Business

Review: The Little Book of Data

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Cover image of "The Little Book of Data" by Justin Evans

The Little Book of Data, Justin Evans. HarperCollins Leadership (ISBN: 9781400248353) 2025.

Summary: Stories of how people have used data to solve big problems and how that might apply in one’s own work.

Some of us are in data denial. We don’t think we need to understand it. Or its too complicated. Then, it’s just intimidating. And for some, it’s just downright evil. Justin Evans passionately believes that when we are in data denial, we forfeit a key resource for advancing our careers and our organizations. Data can help us solve big problems. Fundamentally, it’s not about math but about ideas. As an undergrad English major, Evans says anyone can understand this stuff if we don’t “give power to the twerps.” And while there are real concerns with surveillance capitalism, it is a Promethean fire. We wield both great power that charges us with responsibility.

Evans learned about the power of data to solve problems in a career that included work with Nielsen, Comcast, Samsung, and a start-up along the way. He wrote The Little Book of Data to tell stories of how data has solved a variety of big problems. And he helps us consider the opportunities this presents each of us in our chosen work.

But first he begins with a personal account of how we “shed” vast amounts of data every day. Our email accounts, our rideshare apps, GPS, streaming services, medical information systems…and so much more. A whole infrastructure has been created to identify, store, and utilize that information. And chances are, in whatever line of work you are in, data is there to help with the problems you are trying to solve.

For example, we are introduced to:

  • Herman Hollerith, who worked with the Census Bureau preparing for the 1890 census. There were an unprecedented number of variables on which they were to collect information. All of it would need to be cross-matchable. Hollerith created the punch card to collect this information and a tabulating machine to analyze different combinations of data. And so was born the enterprise we now know as IBM.
  • More contemporarily, we meet Priya, who developed analytics to study websites used to traffic women, enabling the NGO she worked for to build cases to rescue underage women.
  • Barry Glick started working for a company that had a division distributing maps to gas stations. It was called Mapquest. He figured out how to connect the vector data of driving directions to raster data used to make visual maps. And then they put it online…
  • Sharon Greene was an epidemiologist in New York City when COVID broke loose. Her team figured out a way to use daily testing data to identify hot spots, surge resources to them, resulting in dropping death rates in each of these spots.
  • Adam Greene developed textual analysis to identify loneliness among senior adults through phone conversation, helping seniors get more socially connected.

The stories help illustrate different aspects of data science from the development of artificial intelligence to how we use data to count, track, spot anomalies like impending earthquakes, match genetic attributes, certify grades of meat and measure performance. We learn about the use of data to crystallize complex information by meeting railroad nerd Henry Varnum Poor. Poor went from editing a railroad journal to create an objective resource to help those investing in railroads. Poor’s Manual of Railroads provided information on road miles, rolling stock, passenger numbers, freight tonnage…and the names of each director. Eventually this became Standard & Poor, and crystallized all this data into a rating, AAA to D (bankrupt).

Along the way, Evans tells stories from his own career journey. Each of the chapters concludes with a ‘key points” summary, thought starters, and “Where do we go next?”. Evans offers both inspiring stories combined with a “see, you can understand this” approach.

Most of the book was pretty positive about the potential of the world of big data. But Evans includes a chapter on data bullies along the way, those who use their expertise to conceal information. He offers a humorous account of how he asked such people to break down their claims and explain everything he didn’t understand.

At the end of the book, he returns to the power of large tech firms and the issue of secrecy, illustrating it with how the AI industry used large amounts of copyrighted material secretly to train its Large Language Models. He argues that our data might be tagged in such a way to establish provenance, allowing its licensed or unlicensed use to be tracked. He also argues for data advocates for industries where the use of data to make decisions having implications for the rest of us would be less opaque–health insurance companies for example.

