handle.

For example:

  • Fixation on KPIs. Key performance indicators (KPIs) can serve as excellent measuring sticks that guide your progress and allow you to define and evaluate success. But a problem arises when you become overly fixated on KPIs. These metrics are typically narrow in scope, such that they can’t tell you everything about the progress of your campaign. As an example, you may have gained 10,000 followers on social media, but if those followers aren’t part of your target demographics, or if they don’t engage with your content, they may not be especially valuable for achieving your goals.
  • Too much noise, not enough signal. The more data you have, the harder it becomes to separate the signal from the noise. In other words, it becomes hard to separate what’s truly valuable or meaningful about your data from all the meaningless fluff. Skilled analysts can usually discern this with small data sets, but when you’re working with millions of data points, this becomes an excruciating challenge.
  • Misleading conclusions. If you’re obsessed with numerical data, you could easily be led to misleading conclusions. This is an especially important risk to acknowledge when presenting or interpreting data in ways that can potentially skew it. For example, data visualization has been an awesome tool for making objective data more abstract and easily interpretable – but it can also distort the meaning of data. Additionally, confirmation bias and other cognitive biases can change how you interpret data, ultimately diminishing the objective power of your conclusions.
  • Ignorance of outliers. Large data sets must be aggregated to be analyzed effectively, but this large-scale aggregation comes with a massive drawback: ignoring outliers. Outliers might be statistical anomalies, but they’re still important to acknowledge and analyze to get a clear picture of what’s going on.
  • Ignorance of subjective insights. Objectivity is crucial in making business decisions, but we can’t ignore the power of subjective insights. Customers might tell you that they think your business is worth 4 out of 5 stars – but what’s stopping them from giving you that final star? Every customer might have a slightly different answer.

How Good Leaders Keep Data in Perspective

So what can good leaders do to keep data in perspective?

  • Quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative and qualitative data may be similarly spelled, but they represent two totally different types of data. Quantitative data is objective and typically numerical, while qualitative data is more subjective and verbal. Both are essential for better understanding your business environment.
  • Narrow, specific reports. Every report you generate should be narrow and specific. Including more data points, or showing more granular detail aren’t necessarily good things. You need to be focused on the metrics that truly matter as well as the context that allows you to interpret them correctly.
  • Actionable insights. Your data strategy should be oriented toward actionable insights. In other words, you need to gather data to direct your decisions – not just to satisfy your curiosity.
  • Trusted analysts. You should hire and trust seasoned data analysts to assist you in all your analytics needs. More experience and more diverse perspectives can only help you.

With these strategies, data analysts and organizational leaders can make the most of big data sets while mitigating the risks and downsides associated with them. It’s not easy to thrive in a world that’s so fixated on data, but with the right mentality and the right tools, it becomes much easier.

Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share
ByLarry Alton
Follow:
Larry is an independent business consultant specializing in tech, social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

ai for building crypto banks
Building Your Own Crypto Bank with AI
Blockchain Exclusive
julia taubitz vn5s g5spky unsplash
Benefits of AI in Nursing Education Amid Medicaid Cuts
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive News
AI role in medical industry
The Role Of AI In Transforming Medical Manufacturing
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
b2b sales
Unseen Barriers: Identifying Bottlenecks In B2B Sales
Business Rules Exclusive Infographic

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

How to Get Started as a Data Engineer
Big DataComputingData ManagementData Science

How to Get Started as a Data Engineer

6 Min Read
prevent data breaches via email
Risk Management

3 Top Email Security Practices to Prevent a Data Breach

6 Min Read
False cloud solutions can lead buyers down a risky path...
AnalyticsBig DataBusiness IntelligenceCloud ComputingCRMData ManagementITSocial DataSoftware

Beware Cloud Washing: 6 Ways to Spot Fake “Cloud” CRM

5 Min Read

The FedCyber.com Cyber Security Summit

2 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?