Comment

Comment by Vincent Granville on October 1, 2011 at 11:01am

You can deploy creativity not just to solve business problems, but to analytics itself. For instance, I believe that my new random number generator (see http://www.analyticbridge.com/profiles/blogs/new-state-of-the-art-r...) is the result of thinking creatively, but NOT analytically.

Finally, too much creativity will cause you problems, be it in the corporate world or academic research. Highly creative and analytic people are better off being entrepreneur (although you will need additional skills - social skills, sales - unless your business involves no human interaction / no client, such as day trading with your own money)

Comment by Jozo Kovac on September 21, 2011 at 2:43pm

Analytics goes with Sales. In consulting business you have to support sales if you want to work on good project.

Otherwise your sales rep. friends can sell nothing or something really bad. 

Comment by Rick Wicklin on September 21, 2011 at 11:26am

Here are some thoughts by Thomas Redman, along with 30+ comments:

http://www.allanalytics.com/author.asp?section_id=1414&doc_id=2...

Summary: curiosity, persistence, and good communication skills are essential qualities in data analysts.

Comment by Vincent Granville on September 20, 2011 at 9:01pm

Another one: are Sales and Analytics skills incompatible?

Comment by Lee H Thames Jr on September 20, 2011 at 1:00pm

I agree with Lisa...an old saying goes "It takes 5 years to get 5 years of experience"...which also goes with Vincent's comment...

Comment by Rick Wicklin on September 19, 2011 at 11:02am

At last year's JSM, there was a panel discussion titled "The World of Applied Statistics: Where Do You Fit In?" The panel was mostly VPs or Directors of research in government, pharmaceutical, and financial industries. When they were asked was "What qualities do you look for in a new researcher or analyst," the most common response was "creativity."

Comment by Lisa Kesselman Wells on September 19, 2011 at 8:50am

It is my opinion that what may appear to be creativity is actually deep subject matter expertise.

Formal education (supplemented with training/ certification) is how an analyst acquires technical skills. Content familiarity is acquired in a less structured way, over the passage of time. It takes awhile to acquire both knowledge sets! What may seem like "lack of creativity" in some analysts can be due to this: Analytic skills are versatile, applicable in many fields, industries. So minimal content knowledge is necessary to do an adequate job. That can cause the impression that those analysts are not creative.

It is too simplistic to think that quantitative analysts are unable to provide new product ideas, conceptual insights etc. A quantitative analyst with content knowledge IS capable of providing creative insights to corporate executives.

Comment by Jozo Kovac on September 19, 2011 at 5:44am

"Should analytic people focus on measuring, and nothing else?"

- the art is what does analyst measure and how he interprets the results.

Comment by Jingyi Wei on September 19, 2011 at 12:38am

As an analytic person, I look at data with a "microscope" and get focus on details very easily. But as I spend lots of time with data, I know them and have a better position to "speak for"(interpret) them, which mean I am holding "evidences" of what goes right / wrong with the business. This is a tool in my Business Intelligence toolkit to spot opportunities. To move on and make the opportunities spotting worthwhile, I am acquiring a "better tool" to convince others on "what I have spotted". I know this might not be easy for all the "odd kids in school" and the “convincing tool” might not be the only one I need. But I believe the odd kids will grow up, and I believe I can. (I am just 3 years old in the analytic world after all...  :) )  So I think analytic people should be involved in providing data & creative insights to corporate executives

Comment by Vincent Granville on September 18, 2011 at 9:32pm

The most successful analytic professionals have developed great craftsmanship: that's something in-between science and art, something that you can't possibly learn in a university curriculum. But something not unlike what it takes to be a great cook or a great carpenter.

Great analytic professionals are not just data scientists, they are essentially both data and business architects, at the same time.