On the whole, Evans approach is to illustrate different ways data has been used to solve problems that matter. He helps readers think about the problems they are trying to solve in this light. Therefore, data becomes a useful tool instead of an amorphous, intimidating reality. For me, one of the biggest takeaways was that data ultimately isn’t about crunching numbers but about asking good questions. Then we look for the data sets that will help us answer those questions. I found this an encouraging and empowering approach. Evans acknowledges the realities of our world, including the AI explosion. And helps us see the opportunity all this data represents.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.

Finally, thanks for visiting Bob on Books. People aren’t reading blogs like they used to, so I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]

Review: The Post-Capitalist Society

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Post-Capitalist Society, Peter F. Drucker. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.

Summary: Describes the transformation of a society based on capital to one based on knowledge whose key structure is the responsibility-based organization.

Peter Drucker, who died in 2005 was the business guru I looked to as a young leader in a non-profit organization. He wrote Post-Capitalist Society in 1993. In many ways, it captures a number of his key ideas, and in many ways seems prophetic, twenty-eight years later.

His key idea here is that we have witnessed a transformation from a capitalist society to a knowledge society, based on the successive Industrial, Productivity, and Management Revolutions. Now we are not in a situation of knowledge but knowledges–specialized knowledge for work in more highly specialized organizations. Organizations make knowledge productive for a special purpose. In a knowledge society, the workers own the capital, which is their knowledge, but need the organization to make it productive.

He has a fascinating discussion on the source of capital in pension funds through institutional investors. Here as well, employees are the ultimate “owners” even while trustees manage these funds. He points to the critical role of corporate governance in creating organizations responsible to these employee-owners. As he looks at the question of productivity, he advocates for corporate restructuring and outsourcing so that organizations concentrate on what they are most effective at doing. Effective responsible organizations are ones where everyone takes responsibility for the organization.

He then turns from the knowledge society of organizations to the wider polity of which they are a part. He envisions the transitions from nations to megastates, as we see in the European Union, NAFTA, and other regional economic polities. Even in 1994, Drucker recognized the environment as one of the needs for transnational arrangements, as well as counter-terrorism efforts and arms control. Even while he recognizes this movement to regional entities and transnational agreements, he foresaw the rise of tribalism, and the stress on diversity rather than unity. For Drucker, tribal and transnational identities go together. And maybe this is so, but not in the ethnic ways he sees but in the radical political identities on the far right and left of the political spectrum that find iterations in many countries.

He is witheringly critical of “the nanny state” in which taxation and economic policy is designed not to make the “patient” healthy but rather to feel good. He points to the success of Germany (before 1989) and Japan and the “Asian tigers” that had high taxes but high investment in education, in facilities, and infrastructure. He argues that patriotism is not enough and that what is needed is the revitalization of community (even more true today) and citizenship expressed through voluntarism.

In the final section, he focuses even more on the cultivation of knowledge. He argues that we know more than we do and need to learn to “only connect,” to see how disparate pieces connect as a whole. He considers here the needs of education, and contends here, as well, for outsourcing and charter schools (an area that has a very mixed record of effectiveness). He advocates for the “accountable” school. While Drucker had a richer vision of the results he would seek from education, his was among the voices that sustained an accountability movement that has focused more on test-taking than learning, to the discouragement of many teachers. Ultimately Drucker believed people needed to be educated for work in two cultures simultaneously–“that of the ‘intellectual,’ who focuses on words and idea, and that of the ‘manager,’ who focuses on people and work.”

Where Drucker seems the most prescient is his understanding of the knowledge economy. What I don’t think he foresaw was the monetization of knowledge in the information economy. He recognized the growth of transnationalism, but didn’t fully reckon with the reactionary character of nationalism, often acting against its own interests. He had wisdom that both corporations and governments need about long-term planning and especially for governments, the follies of budget deficits in good times as well as bad. Perhaps most compelling to me was his call beyond patriotism to work for the common good and to citizenship expressed in voluntarism. He recognized that we need people educated both in humane ideals and technical skill, refusing to come down on one side or the other. None of us sees the future with complete clarity. Drucker saw it better than many, understanding the developments and trajectory of history and the challenges facing organizations and large polities of his time.

Review: Bad Blood

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Bad Blood, John Carreyrou. New York: Vintage, 2020.

