Twice weekly, I share proven strategies to help data scientists get noticed, promoted, and valued. No theory — just practical steps to transform your technical expertise into business impact and the freedom to call your own shots.
The $100 Increase That Looked Like a Crisis
|
I once freaked out a room full of executives with a table showing insurance premium increases. One or two of the increases were massive. Think 78% or 92%. I remember the CFO seeing it and immediately exclaiming: “This is terrible. We’ve got clients getting a 78% increase in premium?! We can’t approve these.” What it actually translated to was a really low base. The clients in question had taken on their policies late in the year, so had a part-year premium for the previous year but a full-year premium for the current year. And in dollar terms, the increases only represented around $100. I wasn’t trying to be deceptive. The standard way we were reporting was with percentages. My mistake was that while reviewing the table, I hadn’t asked: “What impact is this going to have on an executive who sees it?” After that, I started including a column showing the dollar difference and percentage changes were shown on an annualised basis. That cleared it up for everyone going forward. However, it made me realise something. Even the most honest, well-intentioned data presentation can mislead. And the higher the stakes, the more important it is that your stakeholders know how to push back. In the latest Value Boost episode of Value Driven Data Science, Derek Gibson, a decision scientist and author of the upcoming Data, AI, and the Noise, joins me to explore how data professionals can help their stakeholders become better data sceptics and avoid being duped by misleading data. In just 16 minutes, you’ll discover:
Your stakeholders will encounter misleading data with or without you in the room. This episode will help you prepare them for it. Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or click the link below: Episode 112: Lies, Damned Lies and Stakeholders Talk again soon, Dr Genevieve Hayes |
Data Science Impact Algorithm
Twice weekly, I share proven strategies to help data scientists get noticed, promoted, and valued. No theory — just practical steps to transform your technical expertise into business impact and the freedom to call your own shots.
The number one piece of advice I give to data professionals is to have more conversations. Conversations lead to good things. Things like job offers and stronger relationships. But more importantly, the opportunity to deepen your knowledge through learning from the wisdom of others. I owe many of the best opportunities I’ve encountered in my career to proactively seeking them out wherever I can. My podcast is a weekly example of the power of conversation. But if there’s one thing all these...
While working as a data scientist in a large organisation, I was once called on to attend a meeting with representatives of a big tech company and multiple senior leaders from my business area. The tech reps were there to sell us a new product. The data scientists had been invited because we were the intended users. Although there were a dozen or more people in the room, I was the only person who came prepared with any questions - 2 1/2 pages of them, to be precise. I let everyone else have...
Like many readers of this newsletter, I identify as a data expert. It took me years of study and hard work to build this expertise, and it’s something that I’m not willing to lose. This is not just because of everything it took to get here, but because my expertise forms an integral part of my identity. And the idea of losing it feels, in many ways, akin to losing a part of who I am. So, when I recently started hearing from data professionals who spoke of slowly losing skills as they...