Data, data everywhere

“They want 78 new reports from the EDW and Big Data which has taken more than a year and a major part of my budget to build ! They already have hundreds from the transactional systems which are printed on reams of paper which no one reads. All the Excel sheets that they were churning out from data dumps from various systems and a bit of external data get into management meetings where everyone has a different number”. Looking at the CIO I sympathized with his predicament, it was a familiar story.

We all have at some time or the other been frustrated with endless requirements of reports and data dumps from all and sundry; lot of effort is spent in analyzing the past and validating hypothesis on what worked or what did not. Requests flow like rainwater on a slope, never ending stream many similar to others from neighbors at workplace not talking to each other. Reports get built for a casual question in a meeting never to be used again; when another one pops up from new quarters, the effort is repeated.

We hear of associations, correlations and insights not possible in the past as we did not know how to combine an apple and pineapple to get a watermelon. Structured data was easy until we started going to multiple sources with limited commonality. Even then with statistical models diving through seas of data, the proverbial needle could be found in the haystack. People buying napkins buy beer, not vice versa; owners of red cars have a higher propensity to be rash drivers, and so on. You could correlate anything to sunspots !

Not too long ago the need to explore unstructured data began and with social media explosion the dimensions for analysis changed. Thus Big Data began its journey to challenge conventional way of looking at data and information. Jumping on the bandwagon the term was hyped by one and all to include variants that stretched imagination. Came along new skills everyone thought were important for the future: Data Scientists and Chief Digital Officer to name a couple; did such a species exist or it was glamorized plain old profiles ?

Moving from hundreds of GB of data to thousands of GB does not make it Big Data. The amount of data being created and added to corporate storage is growing exponentially. Data types are also expanding with technology offering ways to mine it. Dashboards and cubes work well in selected situations, their action-ability is still wishful thinking. Enterprise manager thinking has yet to evolve beyond reports from transactional systems; thus the data scientist continues to remain a glorified report writer.

The CIO narrated his woes which started with the Company Board approving a really large budget and unrealistic expectations from the project they called BBF (Bigger Better Faster). With much fanfare the project was kicked off, many people inducted into the team and a few pretentious youngsters hired to lead them to gaining insights thus far unknown, from this prestigious first of a kind in the industry Big Data project. The CIO kept his reservations to himself knowing his meanderings would not be given a kind ear.

The project team got bigger faster than anyone thought possible; the technology they bought was deemed better than what they had. Everyone loved the progress they made in the initial months. Then started the reality check with the target audience (managers) putting across what they wanted to run their business better, to grow bigger and reach out to customers faster than their competitors. Challenges with technology and data consistency appeared small compared to the change required in the mind set within.

Activity Reports on social media, portal registration, access reports, keyword searches and some more were the peak of expectation. There was no marriage between the old and the new as if they lived in separate worlds. What could have been remained buried somewhere while everyone wanted better and faster transactional or tactical reports. The rich stream of data that could have been big for the business was diverted and converted into wasted effort. In the corporate world, I believe that the overwhelming data deluge is far from being tamed.

Do you know different ?

Talent Magnets

Seasons’ Greetings and a Happy New Year 2014 !

Last week I met with two old friends who I had not met for a long time; one for more than a decade, the other a little less than that. The first was a successful technology entrepreneur; the second had made a successful global sales career. After the nostalgia was behind us, the dinner conversations ended up exchanging notes on attracting and retaining good talent. Across different geographies and specialties, both berated the fact that finding good people had become even more difficult with passing years.

We agreed that the situation had deteriorated with increased competition and changing aspirations of the newer generation. Not too many were thinking of long-term careers, most worked like mercenaries willing to change allegiance for an additional few pieces of silver amongst other things. The new talent pool does not want to wait for grass to turn green; they look at the other side and whenever the grass appears greener, with no thought except of them, off they go gallivanting leaving their companies in a lurch.

Ruminating over these thoughts it also occurred to me that there are a few individuals in the industry who are never short of talent and are able to retain their teams with ease. They took on existing teams changed a few ingredients, added some fresh blood and within no time had a great team working like Swiss clockwork and delivering to promise. Whenever they needed resources, skills or expertise, magically they found the right people. In almost all cases, attrition within their direct reports was tending to zero.

What makes these individuals better leaders equipped with an ability to create success oftener ? Why are people willing to join their teams leaving behind whatever shade of green their grass was ? How do they keep their teams motivated as to not look for alternatives ? Their teams consistently deliver and are seen as a cohesive unit which knows where they are going. Do they do things differently that the team is always charged and willing to stretch ? What is it that makes them talent magnets ?

Talking to many such motivated team members over the years I found the big difference was the aura of credibility these leaders had carefully developed around themselves. They were themselves highly motivated, principle-centred and self-driven. Across companies they were able to engage CXOs in meaningful discussions around outcomes and then disseminate the messages within their teams. The resultant momentum between their peers and teams rarely found budget challenges or reluctant users.

The team members were coached and mentored by the leaders with continuous feedback and feed forward connecting them to the vision, the goal and the tasks. With freedom to take risks and fail, the teams found themselves pushing their performance with rigor that they did not know they possessed. Thus they found success more often with lesser bottlenecks because they knew that their leader would always stand alongside. They respected their leader’s ability to help them find answers when they needed.

Their ability to sell a vision and the direction they were taking the company and the function was unparalleled; they created excitement with their stories; industry case studies validated the fact that these were not fiction. The message that I got consistently was that they were passionate about what they did and the passion was infectious. I was surprised by the commitment levels and connect with what the team members were doing and the fact that without exception they looked up to their leaders as role models.

Can this be emulated ? I believe so as many such team members have risen to become leaders in their own right and practice the same principles that they were subjected to. The multiplier effect is not yet high; the roots are taking shape and they are themselves becoming talent magnets. Picking some of these learning I have been fortunate to find hidden reserves within teams and attract talent from outside over the years. I hope that the force of attraction and cohesion is stronger than another force applied by someone else.