AKA Be the data you want to be and already are
Have you heard the saying “data is the new oil”? I love this saying. It’s niche, but easy to understand. Much like crude oil, data is found in abundance. Finding large amounts of it can make you rich, but not because of anything you can do with it. It’s valuable enough to pay a lot for, but only by people with the means to refine it for a specific, practical use.
Let me say one thing to begin with before I get to my point. The usefulness of data isn’t determined by the collector of it. Data is inherently valuable because it is measurable. Being valuable doesn’t make you useful. The usefulness of the data is determined by the refiner (the person who determines the variables by which the data is filtered by).
OK. So if you are a working professional, you or someone sitting very near you is collecting data. If you are collecting it the old fashioned way, you are collecting it by tracking daily sales that can be turned into trends over time, or you are collecting it by documenting people/companies you meet or find. There are countless companies globally who do “data mining” and will offer to sell massive spreadsheets of relevant information to your company for thousands of dollars over LinkedIn direct message and spam campaigns. And the funny thing is, it can be worth it.
In modern corporate culture, a fast way to get promoted, a bonus, or at least noticed, it to present a business case. If you can use data to justify an idea, you’re on the right track to getting what you want. For example, if you can present data going back multiple years on a product vs industry competitors via various channels, you can reasonably forecast future performance and how adjusting variables like price and channel will affect performance.
Data sets are thought of as collective, but anyone who works with data will tell you there are data points that stand out. I work in the pharmaceutical industry, and I can tell you which outlets and hospitals make the most purchases. I can also tell you which sales people make the most successful sales calls. If you aren’t measuring your data, you’re wasting it, right?
Now for something you already know: You are somebody’s data. If not literally, then at least conceptually. And I don’t just mean your Google search history and social media footprint, I mean to actual people in your network. You are one of a handful of people that your client know at your company. You are one of a handful of people that your IT guy know from your town or state. It is incredibly valuable to be a stand-out data point.
Let’s look at some examples.
I used to work in the in-flight department of a major US airline. There during my time there, there was a contact in logistics and troubleshooting who I often interacted with when flights were experiencing irregular operations, and I went out of my way to have a positive and memorable working relationship with him. I’d take snacks if I had to go to the tower for a shift, and we even met up a couple times on days off for a jog, a Starbucks or a beer. Years after I had left the company and was working in Japan, he found himself preparing for a vacation to Tokyo. I hadn’t spoken to him in 7 years, but when he was having trouble processing an online ticket purchase for Tokyo Disneyland without a Japanese credit card, he reached out for advice. I was happy to buy the tickets in his name and have him wire me the amount. A couple months later, when I found myself preparing for a vacation to the US with my small children, it was easy for me to reach out and ask for a favor. I had him put in a note to the crew that I was coming with young kids and apologize in advance for the trouble! It was well worth it, as all of the crew members came by our seats to meet my family, bring candy for the kids, wine for my wife, and whiskey for me.
When I say you are a conceptual data point for someone, it can mean something simple as, you’re one of a few people that someone knows who lives in Denver, Colorado. Or, you are one of a few people someone knows who went to college in Hawaii. Or you are a person who watches basketball, or a person who knows a lot about wine. Whenever someone has a question about something or some place that you are connected to, you have the opportunity to be at the top of their mental rolodex, AKA the go-to guy for that. You just need to stand out.
Can it be troublesome? Sure. You might be asked to volunteer at your local rec center to teach a skill. You might be asked to select the wine for the table at a group dinner. That’s a good thing. It pays dividends.
Remember this. Every interaction you have with someone professionally and socially is a data point. Always be on, and always stand out. Put on a blazer when you travel. Be polite in public. Ask questions and make good conversation, even when you don’t think it matters. Maybe it doesn’t, but each interaction is a literal or figurative data point for someone. Don’t waste one.
I’m excited for my next blog because it’s about a crazy job offer phishing scam that I recently had some fun with, so stay tuned for that!
Jarom Reid 