It’s hard to read a newsfeed since the U.S. elections without reading about big data and analytics.  Nate Silver has established (or further established) himself as the king of all things data.  Obama used it well, Romney didn’t.  Case studies will be written for years about the impact that big data had on this election.  But, I think it’s important to step back.  Data did not win the election, decisions did.

It doesn’t matter how much data you have if you can’t quickly and effective transform it into decisions and actions.  It’s true that without good data, you can’t make good decisions so I’m not trying to minimize the importance of data.  However, data are inanimate.  Data don’t “do” anything other than sit there.  It takes a leader, using his or her judgment, experience, and understanding to turn that data into action.  Yet, all too often, it seems like leaders are waiting for the data to make the decision for them.  If they can’t make a decision, get more data.  If they don’t like someone else’s decision, get more data. If they don’t know what to do with the new data they get, get more data.

More data won’t solve your problems.  Data only provide you with facts.  And, as Nate Silver points out in his book, “The Signal and the Noise”, sometimes those facts can be misleading if they aren’t viewed within the right context.

Move past the numbers.  Let them show you what is true and what isn’t true (or to borrow an idea from Silver, how likely it is that something is true).  Then connect the facts with your past experience and understanding to make a decision.  Only then will data help you succeed.

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Brad Kolar is an Executive Consultant, Author, and Speaker.  He can be reached at brad.kolar@kolarassociates.com. For more ideas on how to be an effective leader, visit his blog at www.leaderquest.blogspot.com