Looking Beyond the Data

I love basketball. As a teenager, my all time favorite TV event was the Lakers vs. the Celtics finals series. At the risk of aging myself, my absolute favorite players were Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. I especially admired how much brain power they put into the game they played. 

I played basketball myself as a kid and, in my early 20’s, I got a job as a basketball coach. As a coach, I pulled from what I had learned watching players like Bird and Johnson growing up. I taught my players to think and adapt during a game instead of running around on auto pilot. I helped my players learn to adapt in real time. During drills I encouraged them to watch out for even better opportunities to score, and to analyze and make the decision to change the drill in real time. 

As the years passed, I left basketball coaching behind to start my HiTech career. We have more trendy titles for it now, but at the time my domain expertise was called “business intelligence.”  My expertise centered around how to make better decisions based on data. 

Though tech was the main focus of my time in those days, I never lost my passion and love for the game of basketball. So when I had the opportunity to feel the basketball energy once more, I jumped at it. A dozen of the players I used to coach back in the day had gotten together as adults and started a new team. I volunteered to coach them. I was excited to be back in the world of sport and I had a brand new outlook on the game from my new experience in the tech field. 

I decided to combine my two passions; basketball and business intelligence/data analysis. I developed a real-time statistical tool and asked a friend to run data entry during our games. We recorded 3 pointers, 2 pointers, shots hit/missed, fouls, traveling, rebounds, and assists. We input each of these actions for both our team and the opponents team. I developed a scoring system based on some formulas and was then able to know, during each minute of the game, who the weakest player was on both my team and the opponents team. 

This data contributed volumes to my decision making as a coach. The data was always helpful to have, but it became crucial when the heat was on. I was able to use the data to remove the weakest links from my team and attack the weakest areas of the opponent. This changed how my team played their games, and it also changed how I coached my players.

Since every action was recorded, I was able to take the log file home after the game and analyze it. This helped me to see beyond the numbers and get deeper with my coaching. I was able to help my players reflect and analyze their performances and their contribution to the team. When you are on the court, so much is going on and you feel like part of the action, but that is not always the case. Using the data I could show a player that, during the first five minutes of the game, he didn't try to score, he didn’t pass any assist, he didn't make any fouls, or take any rebounds. Essentially, even though he felt he was participating, the data showed him going dark. He had no traceable contribution to the team. Suddenly, my players had a wake up call and a whole new perspective on their participation in the game.

This perspective gave us the competitive advantage we needed to win. Like a classic American sports movie, we rose to the top with our newfound teamsmanship. We finished first that season and qualified for a higher division. The following year we finished first again and rose to another higher division. 

My ability to analyze beyond the data was a wake up call for my players, one that people don’t usually get to see in real time. The traditional way of looking at statistics wasn’t enough to achieve this revelation. So my message to you is this: you must always look beyond the data and try to understand what the data isn’t telling you.

This wisdom is valid for any industry whether you are part of the financial, health, automotive, transportation, or pharmaceutical industries. All you have to do to gain the competitive advantage you need is to analyze your business environment, get the data, and look beyond the numbers. Just like I did with my basketball team, you can revolutionize the way your employees and your business finds success. 

We would love to hear feedback from you! What did you think of this story? What is your success story from looking beyond the data?