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Market Access Strategic Execution Consultant

Bad Data Visualization Can Lead to Bad Outcomes

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Bad Data Visualization Can Lead to Bad Outcomes

Data visualizations tell a story. Stories move people.

The explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger in January 1986 is a classic example of disasters from of BAD data visualizations.

The night before the disaster, scientists had predicted the catastrophe. They tried to persuade their superiors to postpone the launch because the O-rings that sealed the bottoms of the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters would fail in the cold temperatures predicted for next morning’s flight. Ultimately they were overruled and the launch countdown proceeded. 73 seconds into its flight, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, instantly killing its 7 crew members.

Data visualization legend Edward Tufte argues in his book Visual Explanations that the engineers failed to communicate the dangers because data wasn’t presented in an easily digestible form. Sloppy typography, unnecessary icons of rockets obscuring key numbers, and performance data of the O-rings arranged by launch date rather than by the critical factor, temperature.

Tufte argues that this made it all but impossible for decision makers to envision that a launch in weather below 66 degrees probably would lead to O-ring failure.

Nail the Outlook

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Nail the Outlook

It is mesmerizing to pour pancake batter onto the center of the skillet and watch it spread into a perfect circle–all on its own.

This can be explained by a phenomenon at the micro scale, called cohesion: molecules of the same kind stick together.

A batter with the right consistency will create a perfect circle all on its own, every time.

Market Access professionals create pancakes all day long (projects).

OUTLOOK is at the center of any project, from which the final deliverable manifests. A pure, powerful, and progressive outlook will create such deliverables.

Despite the genetic nature of outlooks, they’re almost always ignored as everyone hastily slaps things onto the paper to get it done. The right outlook is never missed by anyone until something goes wrong.

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” –Lao Tzu

First Impression is Lasting

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First Impression is Lasting

There is something specific the Client is looking for. What is it?

Asking this question can determine the fate of a project, an entire business, or even someone’s promotion.

Giving him exactly what he was looking for will create a wonderful first impression! He’s ready to listen.

Failing to give him what he was looking for: the rest of it doesn’t matter, because he’s no longer willing to see it.

First impressions aren’t limited to the first 3 seconds of meeting someone for the first time. First impressions are actually recurrent: the first 3 seconds of reviewing a revision, the first 3 seconds of a meeting, the first 3 seconds of reading an email.

Consultants have to EARN clients’ trust EVERY time, because the client-consultant relationship is like a crush.

Multitasking is a Myth

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Multitasking is a Myth

Research suggests that multitasking can actually reduce productivity by as much as 40%! So why make the same mistake again?

What would happen if I shifted my focus? Instead of “do, do, do,” what if I “see, see, see”? And the happy side-effect of “see, see, see” happens to be “do, do, do” …not to mention serenity and lightbulb moments?

The universe relentlessly bestows opportunities for me to become better (better strategist, writer, human,…). If only I was open to receiving them.

The same object can change its color depending on the shade of the sunglasses. Similarly, the same projects, clients, feedback, and obstacles look different with a different OUTLOOK. We see what we want to see.

Curated Options Create Efficiency

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Curated Options Create Efficiency

“Increase the market share” is different from the nebulous/run-on statement, “Make the market share better.”

Selection of the right verb can determine the fate of the message when received by the audience.

When finding answers, it is more efficient to select from curated options vs. trying to catch the right answer from thin air.

Options are convenient, but someone has to do the hard work of creating them first.

For example, when communicating change to executives, it helps to have a list of “performance verbs for change.” Nancy Duarte’s book DataStory offers a curated list of such “performance verbs for change” that most commonly appeared in the strategic decks that were examined:

Accelerate
Acquire
Add
Advance
Allocate
Balance
Block
Buy
Capture
Centralize
Compete
Compress
Consume
Control
Convert
Decentralize
Decrease
Deliver
Design
Disrupt
Divest
Enlarge
Enter

Exceed
Expand
Extend
Gain
Grow
Impact
Improve
Increase
Invest
Lessen
Maximize
Minimize
Outperform
Prevent
Recover
Reduce
Restore
Save
Scale
Shift
Spend
Stabilize
Train

No Room for Pessimism

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No Room for Pessimism

The only way out is through progress.

Pessimism is an easy trap to fall into, but it implies that humans are not creative. Pessimism doesn’t acknowledge all the ways that we have innovated our way out of previous traps.

While some wait for the doors of opportunity to open, some kick the doors down.

Don’t Skimp on Tires

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Don't Skimp on Tires

“Words are one of the most powerful devices we have to push ideas forward and have them adopted” –Nancy Duarte in her book DataStory.

If strategy is a car, content would be the tires.

High-quality tires are important because they bear the weight of the entire car. Since tires (just like shoes) touch the ground, they’re they only things that cushion us from the gravitational pull of our planet. So they better be good!

Aimless vs. Purposeful

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Aimless vs. Purposeful

Using up 7.5 hours at the desk is very easy. But how much of that work actually benefited my team, my organization, customers, patients, or even myself?

What work am I hiding from when I’m doing aimless work?

If I don’t ask why I have this [[position, project, client, or relationship with a customer]], then I shouldn’t ask why I don’t have it anymore when it is taken away from me.

Archaic Ways

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Archaic Ways

Most people who want to move up the food chain try to forge the actions of those who’ve made it: “if I do what they did, surely I will get to where they are.”

I question the validity of that because what worked THEN might be outdated NOW because situations have changed.

As Francis Bacon declared roughly five hundred years ago, “He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils: for time is the greatest innovator.”

Instead of following WHAT they did, it might be more worthwhile to ask: “WHY did it work for them?”

It’s easy to hide behind proven ways, but it takes a brave soul to try new ways.

Tidying Up Information

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Tidying Up Information

When soliciting input from team members, they generously dump information into a large heap. This information can come in many forms: verbal direction, emails, references, slides,….

Information doesn’t move people, but stories do.

This is why a writer takes on the assiduous work of going in to sort through the pile. Decluttering and then finding a place for the remaining information.

Krishna Patel, PharmD
Market Access Strategy and Execution Consultant
info@sojusllc.com
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