An Interview with a CEO You Might Want to Work For
Have you ever worked for an organization where you doubted the leadership capability of your CEO, managing director, division president, or agency head?
Diagnosis: Your Data Is Not “Normal”
Economists like to assume the “rational economic man” – it permits them to sound as if they know what they are talking about.
Are You Making The Most of Your Dark Data?
My favorite definition of ‘Dark Data’ comes from Matt Aslett of 451 Research:
“Data that was previously ignored because of technology limitations”
I’ve recently talked to several big, traditional organizations that are finding lots of dark data down in the cellar.
2014 Latest Trends in Analytics
At last month’s UK & Ireland SAP User Group conference, Hans Loekkegaard of Red Commerce interviewed me on the latest and greatest trends in analytics. The full video is below – we had an good-natured chat covering roughly these topics: Where does the term “evangelist” come from? What is the biggest trend in analytics today? Where are organizations in…
Sports And Analytics: A Holistic Approach
Last week, in the first installment of my Sports and Analytics series, I detailed how sports and entertainment organizations are similar to industries such as retail or consumer products. In this second installment, I want to expand on this point and discuss key components that are part of a more holistic approach when it comes to running a sports (teams, leagues, venues) and entertainment (media organizations such as ESPN or Golf Channel) organization that promotes data-driven decision making.
Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen
You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called “developing world.”
Strategic Workforce Planning
“HR executives are well-equipped to competently manage the basics – recruiting, hiring, onboarding, payroll, benefits, training, etc. – and operating unit general managers are generally satisfied with the results. The typical missing link for HR executives, however, is often their ability to assist general managers with the more strategic issues, like:
Are we better off keeping our geographic sales structure after the acquisition, or do we now have sufficient critical mass and concentrations of expertise to take an industry-centric approach?
Can we predict how the increased average age of our skilled workers, their upcoming retirement and the massive replacements by inexperienced workers will affect the business?
The increased production and sales capacity is going to make R&D the bottleneck; what are the critical technical skills we’re going to need and what is the optimal mix of hires, layoffs and retraining to counteract that bottleneck?
In order to meet the increased seasonal demand from new customers, should we build inventory early, run additional shifts or outsource some of our production needs?
The Value is in the Networking
Dateline: October 4, 2012 – Facebook reaches one billion users! One billion people connected on a single platform; one-seventh of the world’s population. If you assume 40,000 BCE as the start of modern humans, it took the planet 41,804 years to reach a population level of one billion; it took Facebook just 8 years to connect…
Tell the Story
What’s the story of your organization, your business?
There’s a story there, there always is. Numbers on a spreadsheet don’t do it justice. Yes, there is the annual report, but first, who reads it, and second, that’s just the point – it’s “annual”. The story of your business is dynamic, it runs all year long, 24/7. Numbers and metrics are only part of if.
“Any fool can make a rule …
… and any fool will mind it”. ~ Henry David Thoreau. The EPA was in my neighborhood several weeks ago testing well water - never a good sign. It was determined that the subdivision just north and upstream of us had once been the site of a farm contaminated by the dumping of fuel, pesticides and…