Outliers make our data-rich.
Mona Chalabi recently did a fantastic TED video about what we miss when focusing on the average. Chalabi concentrates on what she calls "lost birds", the outliers deviating from the average, giving us rich insight.
As a strategist, I apply this concept regualry, and it has enabled me to spot future trends. Some of the mainstream topics today were once outliers, Sustainability, Supplier Diversity, working remotely, to name a few were once and continue to be outliers in some cases.
But what does the data tell us?
Companies with well-defined sustainability and supplier diversity approaches benefit from profit and sustainable supply chains. In addition, companies with remote/hybrid working embedded in their culture aren't dealing with the impact of the great resignation to the extent their competitors are.
What are your outliers telling you?