A while back, a client kept asking for a custom analytics dashboard. Filters, breakdowns, the works. We built exactly what they asked for. Six months later, fewer than 5% of their users had ever opened it. That one stuck with me. It taught me to stop treating feature requests as a build spec and start treating them as a signal. People will tell you what they think they want, but watching what they actually use tells you something different, and usually more honest. Now when a request comes in, my first move isn't "how fast can we build this." It's "what problem is this actually pointing at, and is a dashboard even the answer." Shared this in a Fast Company Executive Board piece on what listening to customers really means, alongside 20 other leaders. Good range of perspectives in there. Jessica Shapiro Andrew Kryder Richard McWhorter, CFP®, CRPC® Elliott Broidy Irina Soriano Debra Andrews Goran Paun Daniel Amzallag Jeffrey Whitford Gabriel Bridger Kathleen Lucente Ari Galper Mark Valentino Stephanie Harris Brian Mulderrig Bob Sprague Kevin Leyes Volen Vulkov Boris Dzhingarov https://lnkd.in/gDAJtfmD #CustomerExperience #ProductDevelopment #Leadership #FastCompanyExecutiveBoard
Listening to Customers Beyond Feature Requests
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People. Process. Data. Lesson 002: The Business of Storytelling One lesson I’ve learned leading organizations is this: Data rarely changes minds. Stories do. Executives aren’t paid to present dashboards. They’re paid to help people understand what the data means, why it matters, and what should happen next. Every metric tells a story. The question is whether leaders know how to tell it. Because when people understand the story, they understand the strategy. And when they understand the strategy, they move. People. Process. Data. #SeanPForecast #PeopleProcessData #Leadership #ExecutiveLeadership #BusinessStrategy #DataAnalytics #LeadershipDevelopment #OrganizationalLeadership #Operations #Storytelling #DecisionMaking #Transformation
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We see it every day. Dashboards are glowing green with "intent" and high scores, yet the pipeline isn't moving. For most marketing leaders, the data has become a distraction from the bottom line. In the world of high-stakes launches, vanity metrics are the noise. We need to find the signal. True intent isn't just a click or a whitepaper download. It is a cluster of behaviors that indicate a real business problem seeking a solution. If your execution feels like you are chasing ghosts, it is time to recalibrate. Your team deserves to see real impact, not just more charts. Check out the full breakdown in our latest Weekly Signal: https://lnkd.in/e6enemPv #WeeklySignal #IntegratedMarketing #GrowthStrategy #MarketingLeadership #GTM
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Most founders think uncertainty comes from a lack of information. Often it comes from having too much of it. ⚠️ More reports ⚠️ More dashboards ⚠️ More metrics But none of them answer the question that actually matters: "What decision should I make next?" Data creates visibility. Clarity comes from knowing what matters. They're not the same thing. #founderops #businessgrowth #decisionmaking #operations #leadership
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Most business problems don’t appear overnight. The signs are usually there weeks or months earlier. The challenge is that they’re often buried in reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, and disconnected systems. By the time the problem becomes obvious, the opportunity to act early may already be gone. That’s why visibility matters. MetricoreAI helps organisations move beyond reporting and understand what’s really happening across their operations. Because the best decisions are made before problems become emergencies. #MetricoreAI #BusinessIntelligence #DataAnalytics #OperationalIntelligence #DecisionMaking #Leadership
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Most business problems don’t appear overnight. The signs are usually there weeks or months earlier. The challenge is that they’re often buried in reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, and disconnected systems. By the time the problem becomes obvious, the opportunity to act early may already be gone. That’s why visibility matters. MetricoreAI helps organisations move beyond reporting and understand what’s really happening across their operations. Because the best decisions are made before problems become emergencies. #MetricoreAI #BusinessIntelligence #DataAnalytics #OperationalIntelligence #DecisionMaking #Leadership
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Dashboards are comforting. They show progress. Movement. Control. But here’s the uncomfortable question— Are they telling the truth… or just a version of it? Because what gets reported is often filtered: 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Meanwhile, on the ground— 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚, 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙖𝙥𝙨. If you only manage what’s reported, you risk ignoring what actually matters. Great leaders don’t just read reports. They chase reality. Do you trust your reports—or do you validate them? #LeadershipTruth #DataVsReality #StartupLeadership #BusinessInsights #FoundersMindset #Transparency #Execution #StartupCulture #RealTalk
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The most dangerous forecast is the one everyone agrees on. ⚠️ Not because consensus is wrong. Because in most revenue organisations, consensus is achieved before scrutiny. The number gets socialised. Then softened. Then presented. By the time it reaches the board, it has survived too many conversations and too few challenges. A forecast built on alignment isn't the same as a forecast built on evidence. One reflects what the team believes. The other reflects what the data supports. The gap between those two things is where surprises live. 📉 #Leadership #Forecasting #RevOps #RevenueOperations
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Unpopular opinion: Most businesses don't need another dashboard. They need fewer meetings. Think about how much time teams spend: Reviewing reports. Reconciling numbers. Explaining metrics. The best insights should answer three questions: 👉 What's happening? 👉 Why does it matter? 👉 What should we do next? If your analytics creates more discussions but fewer decisions… something needs to change. Agree or disagree? #Leadership #BusinessIntelligence #Analytics #Productivity #DecisionMaking
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Day 19 of 30 — What Makes a Dashboard Executive-Friendly? 📊 Executives don’t have time to study 20 charts. They need answers quickly. A good executive dashboard should: ✅ Focus on business KPIs ✅ Show trends clearly ✅ Highlight risks and opportunities ✅ Be easy to understand ✅ Support decision-making What it shouldn’t have: ❌ Too many visuals ❌ Too much text ❌ Unnecessary complexity ❌ Metrics that nobody uses A dashboard is successful when leadership can understand it in under 60 seconds. Because dashboards are not built for analysts. They’re built for decision-makers. #PowerBI #DashboardDesign #BusinessAnalytics #DataAnalytics #BusinessIntelligence #Leadership #Analytics #DataVisualization #BusinessAnalyst
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The data exists. It's being collected right now from every transaction, every customer interaction, every operational process. But somewhere between collection and action, it gets lost in dashboards nobody reads and reports nobody acts on. The businesses pulling ahead aren't collecting more data than you. They're asking better questions of the data they already have. In this carousel we broke down the 4 real reasons companies ignore their most valuable asset and what it actually looks like when you fix it. Swipe through. Slide 3 is the one most leadership teams need to hear. #DataAnalytics #BusinessIntelligence #DataStrategy #Leadership #DigitalTransformation #Alphabridge #Analytics
Awesome feature !! Love your insights !