Leading in Analytics

Afterword: Dr. Karl Kempf's Legacy

Karl Kempf inspired this book by writing about and sharing his concept of the five manageable tasks that analytics professionals, executive champions, and business process owners can focus on to improve project success. This, to me, underscores the importance of sharing our knowledge and wisdom, as you never truly know how many will be touched by it and maybe even try to build on it. I have tried to do this in my own small way, and I hope this book, and the collective wisdom of those interviewed for this book—those who, like Kempf, have also taught me through the process and whose knowledge I have tried to faithfully share—benefits you in some meaningful way.

I was fortunate enough to be able to interview and get to know Kempf a little better through writing this book and understand just a taste of how he thinks and approaches the world. I must say, yes, again, that Kempf is one of my favorite analytics heroes, whom I look up to as an example of what we all can do if we manage our analytics process more successfully, using the seven tasks outlined here.

As we conclude this journey, I thought you might want to know just a little bit more about the hero who inspired this book. Here is Kempf's legacy, in Kempf's own words, with minor edits for length and clarity. Just to note how humble Kempf is. Kempf strongly emphasized that every achievement was a team effort. This reinforces the idea that none of us, not even heroic giants like Kempf, can ...