We’re all drowning in data! But data is the core feature of so much decision-making now, especially when combined with AI. But are you using your data – REALLY using it – to inform your decisions? Like it or not, leaders need to be data-literate now, and know how to use data to gain insights and drive decsions.
Are you making data-based decisions?
I was speaking last week at a conference of CIOs – Chief Information Officers – from a broad range of industries and sectors all around Australia. The conference was not about their technical role – managing an organisation’s data and information – but about their leadership role.
But when you think about it: Aren’t these two things related?
Leadership requires good decision-making, and good data drive good decisions – if you do it right.
The problem isn’t having access to data. We all have access to more data than ever before. You might even say we’re drowning in data!
But data alone won’t help you be a better leader – unless you can leverage that data to inform your decisions. Not to MAKE your decisions, but to inform them.
Think of data-driven decisions at four levels:
- Data: Collecting, cleaning, and storing data from the world.
- Information: Combining, choosing, and communicating meaning from the data.
- Insights: Understanding what that information means in context.
- Decisions: Using those insights to inform your decisions.
It’s one thing to collect data – and that’s a good thing, especially with AI, which gorges itself on data. But it’s another level altogether when you use that data to drive and inform better decisions.
This is for you, whatever your role in the organisation. You don’t have to be a CIO, a CTO, Chief AI Officer, or Chief Data Officer. We need to use data to help make better decisions.
For more, download my worksheet here about data-driven decisions, and use it for yourself and your team.
