The "high-level data source"

Becoming the Oracle

Author

Bruno Nogueira
June 22, 2023

Do you want a quick and easy way to become the smartest person in the room?

How about being pampered by the whole C-Level at your company, despite still being in the early stages of your career?

Jokes aside, a fellow reader (and personal friend) Daniel sent this tip that might do just that for you…

… Become the "high-level data source".

In his words:

Always have up-to-date and verified data at hand.

The C-level will look for you often.

There is usually no restriction on access to the main data of a company (example in an e-commerce: sales in quantity and value, conversions, average ticket, best-selling products and categories, margins, etc.), but most people do not access and analyze data with frequency and depth to extract value from it.

Having updated and verified data at hand, whether on the computer during meetings, or before sending slides or emails with conclusions and recommendations, is something simple, but it generates disproportionate value:

- You gain credibility very quickly

- The C-level (and the rest of the company) will look for you (often privately) to find out data or double-check their conclusions or those of other leaders/teams, even in projects in which you are not involved

- You have the opportunity to brainstorm about the company's main challenges, with leaders, sometimes in private

- You find out about the main projects of the company

- You create connections with people from different areas and seniorities

How:

- Ask for access to the company's dashboards and analytics tools

- Get familiar with the data: understand how it's calculated, its history, and how it behaves. Ask questions and write down the answers

- 10 minutes before meetings, open the dashboard and see if the KPIs behaved as predicted or if there was an unexpected deviation. If there was a deviation, look for the root cause and communicate it to those responsible in a structured and constructive way. If you can help with the solution, make yourself available

- In meetings, have the set of data that is currently being discussed

- Check the data before passing it on. Inconsistencies in databases and failures in integrations are frequent and can lead to wrong conclusions

- Never make slides or send emails with conclusions and recommendations without data

- Always cite your sources

After the initial effort to get access and to understand and become familiar with the data, the routine is simple and generates disproportionate value for your career and the company.

I LOVE THIS TIP!

It's not for everyone, nor will every company make the data available to you.

But many will, and if you're the type of person who's motivated and organized enough to do that, as Daniel said himself, the results are disproportionate.

Here's why this works so well…

High-level executives make decisions in two main ways:

  • Long studies with complex quantitative models and extensive surveys

  • Quick back-of-the-napkin estimations that triangulate well with the rest of the company data

Most people in the early-mid stages of their careers try to add value in the first type of decision-making process. They don't feel experienced enough to do the first.

Frankly, they aren't.

But the higher you go in the company, the more you see people using the second type.

And even when they do have a long study to back their decisions on, they'll still triangulate that study with a quick back-of-the-napkin rationale because (a) they don't know how the sausage was made and (b) they need a simple rationale to sell the idea to other execs and to investors.

There's only one problem (a CEO-level problem): they need up-to-date, high-level information to make the back-of-the-napkin reasoning robust. You don't want others shooting your ideas down when you're a C-Level exec because "Akshually, one of your assumptions is wrong".

When you become the "high-level data source", you become the solution to that problem.

And the surprising thing is this: NO ONE HAS THAT DATA READILY AVAILABLE.

This is why CEOs spend millions of dollars on building dashboards.

This is why CRM company Hubspot is going all in on AI tools that let you ask your company's system for any synthesized data that you need in real-time.

But while the tools are evolving, they're not yet perfect. Not are they implemented in every company.

A high-level executive doesn't want to struggle through the systems. They want to ask someone and get a reliable answer.

Maybe they can get that in the future through some voice-based AI system that doesn't make mistakes.

While they can't, that problem is your opportunity.

Be the person who gives them reliable answers quickly and without friction and you'll quickly gain visibility and credibility in the eyes of the most important people in your company.

Keep working smarter.