Texas CEO Magazine January|February 2014 | Page 12

DEPT

FOLLOWING
DATA TRENDS
Does Big Data Mark the End of
Leadership Savvy?

Today’s CEO is faced with increasing levels
of complexity that correlate strongly with
the working definition of Big Data: massive
Volume of data, accelerating changes in the
Velocity of that data, and it comes from
a growing Variety of sources. These three
characteristics of data – volume, velocity,
and variety – are working together to create a dramatically more complex business
environment. A senior decision maker may
be left wondering, what is the role of my
hard-earned leadership instinct and industry
knowledge – must I always follow the data
trends?
Data or Intuition? A False Choice
For executives in high technology in the late
90s, there was an often used quip that was
well known throughout the industry: “If
you can’t back up your position with data,
you’re just another jerk with an opinion.”
And it is this quip that really highlights the
executive conundrum: do I trust my gut or
the data? Put another way, what do I do

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Texas CEO Magazine Discuss. Learn. Lead.

strategy
by Michael Hasler