I just want to hear the music…I really don’t want to learn how to play it!

Imagine someone holding up the sheet music for Beethoven’s 5th, Amazing Grace, or even Bohemian Rhapsody and then asking you…so what do you think? Do you like this? Is this the kind of music you would listen to…buy a ticket to a concert…want to hear more?

I am guessing you have an odd look on your face suggesting, of course not; I couldn’t make sense out of it. It would just be strange symbols on paper. I couldn’t hear what it sounded like.

It wouldn’t mean anything to me. It wouldn’t move me. I wouldn’t know how I might feel or react to it.

You can’t connect the information with your experiences, preferences, beliefs, attitudes, values, and everything you use to interpret and value things like music and the world around you. 

And suppose you had to learn to read music, learn music theory, master every instrument, and become a skilled vocalist, arranger, and producer to hear what it sounds like. You might never get to the point when you could enjoy and benefit from music.

The same is the case when it comes to data for most business leaders. You want to hear what it has to say without having to master or invest in everything it takes to understand it and benefit from it.

True story: Several years ago, I worked as a consultant providing strategic planning and business and community development services after having done so for nearly three decades in healthcare in the private and public sectors. I was on-site at a client’s office, helping them develop a strategic growth plan. They do very technical analytic work.

One of their data scientists showed me how he was working on taking several different predictive measures of business performance and bringing them together into a combined analysis that was then visualized in a heat map of the United States. 

In this data visualization, the red hot areas were the areas of most significant business opportunity, and the coolest blue areas were the least. I gasped because I could instantly see/hear what all of that data was able to tell me.

I knew what to do immediately in terms of strategy and tactics. I could see how others would be able to do the same. I told him then and there that they were developing the holy grail of strategic planning!

They turned sheet music (spreadsheets) into music (map visualizations of data). As a result, I could see it, take it in instantly, understand it, and interpret it with my experiences, values, goals, and priorities. I could make better decisions faster and with confidence.

Dr. Fierman has 35+ years of experience working extensively in private, nonprofit, and public business sectors. As a seasoned veteran in healthcare, both as a provider and health system executive, Dr. Fierman has had responsibility for Strategic Planning, Business Development, Facility Development, Operations, Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations. He now serves as the Executive Vice President of Datastory, where he helps the team “give the data a voice.”