For those of you who follow my work, you know I've been bringing you insights through my blogs, the new “Smart Boss” newsletter, and, of course, this very podcast. But after a lot of thought, I've decided to streamline things and offer all my content in one fantastic place: Substack!

Now, why Substack?

Substack lets me create a more interactive and engaging experience for you. You can expect in-depth articles in the Smart Boss newsletter, exclusive podcast episodes like this one, and even announcements for online Kentara Analytics offerings – all under one roof!

Of course, as always, you’ll be able to get this podcast wherever you typically get your podcasts—Substack will let you know when a new episode comes out.

I should state that I’m not getting paid by Substack to make this switch; I’m not affiliated with Substack in any way except for placing my content on it. This is not a paid promotion. And I haven’t monetized any of my content, so subscribing to my Substack is free and super easy.

I'm really excited about this move and the chance to connect with you in a more focused way—reducing the effects of this “Monkey Mind” of mine. On Substack, I can dive deeper into topics, offer bonus content, and even foster a community where we can discuss data, analytics, business science, and being a Smart Boss together.

Subscribe today!

Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what kind of content you'd love to see. 

Thanks for joining me today on the “Data are Sexy” podcast.

See you on the next episode and thank you for sharing your time with me today. I really appreciate it.

If you’d like to learn more, check out my online course called “Data Visualization Mastery,” presented by Kentara® Analytics.  You can find it directly on Kentara’s Teach:able website - kentara.teachable.com OR, if you’d like a deep discount, go to kentara-analytics.com/courses where you can see this and other courses on business science, data visualization, and data-rich leadership.

Attributes:

Theme music is “Bossa Jazz” by Media Sushi and is used in accordance with the Melody Loops End User License Agreement #67244499368.

Crescendo sound by Setuniman at freesound.org.

Mentioned in this episode is Gapminder's Dollar Street (https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street), a free and interactive website that visually represents the daily lives of people from around the world based on their income.

Link to Charles Minard's visualization of Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard#/media/File:Minard.png

If you’d like to learn more, check out my online course called “Data Visualization Mastery,” presented by Kentara® Analytics.  You can find it directly on Kentara’s Teach:able website - kentara.teachable.com OR, if you’d like a deep discount, go to kentara-analytics.com/courses where you can see this and other courses on business science, data visualization, and data-rich leadership.

Resources/Sources cited in this episode:

Leonardo da Vinci – RCIN 912660, Studies of Water c. 1510-12. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository.

Solar system planets size comparison. Author: Lsmpascal, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Key Point: Recognize the role of data as valuable assets for informed decision-making

If you want more information on Dr. John Snow, visit this Wikipedia link.

You are overwhelmed, and your customers are overwhelmed, too. The data you have on hand today speaks volumes about becoming and staying relevant to your customers. It is the analytics behind that data that will cut through all the noise competing with you and your value proposition.

In this episode, I provide a tip for helping you compete with analytics, differentiate with analytics, and best of all, dominate with analytics.

Sources cited:

Crawford, F. A., & Mathews, R. (2001). The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything (1st ed.). New York: Crown Business.

Kleiner, A. (2003). Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success (1st ed.). New York: Currency/Doubleday.

To achieve this, it’s important to understand that traditional strategic planning is failing us—and always has. The process never seems to deliver all that it promises at the beginning. Chances are that you have already undertaken the creation of a strategic plan in the traditional sense, but you are stuck.

Today’s episode gives you a way to manage your strategic initiatives, create quick wins and minimize losses – turning data into money.

Sources cited:

“The Numbers Behind Successful Transformations” by Kevin Laczkowshi, Tao Tan, and Matthias Winter. McKinsey Quarterly (17 October 2019). https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/transformation/our-insights/the-numbers-behind-successful-transformations

Trout, J., & Rivkin, S. (1999). The Power of Simplicity: a Management Guide to Cutting Through the Nonsense and Doing Things Right. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Keller, G., & Papasan, J. (2013). The ONE Thing: the Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. Austin, Texas: Bard Press.

On the business side of your organization, your rising stars and key talent typically aren’t the ones mining data and performing data analyses. Rather, they are learning your market and your product and service offerings. With a few extra skills and coaching, they can become a sentinel species for detecting risks to your business and provide advance warning of dangers and better, provide predictive indicators for your business potential.

In this episode, I illustrate how business executives can learn to attract and retain their rising stars without threatening established managers and executives in their succession plans.

If there was ever a metaphor I wish I had thought up myself, it's that one. It came from presentation and speaking coach Joel Schwartzberg in his Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Present Your Data Like a Pro.” Joel Schwartzberg's article

Joel, being the expert presentations coach that he is, shows the importance of explaining how data supports the major points of a presentation. Data, like Wonder Woman's lasso, are "𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭[s] 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴..."

In this episode, I’m going to show you how data draw out compelling truths and give you a few actionable tips for using DIVA – that’s the acronym for Data Insights, Visualization, and Analytics—and knowing what to ask from your data team.

And here’s an introduction to that process – it is grounded in four laws:

• The Law of Intent
• The Law of Insight
• The Law of Intervals
• The Law of Integration

You can find episodes dedicated to each of these Laws in future Data are Sexy podcasts.

Source data:

“Combining motivational and volitional interventions to promote exercise participation: Protection motivation theory and implementation intentions” by Sarah Milne, Sheina Orbell, and Paschal Sheeran. British Journal of Health Psychology (16 December 2010).

“Project Management Statistics: Trends and Common Mistakes in 2022,” TeamStage.

“The Numbers Behind Successful Transformations” by Kevin Laczkowshi, Tao Tan, and Matthias Winter. McKinsey Quarterly  (17 October 2019).

DIVA is an acronym for “Data Insights, Visualization, and Analytics.” The Macmillan dictionary defines glamorous as “attractive and interesting in an exciting and unusual way.”

Think of how much you could communicate to your Board, your team, your regulators, and your stakeholders IF you could present your company’s data in as “attractive and interesting in an exciting and unusual way.”

And I'd like to define “DIVA” as such as well.

The bottom line is: If you want to turn data into money, you need to be a DIVA.

#datainsights #datavisualization #dataanalytics #diva

I've included three little tips to use when you are looking at your own data. And I’ll give you these tips with the backdrop of the three types of Data Analytics:  Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive.

The tips are questions you ask yourself (or of those reporting the data):

1. What is this?
2. What does it mean?
3. What must I do?

Extra resources: The Art of the Longview by Peter Schwartz

Of course, I named this podcast “Data are Sexy” for a reason. It got your attention, didn’t it? Today, I’m going to talk about the most controversial word in the phrase “data are sexy” – and it’s not the one you think it is.

#datainsights #datavisualization #dataanalytics

Ramakrishnan says it's because business leaders are under pressure to show some ROI from all the money that's been spent on systems to collect, store, and organize the data. I submit that there are actually three separate reasons why you may be doing this:

1. You need to know that all this investment in hardware, software, and HR isn’t a cruel version of the Emporer’s New Clothes.
2. You may not know what to ask for.
3. You may be afraid of what you might find.

Get the most out of your data investment by instructing your teams to solve very specific problems. Magic happens.

You can reach Tara Kenyon at TaraKenyon.com .