Even though he lived 2,000 years ago, you’ve probably heard of the Chinese military strategist and general Sun Tzu. He’s known for a lot of things, but these days he’s best known for his work The Art of War[1], which captures military wisdom that is still studied and applied today
Even though Sun Tzu didn’t write about building a data culture[2], there’s still a lot we can learn from his writings. Perhaps the most relevant advice is this:
Building a data culture is hard. Keeping it going, and thriving, as the world and the organization change around you is harder. Perhaps the single most important thing[3] you can do to ensure long-term success is to define the strategic goals for your efforts.
Rather than doing all the other important and valuable tactical things, pause and think about why you’re doing them, and where you want to be once they’re done. This strategic reflection will prove invaluable, as it will help you prioritize, scope, and tune those tactical efforts.
Having a shared strategic vision makes everything else easier. At every step of the journey, any contributor can evaluate their actions against that strategic vision. When conflicts arise – as they inevitably will – your pre-defined strategic north star can help resolve them and to keep your efforts on track.
[1] Or possibly for the Sabaton album of the same name, which has a catchier bass line. And since Sabaton is a metal band led by history geeks, they also have this video that was released just a few weeks ago that looks at some of the history behind the album and song.
[2] Any more than Fiore wrote about business intelligence.
[3] I say “perhaps” because having an engaged executive sponsor is the other side of the strategy coin. Your executive sponsor will play a major role in defining your strategy, and in getting all necessary stakeholders on board with the strategy. Although I didn’t plan it this way, I’m quite pleased with the parallelism of having executive sponsorship be the first non-introductory video in the series, and having this one be the last non-summary video. It feels neat, and right, and satisfying.