On My Mind
This is a good time of year to remind others in your organization about Zero Data. I define Zero Data as an organization’s mission, vision, values, philosophy, priorities, and objectives. Zero Data does not mean that “no data” was used to develop these items, but rather it is meant to represent the set of important strategic direction items for an organization. Zero Data should guide the collection and analysis of small data, medium data, and big data. It gives purpose to data collection and analysis and provides a valuable perspective when deciding what actions to take based upon the data. Best wishes as you collect and analyze your data – guided by Zero Data.

Interesting Stories
“Never mind the ballistic missile message that was sent earlier.” The “imminent threat” ballistic missile message sent by mistake in Hawaii is a good reminder that some mistakes have severe consequences. Many people apparently thought their life was about to end and they started to panic. The officials responsible for the threat message seemed genuinely sorry for their mistake and pledged that it would never happen again. I have already started to hear the three predictable questions associated with such tragic incidents: What happened? Why did it happen? What can we do so that it never happens in the future? Fortunately, other government entities can learn from this mistake.

Company News
The public Statistical Methods for Strategic Improvement course will be held February 5-6, 2018. The next public Strategic Improvement Green Belt course kicks-off April 17, 2018. The public Advances in Strategic Planning course will be held May 30, 2018. The venue for all three courses will be the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. The course brochures are available on the PUBLIC SEMINARS page of this website.

Intriguing Reads
Game Theory seems to be increasing in popularity in part because of the analytics revolution. I recently went back through the classic book by von Neumann and Morgenstern titled, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. This book should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is seriously interested in Game Theory. An easier, more approachable literary introduction to the topic is the book by Binmore titled, Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction. This is an extremely useful book for those who want to learn how to perform better at “games” related to business and life.