Summary: The account of Elizabeth Holmes, the blood testing company Theranos, and the ambition that led to lies upon lies deceiving famous investors, pharmaceutical companies, and business publications until an investigative reporter on a tip discovered the house of cards on which it was all built.

Elizabeth Holmes knew from childhood what she wanted to be. Rich. A billionaire. She broke off one romantic relationship because it hindered her in the single-minded pursuit of a dream.

The dream. To create a device that could perform an array of blood tests from a few drops of blood obtained from a finger stick. Anyone who has regular blood draws understands what a revolutionary idea this is. She dropped out of Stanford after only a year to pursue the dream fueled by repeated rounds of investor fund-raising. She drew luminaries around her–Jim Mattis, Attorney David Boies, George Schulz, Henry Kissinger, Hilary and Chelsea Clinton, Rupert Murdoch. All the time, she managed to conceal a fundamental problem. The devices didn’t work. They gave wildly inaccurate readings on the few tests they could run, and served as collection devices for conventional labs on the tests they couldn’t run.

The problem. Accurate blood tests require a volume of blood drawn from a vein. Finger sticks draw from capillaries and are susceptible to hemolysis, the rupture of red blood cells spilling their contents into the sample, rendering readings inaccurate. The typical lab panels doctors run require various processes. That’s part of why so much blood is needed. All the tech people at Theranos never figured out how to get around that problem.

Holmes could not let go of the idea, or pivot because of the fundamental problems with the machines her company developed. And so began the lies. Wildly optimistic prospectuses for investors. Falsified lab-certification results. She convinced the military, Safeway Stores, Walgreens, and even the prestigious Cleveland Clinic to invest in her machines at points. Business publications like Forbes, Fortune, and Inc. bought Holmes carefully crafted myth, further attracting investor interest. She even suppressed problems when they went “live.” Over 100,000 people were tested on the machines. Meanwhile, she and her second in command (and romantic interest–also problematic) enforced a culture of secrecy and intimidation and confidentiality agreements within the company.

How did this all happen? John Carreyrou was a Wall Street Journal investigative reporter who was contacted by a pharmacy blogger suggesting that all was not as it seemed. Eventually troubled former employees risking lawsuits came forward with key evidence of what went on in Theranos labs to fool inspectors. Careful investigative work while intimidated by high-powered lawyers from David Boies firm led to the story that revealed that the empress had no clothes, a story of massive fraud and deceit from 2003 to 2018.

When legal investigations opened things up, Carreyrou was able to write the whole narrative of this company. But how did it happen? No small part of this was due to the force of Elizabeth Holmes character–so sincere in her dream as she spoke, so riveting with her large blue eyes, and unnaturally deep voice. So like her idol, Steve Jobs, in her black turtlenecks. The same powers of persuasion were exerted over investors and employees. Sadly, the latter also saw the lies, the coverups, and the Machiavellian use of power that only increased when Sunny Bulwani, romantic interest and second in command showed up. There was an utter lack of corporate governance. Despite the impressive names of Mattis, Boies, Schulz, and Kissinger, they basically gave Elizabeth free reign to do what she wanted, no questions asked. When Tyler Schulz left and tried to plead with his grandfather, his grandfather refused to listen, leading to an alienated relationship.

The story also reveals the critical importance of investigative reporting backed up by editorial oversight and legal support. Where due diligence on the part of investors, corporate governance, and government regulators failed, a reporter given the time and resources and support to tell the story ferreted out the lies that made up the house of cards that is Theranos. What the book also reveals is another aspect of great reporting in the tradition of Ida M. Tarbell who exposed the monopolistic practices of Standard Oil–that unraveling such a story makes for a great read as we wonder whether Holmes will “fake it until she makes it” and will she gets away with her lies. It is a tale both riveting and sad, one every MBA and start-up entrepreneur ought read.

Review: Institutional Intelligence

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Institutional Intelligence: How to Build an Effective Organization, Gordon T. Smith. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017.

