A Few Snippets From “Secrets of Analytical Leaders”

From the book Secrets of Analytical Leaders

Analytics have evolved a lot over the last 25 years.

evolution_of_analytics

On the business need for Analytics

A chief responsibility for any CEO in today’s business world is to build and to continually evolve the most effective strategy for mining and then leveraging the data that can make a difference within an organization.

Using information to make smarter decisions, develop better products and improve Business IQ

Through analytics, companies have the ability to use information to make smarter decisions, to develop better products, to improve overall customer satisfaction and to increase profitability. Analytics can become a sustainable resource that provides a competitive advantage because it helps improve business IQ.

Seeing connections and and imagining new ways to solve old problems…

people who live at the confluence of disparate approaches and opinions have a broader perspective. They see connections and possibilities that others miss. They speak multiple languages and gracefully move between different groups and norms. They continuously translate, synthesize, and unify. As a result, they imagine new ways to solve old problems, and they reinvent old ways to tackle new challenges. They are powerful change agents and value creators.

About Analytical Leaders – The Purple People…

They are not “blue” in the business or “red” in technology, but a blend of the two, hence purple. Purple people are true analytical leaders, and they are the central focus of this book.

The book is about Analytical Leaders and how they leverage information.

Context:

Terms like Big Data, Data Science, Data Engineering appear everywhere. Some people think it is the next frontier and others think it is all hype.

My company builds tools for discovering, tracking, gathering information. We were thinking of providing the next layer of tools (InfoAnalyzers) to make sense of all that information.

Before jumping in, I wanted to get some sense of the underlying need for analyzing data. Like you, I have some intuitive understanding but wanted to get a better sense of what the leaders in this space think. It is a constant quest and an exciting journey.

I accidentally came upon a page titled “A for Analytics” when I was searching for another book. The evolution graph was so fascinating that I paused my search and started reading. Fortunately, I have O’Reilly Safari subscription so jumping into this book took only a couple of clicks.

These snippets from the early portions of the book are just a sample. Hopefully I will have a lot to talk about after reading the book. If you want to get an over view this presentation by  Wayne Eckerson: Secrets of Analytical Leaders is a good starting point.