My Digital FootPrint

The (un)intended consequence of focusing on data, looking for significance, determining correlation, testing a hypothesis, removing bias and finding the consensus is that you ignore the outliers.  Hidden in the outliers of data are progress, innovation, invention and creativity, and the delay is that by ignoring this data and the signals from it, we slow down everything because we will always be late to observe and agree on what is already happening with those who are not driven by using data to reduce and manage today's risk.  Our thrust to use data to make better decisions and apply majority or consensus thinking creates delays in change and, therefore, increases future risk.  ------ In our increasingly data-driven world, the unintended consequence of data often manifests as delay. While data is hailed as the lifeblood of decision-making, its sheer volume and complexity can paradoxically slow down processes, hinder innovation, and impede productivity. This phenomenon u...

Are the consequence of a ½ baked decision that we created ( the mess we are in ) squared This article joins how the # climate outcomes we get may be related to the evidence requirements we set.  The audience for this viewpoint is those who are thinking about the long term consequences of our current decisions and the evidence we use to support those decisions. We are hoping to bring a sense of clarity to our community on why we feel frustrated and lost. You should read this because it will make you think and it will raise questions we need to debate over coffee as we search to become better versions of ourselves.  @yaelrozencwajg @yangbo @tonyfish The running order is: Which camp are you in for positioning of the crisis: know and accepted, still questioning or denial.   What are the early approaches to solutions?  What are policymakers doing and what is their perspective.  The action is to accept the invitation to debate at the end. Part 1. Sustainability set u...

Day zero of being a #CDO is probably not the best day to ask difficult questions; however, sometimes, there is no better day.  The first question to ask the executive leadership team as you walk around being introduced might be: “What is the one thing that we, as a team and organisation, want our data to drive, deliver or provide?” You might want to wait to ask this question and first determine what tools are being used. This will frame what outcomes and decisions are being supported.  The question and answers allow you to determine if there is an alignment or gap between “What is the one thing that we, as a team and organisation what our data to drive, deliver or provide? ”  and what will happen anyway because of tools, processes and legacy.  One critical aspect of being a #CDO is determining how our processes and methods only enable certain decisions to be made, but we have to unpack legacy. Legacy within this framing is threefold. Decisions. Decisions. Decisions...

I have written and read my fair share of board and investment papers over the past 25 years.  This post is not to add to the abundance of excellent work on how to write a better board/ investment paper or what the best structure is - it would annoy you and waste my time.  A classic “board paper” will likely have the following headings: Introduction, Background, Rationale, Structure/ Operations, Illustrative Financials & Scenarios, Competition, Risks and Legal. Case by case there are always minor adjustments. Finally, there will be some form of Recommendation inviting the board to note key facts and approve the request.  I believe it is time for the Chair or CEO, with the support of their senior data lead (#CDO) to ask that each board paper has a new section heading called   “ Data Attestation. ”  Some will favour this as an addition to the main flow, some as a new part of legal, others as an appendix; how and where matters little compared to its intent. Th...

Exploring how the S-Curve can help us with leadership, strategy and decisions making in an age of emergence: (properties or behaviours which only emerge when the parts interact as part of an inclusive whole) History and context There is a special place in our business hearts and minds for the “S” curve or Sigmoid function , calling it by its proper maths name. The origin of the S curve goes back to the study of population growth by Pierre-François Verhulst c.1838. Verhulst was influenced by Thomas Malthus’ “An Essay on the Principle of Population” which showed that growth of a biological population is self-limiting by the finite amount of available resources. The logistic equation is also sometimes called the Verhulst-Pearl equation following its rediscovery in 1920. Alfred J. Lotka derived the equation again in 1925, calling it the law of population growth but he is better known for his predator: prey model .   In 1957 business strategists Joe Bohlen and George Beal publis...