Turning Data into Intelligence

Welcome to this week's?MAD?newsletter (I was on vacation last week - no newsletter). I share these articles and ideas with C-level executives who want to?Make?A?Difference - in themselves and their organizations.?This week's features include insights from history and #MLK , #dataanalytics , #BigData , #DecisionMaking , and more.

In this Issue

1. An Unplanned Dream
2. Turning Data into Intelligence
3. How is your Judgment Quotient?
4. The End of?Non-Competes?
5. Best Interview Answers?(To THEIR Questions)?
6. Econ Recon

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An Unplanned Dream

Yesterday would have been Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 94th?birthday and today is the national holiday created in his honor. King’s tragically short but profound life changed America. If you ask people what they remember most about him aside from his assassination, most will say his “I have a dream” speech at the historic March on Washington in 1963. This address clearly marks a turning point in the civil rights movement.

But had Dr. King actually delivered the speech he had intended,?“I have a dream” would not be the iconic phrase it is today.

Vistage Speaker, Chair and business historian Greg Bustin shares the little-known story of how Dr. King might never have uttered?“I have a dream” but for an impromptu suggestion by someone not even on his staff just before he began his address.

History is often a chance thing.?It’s remarkable (and more than a little scary)?how often an unplanned or unexpected event,?often appearing in the moment as minor or insignificant, makes unexpected history.???

Take time for Bustin’s one-page recounting of?Why Dr. King’s historic speech was almost never delivered .

Note:?The above story is one of many from Bustin’s excellent book, "How Leaders Decide: A Timeless Guide to Making Tough Choices”? ?- this book contains 52 very short chapters designed to be read one per week (2 to 3 pages per chapters) profiling great (and not so great) leaders through history and the decisions they made that affect us to this day.??Add this book to your 2023 “must reads.”?

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Turning Data into Intelligence

In the data-empowered era, organizations are harnessing the power of big data to supercharge innovation and build thriving businesses. Yet data analysis can seem a bit daunting and unobtainable.?

Getting started or knowing the right process for collecting, processing, and analyzing data is a tricky endeavor. Ken Scales from Scalesology shares the steps to break down the activities needed to process and analyze data to gain insights for your organization. I’ve gotten to know Ken through #ProVisorsChicago . And his firm was named the “Most Promising Big Data Services Company” by CIOReview .?See his insight How to get started using data to drive your business decisions .

I’m not the only one suggesting adding to this to your agenda.? 麦肯锡 ?published characteristics for companies seeking to be The data-driven enterprise of 2025 .?Their first characteristic is that "data [is] embedded in every decision, interaction, and process ”?

Start today by reading Scalesology’s short blog post .

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How is your Judgment Quotient?

Speaking of decision-making… every C-Level Executive must possess strong judgment and decision-making abilities.?

Complimentary Workshop - “Judgment and Decision-Making Traps for Leaders” with Vistage Speaker Krishna Pendyala

If you’d like sharpen your skills in these areas, Vistage Speaker Krishna Pendyala - Author, Beyond the PIG and the APE will offer a 90-minute virtual workshop?Judgement and Decision Making Traps for Leaders ?on?Friday, January 27 at 10:00 a.m. CST?to help you make better decisions and bets on what’s ahead.?Click here for more information.??We welcome non-Vistage members to this event.

The End of Non-Competes?

You may have read that the Federal Trade Commission has proposed new rules banning non-competes.?Many companies use these agreements to protect their customer base, markets and to prevent competitors from acquiring employees in whom they have invested more than a few dollars in training and who may have very valuable information between their ears.

Scott Galloway ’s “No Mercy, No Malice” blog looks at the downside of non-competes from a social perspective, arguing that Silicon Valley was only possible because California prohibited such agreements.

?“In 2005, economists at the Federal Reserve put forward statistical evidence supporting the theory. Apple, Disney, Google, Intel, Meta, Netflix, Oracle, and Tesla were able to succeed without limiting the options of their employees.”

Check out Dr. Galloway’s interesting blog post - Compete .

A WSJ article ?(may be behind a paywall for you) argues that the FTC’s planned ban will not hold up in court, but in the ongoing War for Talent,?the?ability to obtain and enforce a non-compete should not be taken for granted.

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Best Interview Answers (To THEIR Questions)

That the current market for talent is a seller’s market is no secret. In addition to the market being turned upside down,?Vistage employment law expert Hunter Lott warns employers that the interview process is also being reversed.

Lott points out that employers increasingly are not just asking the questions but?are having new and often unexpected questions?put to them by prospects.

Do you know what employees are starting to ask during interviews?and do you have the right answers??Lott’s video series “Take 5” will share some?Interview Answers” YOU need to be ready to provide .?

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Econ Recon

“Not Goldilocks:”??Some recent economic date has some economists thinking that?maybe we’re ducking the bullet of a recession,?calling the current metrics an indication of a Goldilocks economy….in other words “just right.”?Dr. Brian Wesbury isn’t so sure and offers some reasons?why he thinks the?current economic outlook is NOT Goldilocks. ?Also Wesbury’s weekly?High Frequency Data Tracker can be found here.

Not Your Usual Recession:??Most recessions are accompanied by an increase in unemployment.?Usually this is not a welcome development but given how tight the labor markets have been,?managers might be forgiven for hoping that an economic downturn would, if nothing else, mitigate labor shortages and create a truce in the War for Talent.???

ITR Economics’ Connor Lokar muses whether a recession is going?“to make finding new people coming to become easy??Short answer…I think that’s doubtful.”??Check out his recent podcast for an explanation of his answer .

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I’m back from vacation last week (no newsletter) and ready…for however I can support you. Reach out and have a productive week. ?

Finally, I encourage sharing. Please re-share this post on social media. I also distribute via email and welcome new subscribers.

Sue Tinnish, PhD,?Vistage Chair, Facilitator, & Executive Coach

Find me easily at: 847.404.7325,?[email protected] , Twitter:?@STinnish, LinkedIn:??www.dhirubhai.net/in/suetinnish , Website:??https://vistage.com/chairs/sue.tinnish

#ChicagoCEO #CEOs #Leadership