In this #BACommunity Webinar we hosted Lori Silverman of Partners for Progress®, who joined Blackmetric’s Adrian Reed for an informal but informative chat about data, insight and business analysis. The webinar was entitled “We’re Drowning in Data! Are You Prepared to Come to the Rescue?” . You can view a recording of the webinar below
Webinar Description
The title of a recent HBR article by Randy Bean and Tom Davenport, says it all, “Companies are Failing in Their Efforts to Become Data-Driven.” The research results they cite from NewVantage Partners are unequivocal: People AND process are the number 1 obstacle. For this to significantly shift, the authors state that organisations must address “cultural barriers to business adoption.” They didn’t say, “What’s needed is more sophisticated technology,” or “Get everyone to think like a data scientist” or “Better data visualisations are needed.”
Did you know that:
- Being data-driven is an impossible goal … and that another outcome can drive cultural success?
- The OSEMN approach which data science uses to solve data problems doesn’t guarantee valuable business insights will be actionable?
- Communicating findings — the insights — from a data inquiry will likely fall flat if data in any form is included?
In this lively one-hour informal chat, Lori and Adrian reveal several misconceptions that we’re routinely taught to believe and follow. Learn about the most needed role that Business Analysts can play in helping organisations create a more connected culture and gain meaningful business benefits from data. If you want to be at the forefront of rescuing your organisation, join us on February 28!
About Lori Silverman

Every time radio and TV hosts interviewed Lori about her book, Stories Trainers Tell, they’d ask: “Can story be used for more than training?” This motivated her to spend three years scouring the world to uncover successful applications for Wake Me Up When the Data Is Over. When the Dummies series called, she and Karen Dietz, PhD authored her third bestseller, Business Storytelling for Dummies, solidifying her as a thought leader in the field.
One chapter blossomed into a unique framework for finding actionable insights in data and storifying them. This, combined with earlier career experiences consulting to Chevron, Valmet, Rhone Poulenc, the U.S. Air Force Reserves, and others, on shifting enterprise culture to embed data into decision-making, grew her prominence in helping individuals, teams, and organizations become data literate.
As the founder of Partners for Progress®, Lori also helps firms strategize about their future and navigate through messy, complex change. She’s worked across 25 industries, with firms like BMW Financial Services, McDonalds, Target, Bechtel, GE, and Phillips North America. As a keynote speaker at more than 80 events (BA Conferences in Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia), Lori’s inspired thousands of people to take action. She’s an adjunct professor in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology Master’s program at Golden Gate University. Follow her on LinkedIn.
About Adrian Reed

Adrian Reed is a true advocate of the analysis profession. In his day job, he acts as Principal Consultant and Director at Blackmetric Business Solutions where he provides business analysis consultancy and training solutions to a range of clients in varying industries. He is a Past President of the UK chapter of the IIBA® and he speaks internationally on topics relating to business analysis and business change. Adrian wrote the 2016 book ‘Be a Great Problem Solver… Now’ and the 2018 book ‘Business Analyst’
You can read Adrian’s blog and follow him on Twitter.