Hi ,
Doctors were using AI-powered EKG software to confirm what they already believed, not to discover new insights.
This was data scientist Dr
Russell Walker's eye-opening discovery when working in the medical equipment industry.
Physicians didn't want the sophisticated diagnostic capabilities his team had built - they just wanted validation of their existing interpretations.
And if they didn't get that
confirmation? They'd send the patient to a cardiologist anyway.
That's the scary part - even life-or-death medical decisions suffer from cognitive bias.
Here's the thing...
Your stakeholders are doing the same thing with your data.
They may claim to be "data-driven", but stakeholders unconsciously filter information through their existing beliefs - turning your analysis into a "numerical Rorschach test."
The solution isn't better data science- it's better psychology.
In the latest episode of Value Driven Data Science, Russell joins me to reveal practical techniques for identifying and overcoming the cognitive biases that sabotage data-driven decision making.
This (9 minute) Value Boost episode reveals:
- How confirmation bias transforms data analysis into a "numerical Rorschach test" where stakeholders see only what confirms their existing beliefs [02:59]
- The "verbal jujitsu" technique that acknowledges preconceptions without confrontation, allowing stakeholders to save face while guiding them toward data-driven conclusions
[03:47]
- Why recency bias makes yesterday's angry customer complaint outweigh months of systematic data analysis in executive decision making [05:24]
- The pre-meeting strategy that helps you anticipate and prepare for stakeholder blind spots before they derail your presentation [07:00]
Outsmart your
stakeholders' cognitive blind spots.
🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or click the link below:
Episode 75: The Psychology Hack That Gets Your
Data Insights Heard
Talk again soon,
Dr Genevieve Hayes.
