Make Data Your Best Friend

I’ll admit I love data! When it comes to data analysis, I excel! (It sounded much funnier out loud than it reads.) I can look at rows and rows of figures and see patterns, trends, and evidence information. Doesn’t everyone see data this way?

When I presented my first batch of recruitment data many years ago, I was confident that my amazing data, presented in charts and graphs, would be well received. Instead of a standing ovation all I got was a lot of blank faces. I stumbled when asked what the data meant? Why couldn’t they see what I saw?

Data alone isn’t much more than bits of information. Knowledge is putting them together, but wisdom is about how you transcend them into something meaningful.