Data-driven Decision Making

Welcome to the TV industry’s latest bit of magic ... prestidigitalization. It’s a new twist on the old sleight-of-measurement trick. Here’s how it works. You buy TV the old-fashioned way because, well, that’s how you buy TV. The ratings suck. You want to pay less because you’re getting less. TV says, “You’re not getting less. Look at our newly crafted, data-driven metrics. We’re delivering premium audiences across omni-channel touchpoints and generating better return-on-ad-spends than ever!” If you can brush the buzzwords off your shoulder, you respond, “Yeah, but Nielsen says the ratings are down.” And TV triumphantly concludes, “Nielsen sucks! Here’s how we prestidigitally measure your success.” Continue Reading →

I happened upon a relatively new employee dragging emails from his inbox into folders. I asked why and was told, “I’m just answering emails and getting stuff off my desk.” An empty inbox may be emotionally satisfying to look at, but in practice, you should never do it. Here’s why. Continue Reading →

Congress wants answers. It’s caveat emptor if someone boosts (pays to advertise) a Facebook post about a new fruit smoothie that prevents cancer, heart disease, and warts. But suggest to a professional politician that the same exact Facebook advertising might adversely affect that politician’s ability to get reelected, and it’s time for a congressional hearing. Continue Reading →

Professional negotiators often wax poetic about win-win outcomes: where both sides cooperate and compromise. In practice, win-win is never a dominant strategy. Lose-lose almost always beats it. Here’s why. Continue Reading →

What, exactly, did Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other tech giants do to empower or enable bad actors (foreign governments, radical organizations, Russians) to influence the outcome of the 2016 elections? How did it happen? Who is to blame? How can we prevent it from happening again? Continue Reading →

Facebook is under scrutiny for (among other things) allegedly selling political ads to the Russians, allowing people to set up fake accounts, and not properly monitoring the content posted by “fake” profiles. Wait. What? Continue Reading →

Shelly Palmer talks about the end of fitness trackers and Verizon's Wear24 Smart Watch on Fox 5 with Teresa Priolo and Antwan Lewis. Original Airdate: July 25, 2017 Continue Reading →

According to Gartner, 2017 is the year CMOs (chief marketing officers) will buy more tech than CIOs (chief information officers). This is truly unfortunate. CMOs should never buy tech, ever! Continue Reading →

Because the velocity of data is increasing and will always increase, the need for data literacy is increasing and will always increase. This does not mean that to be a successful executive you have to become a data scientist – quite the contrary. It means that in order to be a successful executive, you need to understand how data is turned into action, be familiar with the methods of data science and data-scientific research, and be able to think strategically about how to use data to create value for your business. Here's an article I wrote a while back that explains how data literacy will make you "almost" invincible. Continue Reading →

We deal with procurement departments everyday. It's a fact of modern day corporate life. But this week, I've had to respond to so many RFPs asking for "blue disco balls," (my metaphoric name for a specific kind of middle management error that most vendors, suppliers and even solutions providers love most), I'm thinking about hanging one over my desk. What is a “blue disco ball?” Here's a story I wrote last year about every senior executive’s worst nightmare and every vendor’s holiday bonus all rolled into a budget-busting good time. Continue Reading →