In the age of Big Data, it is intuitive to think that it is concrete information and quantitative data that guide the choices of managers.
Research, monitoring, surveys, and structured analyzes offer Companies an immense amount of information ready to use both to guide the company in the present and to plan future actions.
Faced with this sea of data, however, leaders are hesitating: the number of elements to be taken into consideration, the multiplication of variables and the poor control of the production chain that generates the information, create skepticism.
And so, in an era in which it is possible to control every detail, thanks to the support of technology and the accessibility of Big Data, managers prefer to act on impulse.
This is confirmed by very recent research conducted by the international consultancy firm KPMG, which collected the testimonies of over 1,300 CEO active in more than 10 world markets.
A consistent, representative sample capable of photographing the macro trend and cultural impact, country by country, in the way of interpreting the role of the manager.
To make decisions, for example, 8 out of 10 American CEOs choose to act on instinct and be guided by feelings.
Nearly 7 out of 10 CEOs of Japanese descent from the UK also think the same way.
On the other hand, the French managers are ranked, of which 1 in 2 prefers to rely on data, concrete and scientific, rather than the following intuition.
Intuition and social media: this is what today’s managers decide
“ We must have the courage to follow our heart and our intuition. Everything else is secondary. ”
Who could have said such a phrase? Certainly a classic manager, traditionalist and very far from the world of technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Wrong: Steve Jobs, the man who revolutionized the future by bringing innovation into our hands, believed in intuition as the primary guide of business decisions.
And there are many managers who, like him, take note of the data, read reports and statistics, listen to the results of the surveys … and then decide by acting with experience and insight.
The reason that in the last 3 years has led almost 1 in 7 managers to prefer intuition to data?
The awareness that the culture and professionalism acquired over the years cannot be completely replaced by technological progress and, especially when speed and reactivity is needed, the flair and sensitivity for business can give drive to a latent decision.
It is good to collect information and work on Big Data to gain market insights, but be careful not to suffer the pressure of AI at all costs and not to be engulfed by complexity and by the wealth of stimuli.
The risk of following only the data before making a crucial business decision? To be pushed to wrong conclusions and to follow very potential currents on paper, but not very realistic in fact and, therefore, unable to explode into real consumer phenomena.
Better select well the sources from which to draw food for thought, choosing the most reliable ones: like social media, which managers like because they collect data directly from consumers and, thanks to accessibility and immediacy, they generate trust.
In addition to preferring information derived from the hands-free voice of customers and the target – over, for example, official research commissioned by public bodies – data-skeptical managers tend to rely more on historical information rather than on forecasting models.
In short: when it comes to deciding, experience beats innovation.