When I joined a big tech company as a sales analyst, I had to audit the BI and propose ideas to develop it. Structuring this audit and the resulting development project felt like a chaotic shopping trip. I’d grab slides from past presentations, borrow templates from different teams, and piece together documents just to figure…
Category: Fostering Success
From scoping client expectations to defining key priorities, how can we align people, decisions, and execution to make business strategy work in the real world. This section unpacks the human side of performance. How teams interpret goals, shape plans, and deliver impact together, even in ambiguity.
Crack your Case Like an FBI Analyst: Secure the Win and Lock it Down
A few nights ago, I was watching Law & Order SVU when a scene cut to Morales, the FBI analyst, briefing the team on data he’d pulled from a suspect’s spreadsheet. As he walked them through it, he didn’t bury them in jargon. He made the numbers feel urgent and the data tools matter. That…
Mary Anning, the 19th-Century Paleontologist Who Teaches us about Modern Analytics
When we think of pioneers in data analysis, we often envision statisticians, machine learning engineers, and analysts diligently working through intricate datasets. However, after reading about Mary Anning, the 19th-century fossil hunter known for inspiring the tongue twister “she sells seashells by the sea shore,” I was struck by how her work exemplifies the core…
The Pareto Principle of Leadership: What I’ve Learned from the People in Charge
Early in my career, I briefly worked with a manager who completely reshaped my understanding of leadership. She wasn’t the most technically proficient, she often relied on the team for understanding financial modeling, identifying key priorities, and even preparing PowerPoint presentations. She wasn’t particularly skilled in things I once believed defined good management in finance,…
Crack your Case Like an FBI Analyst: Build a Bulletproof Analysis
The other night, I was watching Law & Order SVU when a scene cut to Morales, the analyst. It was funny, because that’s my name too … Well the analyst was briefing the team on critical data he’d pulled from a suspect’s USB key. It was an Excel spreadsheet. But Morales didn’t just dump a…
Webs or Tentacles? Why Data Analysts Should Ditch the Spider Mindset for an Octopus Brain
I’m not a big comic book fan, but the other night, I was rewatching the first Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire — the only Spider-Man trilogy Millenials will aknowledge. And while I enjoyed the nostalgia, one thing kept bothering me: Doctor Octopus should have won. Think about it. He had four extra mechanical limbs, allowing…
How MarTech & RevOps Achieve Operational Excellence
When you start working as a data analyst, you expect your role to be clear-cut—transform raw data into actionable insights, build dashboards, and uncover trends that guide decision-making. What you don’t expect is just how closely you’ll end up working with MarTech and RevOps—until, little by little, you find yourself doing their job too. At…
My All Hands Rosetta Stone : Defining B2B Core Business Objectives & Missions
I’ve attended numerous Town Halls, All Hands meetings, Annual Strategy Summits and Quarterly Business Reviews in large corporations. The purpose of these meetings was to update and align the entire company on high-level goals, performance, and strategic priorities. The problem is that each meeting was usually outlining their own version of the four pillars of…
Defining Your Analytical Role: Planning vs. Running the Business
In every organization, success hinges on the ability to balance visionary strategic planning with effective day-to-day execution. This article aims to clearly delineate the two critical pillars of organizational success: business planning and business execution, represented respectively by decision-makers [1] and contributors [2]. Decision-makers shape the future by defining the vision, mission, and strategy, while…
Decoding the Business Analyst’s Journey: From Identifying Needs to Delivering Solutions
The Business Analyst’s role is to bridge the gap between business needs and solutions. The Business Analyst (BA) adds value by identifying needs _ problems and opportunities _ and by finding solutions for the organization. It involves understanding how different changes (in process, people, systems or technology) can improve efficiency, productivity, or profitability. Business Analysis…