Harvard Business Review Guides Ultimate Boxed Set (16 Books)

CHAPTER 8

Can Your Data Be Trusted?

by Thomas C. Redman

You’ve just learned of some new data that, when combined with existing data, could offer potentially game-changing insights. But there isn’t a clear indication whether this new information can be trusted. How should you proceed?

There is, of course, no simple answer. While many managers are skeptical of new data and others embrace it wholeheartedly, the more thoughtful managers take a nuanced approach. They know that some data (maybe even most of it) is bad and can’t be used, and some is good and should be trusted implicitly. But they also realize that some data is flawed but usable with caution. They find this data intriguing and are eager to push the data to its limits, as they know game-changing ...