Get Your Execs Obsessed With Analytics, Or Get Left Behind

Your instincts are lying to you. They tell you to keep your head down, perfect the code, and hope the right people notice. They won’t.

Jobs disappear. Meetings get louder. The loudest voice still wins, even when the math says otherwise. The boardroom isn’t run on dashboards. It runs on conviction, backed by the right data, delivered by someone willing to step up.

Why This Book, Why Now?

Astute readers will observe we have already covered this book before. Most of the books we cover contain many take-aways, but we believe in concentrating on one theme and key takeaway at a time - to make it digestible, easy to implement and IMPACTFUL.

Last time, we talked about how great analysts get stuck; not because of their technical chops, but because they stay invisible. This week, we take the next step: once you’ve stopped hiding, how do you actually get into the rooms where decisions happen?

When you’re climbing from individual contributor to data & analytics leader, it’s easy to obsess over tools and algorithms. But genuine transformation - the leap from executor to influential leader - demands more. That’s why this week, we go even deeper on Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning by Thomas H. Davenport & Jeanne G. Harris.

This book doesn’t coddle; it challenges. It’s a strategy guide for leveraging analytics as the backbone of business and career advantage. Not for showing you how to build Python scripts, but how to walk into a meeting and change the outcome.

Let’s get real. The single biggest lever you can pull (if you actually want to shift from data jockey to trusted leader) is this:

Get senior leadership visibly, unambiguously invested in analytics.

Not just a memo. Not a platitude. Full-throated, public, relentless sponsorship.

Because without it? You’re building sandcastles at low tide.

Why This Changes Everything

Look around: The graveyard’s crowded with brilliant dashboards and clever analysts who never got seen. Companies trip over the same rock: Analytics is “important”, but not urgent. Until a leader makes it their agenda, you’re just background noise.

Competing on Analytics calls this out, hard. Every analytical transformation (UPS logistics, Google HR, Disney guest experience) started with C-suite ownership. Not tolerance.

When UPS convinced its senior team to make analytics the heart of logistics, it wasn’t about prettier dashboards — it cut millions in fuel costs, reshaped delivery routes, and made them the industry benchmark. That didn’t happen because analysts worked harder; it happened because execs made it a company religion.

Not “empowerment.” Ownership. And you want to tie your output to that.

Here’s the effect:

• Budgets follow belief.

• Roadblocks (political, technical, cultural) get bulldozed.

• Data moves from “helpful” to “how we do business.”

• Analysts stop whispering from the back row and start shaping the main act.

This is visibility, leverage, and legacy - all wrapped up.

How You Make It Happen (and link yourself to its success)

We’ve watched brilliant teams bury months of work because no executive stood behind it. It wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t useless. It just wasn’t on the agenda.

This addresses exactly that issue. The more you understand that buy-in, the closer to the action you are, and the closer you are when recognition and promotion are on the line.

Newsletter Challenge

Pick one initiative. Identify the senior sponsor. Map out your pitch what keeps them up at night? How does better analytics solve it now?

Your 7‑Day Exec Buy‑In Sprint

1. Pick one business priority already keeping your execs up at night.

2. Translate your analytics idea into an outcome they measure.

3. Book 15 mins. Pitch it in their terms.

4. Ask for public sponsorship.

5. Tie your success story back to them.

If you don’t do all 5, you’re still in the “sandcastle” phase.

Pro tip from Competing on Analytics: 

Frame your pitch in the language of the leader’s scoreboard. If their #1 goal is market share, don’t lead with “new data infrastructure” — lead with “picking the right market moves before competitors do.”

This is the difference between getting stuck running reports and running the room.

Don’t just hope for buy-in.

Engineer it.

Leaders are made visible by the company they keep—so put senior leadership in your corner, and make analytics how your business wins.

The rest is just noise.

Best,

Jasmine.

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The information in this newsletter is provided for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute professional, financial, or legal advice. You use this material entirely at your own risk. No guarantees, warranties, or representations are made about accuracy, completeness, or fitness for purpose. Always observe all laws, statutory obligations, and regulatory requirements in your jurisdiction. Neither the author nor EchelonIQ Pty Ltd accepts any liability for loss, damage, or consequences arising from reliance on this content.