Follow the data

“Numbers have an important story to tell.
They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.”
Stephen Few, data visualization expert
–Data Storytelling: The essential data science skill everyone needs- (Forbes)

Ask any investigative journalist the best way to uncover the truth, and they’ll tell you to “follow the money.” But what’s the best way to discover the truths about ourselves? Follow the data.

Forever to be defined, reviled, and remembered for COVID-19, 2020 was a year in which big data went viral, literally and figuratively, to help us grasp the enormity of a pandemic’s impact. The spread of the virus and its devastating effects on humanity – how we responded and how we are recovering – is THE story of the century despite how weary we are from bearing witness to it.

One of our favorite places to explore big data is a website called Information is Beautiful, a data visualization wonderland created by David McCandless and team that includes a “beautiful news” feed of data revealing “unseen trends, uplifting stats, and creative solutions.”  Its COVID-19 Coronavirus Data Dashboard is full of insights but even they as full-time data wranglers say they can’t keep up with “the firehose of COVID research” taking place right now.

It’s in this context we find ourselves the recipients of some astonishing pre- and post-pandemic data from our thought leader partners at BlueEQ, whose emotional intelligence self-assessment established in 2013 is in use worldwide.

Since the onset of the pandemic, they discovered, only 1 of the 25 dimensions of emotional intelligence they routinely measure showed an improved collective score. Numbers for every single other dimension went down. Can you guess which one went up?

BlueEQ Founder and CEO Michael Gillespie will reveal that and more at our next webinar coming up April 22, second in our series on innovation, Together, We Create! To attend or get access to the replay and takeaways, register here.

One great thing for 03.30.21
On a scale of cat, how are you feeling?
Make your Zoom meetings more fun with these slides ready for annotating
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