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Evaluating data sources

As part of their informational literacy education, high school and college students are provided with an evaluation tool called the C.R.A.A.P test. The tool’s intention is to help students evaluate the validity and usefulness of the information sources they use in their research papers.

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It’s still the people – even with Big Data

A recent WSJ article on big data focuses on the mistakes organizations make as they implement big data initiatives. Common mistakes include being seduced by Big Data’s promise and moving forward without setting clear and achievable objectives, overestimating their staff’s abilities, trying to connect too many disparate data sources, having too many cooks in the kitchen and setting unrealistic goals. Four of these challenges do not relate to the technology side of big data – they are problems with the human side of the equation.

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The other “focus” in focus groups

Much of the debate around the value of traditional focus groups centers on the discussion that happens around the table of participants. Left out of the conversation are the benefits traditional focus groups provide to the people sitting behind the one-way mirror – the team sponsoring the research.

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The Price of Incivility

Isurus applauds the extensive research by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson on the “price” of incivility. They outline their findings in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review. The long and short of their findings is that a lack of respect and civility in the workplace has real and meaningful consequences for the bottom line.

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The human component of Big Data

You cannot avoid “Big data” if you tried. It’s plastered across every media outlet and promises to change the way business is done. As a research firm Isurus wholeheartedly endorses the two underling principles of how big data can improve business operations: 1) It is far better to manage your business with facts rather than assumptions. 2) In a general sense more data is better than less. However one thing that sometimes gets lost in the hype is that as useful and insightful as big data can be, running a successful business still requires sound human judgment, decisions and calculated risks.

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Do dominant personalities sway participants in focus groups?

It is almost inevitable that during the course of a set of focus groups one of the backroom observers will point to a participant with a strong personality and say, “I think that person is leading the other participants.” After almost twenty years of watching and conducting focus groups the idea that B2B decisions makers can be so easily swayed by an individual with a strong personality seems like the market research equivalent of the boogeyman.

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Words matter. Exhibit A: The “fiscal cliff”

Most readers of this blog need no convincing when it comes to the importance of the words we use to name and describe products, companies, and issues.  We spend significant hours and budgets thinking about the most compelling, resonant language with which to describe our offerings.

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What type of innovation is your customer buying?

In a recent opinion column Clayton M. Christensen, author of The Innovators Dilemma, identifies three types of innovation that drive capital markets: Empowering innovations, sustaining innovations, and efficiency innovations. Mr. Christensen’s hypothesis is that all three innovation types are needed for a robust, fully functioning economy.

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Insights from The Art of the Sale

In The Art of the Sale: Learning from the Masters About the Business of Life Philip Delves Broughton provides non-sales folks a glimpse into the world of sales by profiling a range of successful sales professionals ranging from an antiques dealer in Morocco to a global sales rep for a commercial airplane manufacturer. Along the way he provides his perspective on sales seminars – that at the end of the day they serve the purpose of recharging sales people so they can climb back into the trenches.

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Most strategic plans are financial plans in disguise

In a recent column in CIO magazine Daniel Burrus points out the flaw he sees in many strategic plans by saying, “Most strategic plans are financial plans in disguise” and goes on to say that a strategy built around maximizing profits in the near-term limits long-term growth activities.

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