Summary: Believing that institutions are essential to human flourishing, unpacks the intelligence necessary to work effectively within organizations, and the different elements of organizational life that must be navigated wisely.

Institutional intelligence. On first hearing, some would think this is an oxymoron. Institutions have gotten a bad name. One thinks of words like bloated, hidebound, unfeeling, and corrupt. Gordon T. Smith, president of Ambrose University, thinks differently:

“But is there another way to think about institutions? Can we perhaps actually recognize that institutions are essential to human flourishing? Rather than see them as a problem or as a necessary evil, can we appreciate instead that institutions are the very means by which communities thrive, individual vocations are fulfilled, and society is changed for the good? Can we consider that we are all enriched and we all flourish when we invest in sustainable institutions? And more, could it not be that we can view this capacity as a good thing–as vital part of our personal development? Could it be that institutional intelligence–the wisdom of working effectively within an organization–is an essential vocational capacity for each of us?”

Gordon T. Smith, p.3.

Gordon T. Smith would answer all these questions in the affirmative, and after his apologetic for the importance of institutions, he addresses how we might work effectively within them, exercising institutional intelligence.

He does this by addressing the key elements of institutions we must learn to navigate intelligently:

  • Missional clarity and understanding how our role in the organization relates to its mission.
  • Governance processes and how to engage these constructively
  • Recruiting, hiring and developing top notch talent, and managing transitions out of the organization constructively and gracefully.
  • An institutional culture of hopeful realism fostered by all connected with the institution.
  • Financial health and resilience to which all are committed.
  • Built spaces that enhance the flourishing of those who work within them.
  • Strategic partnerships and collaborations consistent with the organization’s mission

Smith delineates in great detail the intelligence needed with each of these elements with examples drawn particularly from churches, non-profits, and educational institutions, but also relevant to for-profit enterprises.

This is a surprising book from an author whose other publications focus around one’s spiritual formation. Yet on further consideration, this makes sense for someone who cares for such matters but also leads significant organizations, like a Christian university. While one finds many of the same issues addressed here that one would find in many business texts, the attention throughout is on the formation of an institutional character, as well as of the persons working within it or served by it.

One of the places, early in the book, where this stood out was his discussion of institutional charisms. He admits that this is much like discussions of “brand” but distinguishes it as the distinctive gift God is giving the world through a particular organization, that extends through the organizational history to the present. Understanding this charism and stewarding it under God is critical for those who work in institutions and it elevates an organization’s vision. I appreciated the attention to governance structures and the recognition that organizations cannot be leaderless in some “we are all servants” ideal. Likewise, the cultivation of an organizational culture of hopeful realism recognizes both the flawed nature of all human efforts and the redemptive element of hope that fosters joy, laughter, and esprit de corps among people in an organization.

Most fascinating to me was the attention given to built spaces. Implicit in his discussion is a theology of built spaces reflecting how physical space reflects identity, is hospitable to people, enabling them to flourish, and aesthetically and environmentally is sustainable in its physical setting. In so doing, he invites us to look beyond building construction and maintenance to who and what is served by our built spaces, considerations at once both noble and practical.

Don’t skip the appendices. The first contains valuable wisdom about the relation of boards and presidents and their executive leadership and the tasks of each and avoiding confusion. The second more specifically addresses the spiritual dynamics of organizations. The last is a bibliography of essential works on the matters covered here.

Lack of trust in our institutions and the people who lead them is endemic in our time. Perhaps one of the reasons people so question truth is that its purveyors are perceived to front for toxic organizations, and perhaps embody hypocrisy themselves. Might part of fostering a culture of truth amid a world of lies consist of building institutions like those described in this book, where an institution’s messaging is simply reflective of its mission, and its truth is reflected in the flourishing of both the employees and clients of the organization? This book serves as an excellent primer for this good and godly work.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Discover Joy in Work

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Discover Joy in Work

Discover Joy in Work, Shundrawn A. Thomas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.

