What analytical leaders must be and do

Thomas Davenport

Thomas Davenport’s latest book, Analytics at Work, was co-authored with Jeanne Harris and Robert Morison and recently published by Harvard Business Press. They assert leaders of analytical initiatives (e.g. to use data, analysis of date, and systematic reasoning to make better decisions) exhibit some common traits:

1. Develop their people skills. Many highly analytical people seem to prefer computers and data to other people.

2. Push for more and better data and analysis. Eliminate unenlightened, impulsive, intuitive, and hasty decisions. Redundant verification is imperative.

3. Hire smart people and give them credit for being smart. Recognition and appreciation are important to all workers, of course, but analysts seem to have a greater need for a stimulating and supportive environment. Sometimes they also need protection from knuckle-dragging bureaucrats.

4. Set a hands-on example. As an analytical leader, you are expected to lead by example: Have a passion for fact-finding and rigorous analysis, for brainstorming with other analysts.

5. Sign up for results. That is, commit to a quantifiable goal to be achieved by effective analytics.

6. Teach. Be as passionate about learning as you are about sharing what you have learned. Delight in others’ achievements. Also, the best way to increase understanding a specific subject is to teach it to others.

Jeanne Harris

7. Set strategy and performance expectations. Set business objectives and select metrics to quantify progress while pursuing them.

8. Look for leverage. Maximize opportunities for “multiplicative” applications to create value-added benefits to an improvement.

9. Demonstrate persistence over time. Analytical leaders are “pluggers,” not “grasshoppers”…Bunsen burners, not sparklers.

10. Build an analytical ecosystem. Analytical leaders seek out any/all collaborations and alliances that will make maximum use of the data and analysis needed to make smarter decisions, to take more effective actions, and to achieve better results.

11. Work along multiple fronts. Analytical leaders know that no single application or initiative can achieve success all by itself, nor can any one person. They proceed on multiple fronts with a portfolio of projects.

12. Know the limits of analytics. The best analytical leaders know when to trust and use their intuition. They vakue enlightened hunches. They blend art and science in decision-making. Analytics work best with details but it is also important to see the Big Picture.

Robert Morison