Leading in the Age of Data [Book Review]

Image of my physical copy of the book Leading in the Age of Data

Leading in the Age of Data written by Ben Jones, is a great guide on how to think and implement data into teams. The book is structured around seven factors:

• Ethics

• Purpose

• Data

• Technology

• People

• Process

• Culture

Please read them again carefully and then ask yourself the question which of these factors is the most important. Maybe create a ranking for all seven. Think carefully why one is above another? Without data all other things don’t mattter? Wait but people do the work? If we don’t have a process, then it is meaningless?

As you can see it isn’t easy and great thing about this book is that it doesn’t try to perscribe something to you. There is no one definitive ranking or answer. But this book will help you through explanations and question explore what data means to you and your team. How will you influence your team based on data? And how will your team influence you?

Maybe the key concept that the author advocates for is more data literacy. You could have the best data, the greatest technology and solid processes in place and still derive little to no value from your data.

I took a lot away from this book and have asked myself many questions during reading. I also came up with a lot of neat little product and feature ideas. I’m sure this book as changed how I think about data and how it can be used within organizations.

Highly recommend you check it out, I will be reading more from the author in the near future and report back on that as well.