Fail Fast, Learn Faster

2Think Different: Becoming Data-Driven

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

—Apple Computer

We are living in a transformational moment. Data is proliferating, yet the data itself suggests that Fortune 1000 companies are struggling to become data-driven. Just 24.0% of executives report that they are data-driven, only 24.4% have established a data culture within their organizations, and only 41.2% report that they are competing on data and analytics, according to NewVantage Partners’ 2021 Big Data and AI Executive Survey.¹ Companies must undertake a data-driven transformation or fall further behind the digital leaders – Amazon, Google, Facebook – that have transformed the industry through their intensive application of data and analytics. These firms were born with data in their DNA. Becoming data-driven means that organizations must evolve and change the ways in which they structure current business processes.

To achieve these goals, firms must be prepared to look at new ways of doing things and to think differently. In 1997, Apple launched their legendary “Here's to the crazy ones” advertising campaign, noting that it's often “the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, ...