Summary: A response to the widespread lack of engagement in work, exploring the changes to our approach to our workplace, our work ethic, and our work life that foster joy in work that is more than a job, more than an occupation, but rather a calling.

Shundrawn Thomas is the president of a trillion dollar global investment firm, who has worked in many other settings before attaining his present position. He has found deep joy in his own work and is concerned about the statistics that show that the majority of workers are not engaged with their work.

Thomas contends that the discovery of joy in our work has little to do with the job we are in and everything to do with the person doing that work. He writes:

However, only one person determines your joy: you. If you want to truly experience joy in your work, you only have one person to deal with: yourself! You are the only person standing in the way of experiencing joy in your work.

He begins with our approach to our workplace. He starts with changing our attitudes, our perspective on our workplace that shapes our feelings and actions, that when content and positive, sustains us through our workday. He proposes that we need to alter our approach, including proactive preparation, prioritization of our time, and partnering well with others. He advocates for raising our aptitude, working with talented people, and involving discovery, development, and deployment. Finally, we can take steps to ensure achievement by avoiding distractions, and working together with resolution to achieve team goals.

He then turns to our work ethic, what motivates us to put in the effort for excellent work. He addresses the love of money and how money may both be a primary and yet inadequate motivator when we recognize the value of time, the satisfaction of work that aligns with our gifts and interests, the greater value of our health and sense of worth, and the sharing rather than amassing of wealth. We can work for the praise of people, but growth occurs not only through praise but also through criticism. The most satisfying work is not what is praised but is praiseworthy. We may work for respect but greater joy comes when we are motivated from within and concerned more about doing good work for the benefit of others and modest about our own self-importance.

Finally, he talks about the fruits of our work life. Work reveals purpose when we allow it to perfect us rather than looking for the perfect occupation, and give ourselves diligently to it. This means work requires effort, calling on all our physical, mental, and spiritual efforts, undeterred by setbacks. Work promotes growth through training, advanced degrees, certifications, workshops, and seminars as well as cultivation of professional relationships in which one regularly receives and welcomes feedback. Work develops our skills, particularly the four skills of listening, visualizing, collaborating, and leading that are critical for success. Work fosters relationships of trust, transparency across a network of personal connections. All this comes together in producing value as we set goals that answer the questions of which opportunities we will pursue, what problems we will solve, and who we will serve. Most of all, work may glorify God as we combine all these qualities in work offered to God in service of others. Work becomes calling in which our efforts answer to God’s bidding.

This is a book chock-full with principles that feels a bit like reading Proverbs. Each paragraph, sometimes each sentence is worth reflection. Thomas has written a book rich with “work wisdom.” It also reflects a conviction of the inherent goodness of work, that it is not a curse, but done rightly, with the right attitude, can afford deep satisfaction within the greater joy of glorifying God. He does offer many examples, and each chapter concludes with a summary of key insights, valuable because each chapter, though short, is so full of these insights. If one reads too rapidly, or feels one must implement at once all that Thomas advises, this could be daunting. Listening for the one insight that resonates right now and considering what changes this means for one’s work life may be more helpful. This book could be dynamite read together with colleagues sharing a commitment to live transformatively in their work place.

Most of all, this book rings true with over four decades of my own work experience. I’ve found that I can never depend on an organization or workplace to make work joyful. Joy has much more to do with the perspective, the work ethic, the investment I bring to my work, than what I find there. Surely, work places are never optimal, and sometimes far less than that. Sometimes this means changing employers or at least jobs. It is apparent from the book that Thomas himself did so. Years ago, an executive search consultant advised me not to relinquish responsibility for my career path to my employer or anyone else. Shundrawn Thomas would add that we not relinquish responsibility for our joy to others.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Relationomics

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relationomics

Relationomics, Randy Ross. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2019.

Summary: The health of relationships within organizations and with customers is directly connected to productive and profitable economic activity.

