Because these things make life better. Clearer. More understandable.

Yesterday, I learned that my eldest brother, who died last year, had a completely wrong idea about me, and that’s why he was so distant from me in recent years.

That hit me like a gut punch.

(Actual photo of me yesterday: )

If only he’d asked.

Now it’s too late.

Only last night did it dawn on me that he couldn’t have already known the bit he needed to. The timing made that impossible. I’d have had to tell him. But we never made space for that conversation. I didn’t realise how important it was to say it, and he didn’t ask. He just went with his feelings.

Had we shared our stories – our data – who knows how much closer we could have been.

I always strive to balance feelings with data and numbers, and this is part of why. When you rely only on one, you can easily end up with the wrong story.

In business, we can see this in various ways.

Let’s say you run a focus group, for example. If you get one or two strong personalities dominating your focus group, you come away with essentially their views on your new product or service … which may only be a minority view among your customer base. You’ll want quantitative data from more people to go together with the feelings from that handful of people.

Or you meet a new client. You like them, so you offer them generous credit, only to get burned later. You want to check their credit first – get that data – to balance with your feeling of them.

Or you meet a new investor. You like them and what they have to say, so you sign the papers and jump right in. They start micromanaging, which is driving you and your senior team nuts. Worse, your revenue and profit are down since they took over. You want to do your research on their previous investments – their performance, and any stories you can get – to balance with your good initial feeling.

Let’s balance data and feelings together.

Let’s empower you and your business.

Let’s avoid that special flavour of regret that happens when it’s too late.

Empower yourself!

Links & Inspiration

Data sharing across different government bodies, a new AI tool called Humphrey (yes, after Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister), changes to how the government builds and buys tech, and more were announced last week.

The AI Opportunities Action Plan was presented in Parliament a fortnight ago.

It delivers 50 recommendations to the Government around how to enable and embrace AI.

In case you missed it, the Copyright & AI consultation (Gov . uk) is open until 25 Feb. I shared some of my thoughts on it here.

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has launched a new, easier UK patent search tool. No technical expertise required!

This replaces Ipsum, their previous search tool.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is looking for stories from the self-employed and those running businesses during the height of the pandemic to understand how economic support was delivered by various entities.

There are no affiliate links in this or any of my emails or blog posts. I simply enjoy sharing resources that could help move your business forward.

Using your numbers to help make your business better

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