You are Wonder Woman, and Data are Your Magic Lasso

You are Wonder Woman, and Data [are] Your Magic Lasso

If there was ever a metaphor I wish I had thought up myself, it's that one. In the vein of Wonder Woman's “Lasso of Truth,” I am happy to reveal that the metaphor came from presentation and speaking coach Joel Schwartzberg in his Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Present Your Data Like a Pro.”

Joel, being the expert presentations coach that he is, shows the importance of explaining how data supports the major points of a presentation. Data, like Wonder Woman's lasso, are "???????????????? ????????[s] ???? ???????? ?????? ???????????????????? ????????????..."

In this episode, I show you how data draw out compelling truths and give you a few actionable tips for using DIVA – that’s the acronym for Data Insights, Visualization, and Analytics—and knowing what to ask from your data team.

Compelling Truths

Speaking of Wonder Woman, here’s a compelling truth for you:

The creators of Wonder Woman (who were the husband and wife team of William Moulton Marston and Elizabeth Holloway) were also the creators of an early prototype of the lie detector.

The Magic Lasso envisioned wasn’t really supposed to get the truth out of the one harnessed as the subject of the lie detector is. ?Hence, it's not really a Lasso of Truth.

Rather, in 1940s fashion, the lasso was designed to put those harnessed into submission to Wonder Woman's feminine wiles. Not the “damsel in distress” commonly appearing in comic books of the time, Wonder Woman was often seen freeing herself from bondage and in 1941, the year of her creation, she initially fought Axis forces during WWII.

Back to Joel’s Article

Here's the link to Joel's article:

Schwartzberg, J. (2020). Present Your Data Like a Pro. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/02/present-your-data-like-a-pro

If you do presentations, I encourage you to read it. And further, I suggest that you send copies to your data team – because after all, they are the ones that will be making presentations to you about the data in your organization.

In a previous podcast/article, I talked about DIVA – the acronym for Data Insights, Visualization, and Analytics. Your data team can handle the analytics and visualization parts of DIVA, but in the end, the insights need to come from you and those on the business side of your organization.

Joel Schwartzberg’s article provides seven ways to ensure that your data are working for you. Number two on the list—focus most on the points your data illustrate—is where we find Wonder Woman.

He writes:

“In comic book terms, you are Wonder Woman, and data is your magic lasso — a tool that strengthens your impact but has no value until you apply it purposefully. Don’t leave the burden of decoding your data to your audience. It’s your job to explain how the data supports your major points.”

That’s great, but here is the problem: Your data team can have the best analytics and visualization tools around, but if you can’t provide the team with something meaningful to search for, you’ll get no insights.

If you tell the team to find you something interesting about the data for the next Board meeting, you’ll get what they think is interesting—and not necessarily something that you and your Board need.

Getting What You Need

You’ve got to get into your transactional data. You’ve got to find out what your customers are buying and how they purchase it from you. And that’s what you need the data team to find.

Start with Intent

We know that 91% of companies meet their strategic targets when there is both intention and motivation behind the implementation of strategic goals versus 38% who go on motivation alone.

What your data are going to tell you is whether your intent matches the way your customers buy you. A solid grasp of their companies’ intent is why the retailers Walmart and Target peacefully co-exist and why retailers like Kmart are barely holding on.

Target’s customers want to be inspired by an assortment of products while Walmart’s customers want the lowest price. Target dominates on product while Walmart dominates on price. Kmart went head-to-head with Walmart on price and with Target on product selection and lost.

The moral of that story is that you can’t be great at everything, but what you can be great at, dominate with it. And that’s what you need to give to your data team to figure out.

Here are the steps:

• First, compare your Company’s mission with how you are making money. Instruct your data team to match customer behavior with income. What are they buying? How are they buying it?
• Next, determine how your customers want to interact with you. Do your profits come mainly from an online channel or from a branch or office or store? Ask your data team to slice and dice that information by location, channel, and headcount. You may find a few unsung heroes on your staff.
• And third, if there is a mismatch – that is, say, if your customers are buying you for a specific product when you specialize in customer service and convenience – you may want to rethink your offerings and put more energy into that product.

The Gift

Don’t be concerned if you find that mismatch. It’s a gift. Run with it. It’s like getting the opposing team’s playbook before your game. You’ll make changes to your offense and your defense—and that’s the key to your transactional data.

The great thing about data is that they hold no human emotion. But if you are feeling a little like a damsel-in-distress about your data as the pre-Wonder Woman comic book women were, I want to encourage you to throw that magic lasso and turn data into money.

#datainsights #datavisualization #dataanalytics #diva #datavisualisation

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If you have any questions or stories that bring out the value in data insights, visualization, and analytics, I'd love to hear them. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Tara Kenyon, PhD

I am passionate about helping executives use their data to not only compete on analytics but also to dominate their markets with analytics, turning data into profits. You can find me and the work I do on “DIVA” (Data Insights, Visualization, and Analytics) on my website. You can also schedule a call at a time suitable for both of us: https://calendly.com/tara-kenyon