The Data Driven Leader. Dearborn Jenny

Bingham, CEO Association of Talent Development

      “Opinions are interesting but insight based on data are what leaders really need. ‘What happened’ ‘Why did it happen?’ ‘What might happen?’ ‘What should we do?’ Answering these four questions effectively is what results driven leaders do. And more than ever, answering all four of them must be based on data and true insight; NOT just gut feel. Organizations are often data rich and insight poor. That state exists is because leaders often avoid the hard work of the hard work. Having the discipline and skill to run an insight driven business is just that: darn hard work. And the current expectation is that ‘Human Resource’ leaders (CHROs, CPOs, etc.) have the skill and tenacity to be data driven leaders in parallel to the same expectations for profit/loss leaders.

      So how does a data driven Chief Human Resource leader act? Well in perfect timing to meet the needs of current ‘People Leaders’ everywhere, Jenny Dearborn and David Swanson have co-authored The Data Driven Leader. The book’s protagonist is a newly minted CHRO, Pam Sharp, and she leads a company transformation through the most thoughtful application of data. The authors do a superb job of demonstrating how Pam Sharp and her HR team navigate the most profound business challenges with insight. The narrative of the book gives us a story to embrace and hence specific examples to learn from. Buy The Data Driven Leader and benefit from the rich narrative. Pam Sharp takes you step by step through the world of insight development. She shows that what’s in the way is the way? Follow Pam Sharp and we all might find the better route to becoming true data driven leaders!”

– Lorne Rubis, chief evangelist, ATB Financial, Edmonton, CANADA

      “The Data Driven Leader is an essential guide for leaders who want to navigate complexity with brilliance and win in the new game of work. This insight-packed book will show you how to ask the right questions, gather intelligence and enable your team to find the best answers.”

– Liz Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of Multipliers and Rookie Smarts, founder, The Wiseman Group

      “A good read for HR professionals planning to embark on analytics and don’t know where and how to start!I like how the book provided alternative perspectives to the performance indicators that HR departments are tracking currently and practical approaches to leveraging analytics to create solutions to add value to the business.”

– Aileen Tan, Group CHRO, Singtel, SINGAPORE

      “Anecdotes or Analytics. The Data Driven Leader gives voice to this choice that we all make daily in our decision-making process to recruit and retain, motivate and mentor, top talent that will be the best fit for each of our organizations. Crisp, concise and compelling in her writing style, Jenny Dearborn delivers a book that – from cover-to-cover – is a must read for those of us determined to make a difference through the role of HR in our organizations.”

– Carl Guardino, president & CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group THE DATA DRIVEN LEADERA POWERFUL APPROACH TODELIVERING MEASURABLEBUSINESS IMPACTTHROUGHPEOPLE ANALYTICSJENNY DEARBORNDAVID SWANSON

      Cover image: © John Lund /Getty Images

      Cover design: Wiley

      Copyright © 2018 by Jenny Dearborn. All rights reserved.

      Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

      Published simultaneously in Canada.

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      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and is on file with the Library of Congress.

      ISBN 978-1-119-38220-1 (hbk)

      ISBN 978-1-119-38221-8 (ebk)

      ISBN 978-1-119-38222-5 (ebk)

To my amazing husband, John Tarlton, and our awesome, nutty, brilliant kids. I love our crazy life. Servons, JennyTo my lovely wife, Suzanne Swanson, who supported, reviewed, and encouraged all the way, and to our seven fantastic children. Cheers, David

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      We are so thankful and lucky to have assembled a fantastic team of talented professionals to support this book project.

      ● Deb Arnold – When not pulling content from us like teeth and beautifully weaving everything together in plain English, Deb is the principal of Deb Arnold, Ink., and an expert at winning awards and other recognition for learning and talent thought leaders. Deb is the spirit guide for this effort. Thank you for this and for your partnership over these many, many years – wouldn’t be here without you. Find her at www.debarnoldink.com.

      ● Sergey Feldman, PhD – Subject-matter expert; helped craft the exposition of analytical models, algorithms, and logic. Sergey is head of a cutting-edge machine learning and data science consulting company. We are awed by your genius – thank you for your dedication to our project. Find Sergey at www.data-cowboys.com.

      ● Joel Freedman – Researcher extraordinaire, dedicated to helping organizations achieve measurable research, leadership development, and conflict resolution results. Joel artfully weaves research into our narrative, grounding us in facts and evidence. He is a joy to work with, and we deeply thank him for his indispensable contributions. Find Joel at [email protected].

      ● Filipe Muffoletto – Filipe is a Graphics God, Artistic Avenger, Whiteboard Wizard. He is fast, talented, amazing beyond articulation… Find Filipe at [email protected].

      ● Sanchita Sur – A performance analytics expert, speaker, and published author, Sanchita is the founder of Emplay, an award-winning artificial intelligence (AI) and bot technology firm that helps companies drive better results by providing data driven action recommendations and autonomous execution capabilities. Her HR analytics work inspired much of this book, and its creation was made possible by her many contributions