49 Data Is there ever too much?
b'Today I want to discuss something that\\u2019s sort of a popular topic with me for both personal and business success, and that is data. Similarly, you may think of never-ending information flow. Often I hear people saying that you can have things like: \\u201cToo much data,\\u201d or: \\u201cI don\\u2019t need any more info.\\u201d If you don\\u2019t need any more info, that\\u2019s kind of like saying: \\u201cI don\\u2019t need to learn anything new. I already know it all.\\u201d Remember the episodes on not making decisions early, that is a similar idea. You don\\u2019t make decisions early. Why? Because there always may be more and more information that\\u2019s going to come in that we need to hear and we need to listen to; it may tip the scales. I\\u2019ll explain this a little bit more again in a little while.\\n\\n\\n\\nData and Information flows into your mind throughout life. That becomes the feeling in your gut.\\n\\nOne of the things I used to hear a lot from some CEOs or very high-ups in any corporation is they say: \\u201cI don\\u2019t need any market research data,\\u201d or: \\u201cI don\\u2019t need any more research. I know it in my gut.\\u201d If you\\u2019ve seen the quotes, actually, there was a quote from Warren Brown, formerly the Washington Post; and Don Hilty, formerly Chief Economist for Chrysler Corporation both have said things to the fact that I\\u2019m blunt, straightforward, honest, and thorough. They liked what I said, but they didn\\u2019t always take it down easily. What does that mean? That\\u2019s exactly what I\\u2019m going to say, here, and what I have said in some things to those CEOs or general managers of major corporations.\\n\\nWhat I would usually do, after they said they know it in their gut, I\\u2019d say: \\u201cGee, where\\u2019d you get that gut? How did that come about? What happened?\\u201d I\\u2019d only hesitate for a moment, because I knew they didn\\u2019t know the answer and they didn\\u2019t have any real answer to it,\\u201d and I said: \\u201cWe know you certainly weren\\u2019t born that way. You weren\\u2019t born as an expert in this area, so you must have acquired it over time. I wonder where you acquired it from. I guess it was from different things and experiences, right? Basically, what has happened is a lifetime of data and information has flown into you in order to form that feeling that you call your gut.\\u201d You can imagine the kind of looks I got at the time, but I tried to tip the conversation in another direction then, usually successfully. The idea was: Yes, you can always learn more.\\n\\nWhat do you do with all of that data? Even when you have data, you have an opinion, and you have a thought, you always need to test. Test. You\\u2019ve heard of A/B testing, for you test one logo versus the other, or you test a headline versus another, an ad versus another, and you can get more extensive when you get into some higher statistical techniques. As you\\u2019re pulling in all this information and data, some people will say you have too much.\\n\\nWhat does that really mean, \\u201ctoo much\\u201d? I used to get this all the time when I was first starting out in a lot of research, where somebody would say to me: \\u201cWell, you don\\u2019t want it all. How about we send it to you in groups?\\u201d By groups, they meant, for example, age groups, they might want to have 19 to 34 and 35 to 64 and 65+ or something like that. I would always say: -\\u201cWhatever you have it in, I want to see the raw stuff.\\u201d -\\u201cWell, you don\\u2019t want it by years.\\u201d I said: \\u201cIf you have it by years, that\\u2019s the way I want it.\\u201d\\n\\nWhy would I say that? Because different things I\\u2019m looking at may have different influences. For example, the 25- to 34-year-old is really very different when you think of a 34-year-old versus a 25-year-old. These basically were the standard breakdowns that the census would break them down to, because they did aggregate them, they would have 19 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34, then they would go into 10-year age groups; 35-44, etc.\\n\\nWhat\\u2019s the significance of that? Let\\u2019s take a look at car models. A very different kind of car is bought in a person\\u2019s late 20s and early 30s than as they turn 40. When everybody was saying: \\u201cWow,'