Leading with Data

Data can be a powerful tool to run our businesses and lead them forward by providing the objective criteria we need to see things as they are. But like any tool, it must fit the job.

As many of us attempt to start our businesses strong in a new year, let's reflect on one of the most important business quotes of all time from Peter Drucker: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This should serve as a reminder for all of us who are embarking on strategic planning, goal setting, and bold new ambitions for the new year. If we can't articulate a clear before and after state with measurable data, we won’t know if we have achieved success or even made progress at all.

Conversely, the urge to measure everything can also be a distraction. In most organizations, there is so much that can be measured that if we don't understand what's most important to track and start there first, we will quickly get lost in measuring the wrong things. So, before we get overzealous in our ambition for data collection and trying to measure everything in our business, let's assess what’s important.