Are We Really Data-Driven?

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On LinkedIn, the prescription for appearing more professional, more experienced, and more strategic is to describe yourself as "data-driven." When you describe yourself as "data-driven," you want others to believe that you make sound, objective decisions based primarily on facts and that you will change your decisions, plans, and recommendations when the facts dictate change.

"Data-driven" professionals still struggle to chart their own career path. Teams of "data-driven" professionals still struggle to adapt to changing market conditions. Why?

We often describe data as "good" (accurate/useful) or "bad" (inaccurate/not useful), but I want to direct your attention to another descriptor for data: Hard vs Soft.

I first heard "hard data" and "soft data" in the context of government economic reports. Hard data, often referred to as quantitative data, can be objectively measured and quantified (i.e. GDP, Unemployment, Manufacturing Output, etc.). Soft data is subjective and interpretive, providing context and insight into human behavior, emotions, and expectations (i.e. Consumer Confidence, Business Sentiment, etc.).

Hard data supply the facts and figures. Soft data describe the sentiment.

In corporate settings, the things we count and present on dashboards are hard data. The stories we make up to explain those numbers are soft data. All of the dysfunction in our personal and professional lives and in our corporate teams comes from the disconnect between hard data and soft data. We (wrongly) assume that hard data influences soft data and that is rarely true. We collect a tiny bit of hard data and then generate exhaustive soft data to explain a wide range of results. (When ChatGPT does this, we refer to it as "hallucinating!).

The classic example I've seen hundreds of times is the Quarterly Business Review. The hard data shows us, objectively, that Team A generated sales that fell short of their goal in Q1. The next two hours of the meeting will include various soft-data stories to explain why poor Q1 results were actually a good thing and how lessons learned in Q1 will produce different results in Q2. Your boss wants you to bring hard data to the meeting, but the soft data will determine the decisions and actions.

We are data-driven, but humans are almost always "soft-data-driven." The critical insight I've learned is that you can impact soft-data much more quickly than you can impact hard data. Once I understand that the hard data is usually disconnected from sentiment, I can manage my sentiment independently from the hard data. The best way to influence the sentiment of those around me is to manage my own sentiment. The best way to manage my sentiment is to manage what gets my attention.

Thinking like a journalist, the stories I seek out heavily influence my sentiment. The stories that impact my sentiment the most are the stories I tell myself. If I show up for work looking for stories that confirm that I am overworked and underpaid and under-recognized and under-appreciated, I can probably find those. I probably can even find a bit of hard-data to support my story. At the end of the day, though, my sentiment will be worse and I will have done nothing to affect the hard-data outcomes my work will produce in the future.

Two actionable tips for improving sentiment (generating better soft-data):

1. Pay attention to the stories you are seeking out. Seek out reasons to be grateful. Seek out others' exceptional traits and actions. The stories you tell yourself at dinner tonight will be the stories you sought out all day.
2. Limit social media. The algorithms are intentionally designed to generate envy and anger. Muting people on LinkedIn and carefully crafting my Twitter feed have significantly improved my sentiment. If "LinkedIn" influencers are making you feel envious or angry, then mute or unfollow them. I unfollow 2-3 people per day and I'll continue doing it until my feed generates more positive than negative sentiment.

Soft-data is powerful for influence. As much as we all claim to be "data-driven," humans are still story-driven and there's power in discovering that you are the storyteller. The stories that impact you the most are the stories you tell yourself. Seek out good/useful soft-data today!

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