While businesses across the world are trying to make more effective use of data, analytics, and AI, a key impediment is holding many of them back: The lack of a culture that truly values data/analytics capability and the superior decision making that can flow from it. Yet as we’ll describe, it’s possible to create a data-driven culture and accrue the competitive benefits that result. In companies with strong data cultures, important decisions are informed by data and analytics and executives act on analytically derived insights rather than intuition or experience. While digital-native companies like Amazon and Alibaba have strong digital...

Frequently when it comes to leadership and management development, the skills that are described as ‘hard’ are the ones that are the easiest to teach. So many leadership development programmes focus on these ‘hard’ skills, in their content – for example, the models and theories that offer explanations and insights into how people and organisations work. This content may also include how to develop visions, missions, strategic plans and KPIs, as well as how to write project plans, how to set measurable targets and SMART goals, and how to structure organisations. This important knowledge, developed over decades by academics and practitioners, stops...