The odd title of this book, Relationomics, is the author’s way of communicating the vital importance of healthy relationships to healthy organizational economics. He defines relationomics as:

“…the study of the observable impact that relationships have on economic activity. It’s an assessment of the value created by relationships as opposed to simply a fiscal transactional analysis. In the marketplace, a significant causal correlation exists between the strength of the relationship and the flow of resources. The stronger and healthier the relationships, the more productive and profitable the transactions between those parties tend to be” (p. 36).

I found this an extremely practical and wise book that rings true to my years as a director in a religious non-profit, and challenged me to take a look at my own relational practices. The book is organized around four relational qualities, with several chapters under each of the following: intentionality, humility, accountability, and sustainability. I’ll share some of the most valuable insights and takeaways for me from each section.

Intentionality. As a kid who grew up as something of a loner, his chapter on The Great Deception names a lesson I’ve had to learn–that growth comes in relationships as we have others who encourage, sharpen, and challenge us. He calls the effort to grow outside of relationships the “Luciferian lie.” When organizations treat people as pawns and foster cut-throat competition rather than collaboration, they suffer. He argues that effective leaders foster remarkable cultures where people “believe the best in one another, want the best for one another, and expect the best from one another” (p. 63).

Humility. Humble leaders know themselves well and are comfortable in their own skin, which breeds in turn authenticity and empathy. He describes two kinds of growth spirals. One is descending characterized by defensiveness, rationalization, stagnation, and alienation. The other is ascending, characterized by openness, honest evaluation, solution orientation, and inspiration through unity. He also proposes a Poor Man’s 360 question that I intend to use: “What’s it like for you to be on the other side of me?” He also states that there are two kinds of leaders in organizations. There are value creators, who bring more to the table than they take away, enriching the lives of others and their relationships. There are also value extractors, who get more from you than they offer. It shows up at networking events, and Ross proposes a practice he calls “NetWeaving,” of looking for ways, to connect others with common interest, “paying it forward,” as it were. Often we don’t lead like this because of fear, which great leaders transcend when they decide that being open-handed actually creates for them a greater capacity to receive as well as give.

Accountability. Good organizational relationships flourish when everyone’s OAR is in the water: when there is ownership, accountability, and responsibility. Good organizations have accountability in how they engage in workplace conflicts, the goal of which is to avoid throwing sand. He gives five practical suggestions in this regard:

  1. I will talk to you before I ever talk about you.
  2. I will engage in candid conversations with humility, knowing I have room to grow.
  3. We will seek objective input if we come to an impasse.
  4. I recognize that the objective of the conversation is to seek understanding, resolve issues, and move toward unity.
  5. I will forgive quickly [with some qualifications about destructive behaviors] (pp. 177-183).

Sometimes this means practicing RAW conversations. These Reveal reality, Advance creative dialogue, and Wrestle with solutions. This last seems particularly important–that both stay at the table (with time outs if it gets too emotional) until there is resolution.

Sustainability. This circles back to the idea of leaders who move beyond self-interest in their leadership. They are grounded leaders who are emotionally mature, have established convictions, and are determined. They are “rooted in reality, emotionally centered, relationally rich, results-oriented, other focused, mission-minded.” He offers a great example in the founder of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, who is committed to high wages for his workers, and a share of the enterprise. His insights about the revolving door of employee turnover focuses on how most organizations hire too quickly, and he contrasts Chick-fil-A, where hires are interviewed by every person they will directly relate to in the organization over an extended period.

Each chapter includes reflection questions to help one crystallize the chapter content and apply it to one’s own situation. The writing style is clear, personal, filled with illustrations and acronyms to help remember the content. If that is not sufficient, Ross includes a glossary at the end of the book. For those looking for an approach to relationships that is faith-based, you may recognize biblical allusions and principles in the writing. But because this seems directed to a wider audience, there are no Bible references or discussions of faith in the workplace.

There are lessons here for any relational context, including marriage. This is especially valuable for anyone who leads a team or an organization–whether a sports club, a work group or business, a task force, or a church or non-profit group. Unhealthy relationships can suck the life out of an organization. Healthy relationships with a high performing team can be exhilarating. Randy Ross’s book can help a leader, who is ready to learn, to develop the latter.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.