"My default tendency on assuming the CEO seat in 2016 was to assume that everyone will figure everything out for themselves and consensus will emerge. At scale, this turns out to not be a successful strategy (lol), and I have learned to be better at this over the years. But it’s still probably my weakest area as a leader. It consistently shows up in every one of my annual 360’s."
This is a problem I face frequently as a junior data analyst presenting the result of my analysis and reports. It's definitely at a smaller scale than yours. Many times I feel like I would rather let the users have the interactive charts and decide for themselves what it means to them. After all, I'm not the marketing expert, they are. So, drawing conclusions from the data may be far-fetched or short-sighted. And I could be narrowing down all the stories the data has to tell into just one. I have started to include my own insights in the reports, but finding the balance between delivering insights and letting other people use their thinking is still a massive work in progress
This is a really good read Tristan.
The paragraph that stood out for me was this:
"My default tendency on assuming the CEO seat in 2016 was to assume that everyone will figure everything out for themselves and consensus will emerge. At scale, this turns out to not be a successful strategy (lol), and I have learned to be better at this over the years. But it’s still probably my weakest area as a leader. It consistently shows up in every one of my annual 360’s."
This is a problem I face frequently as a junior data analyst presenting the result of my analysis and reports. It's definitely at a smaller scale than yours. Many times I feel like I would rather let the users have the interactive charts and decide for themselves what it means to them. After all, I'm not the marketing expert, they are. So, drawing conclusions from the data may be far-fetched or short-sighted. And I could be narrowing down all the stories the data has to tell into just one. I have started to include my own insights in the reports, but finding the balance between delivering insights and letting other people use their thinking is still a massive work in progress
Right there with ya' :P
I don't think there is an "answer"...but it seems like you're thinking about it in exactly the right way!
In my experience, people (leadership and non-data stakeholders) always appreciate if analysts share their insights.
They are closer to data, and even if they are not the "business experts", the perspective they bring is always appreciated
I work with data scientists and data analysts on a daily basis and I always ask them for their take on any analysis.