When it comes to making smart, informed decisions, Big Data analytics can help. By gathering and analyzing large data sets, organizations can improve customer retention, manage risk, make operations more efficient, and much more.
In fact, according to a study by Futurum Research, more than half of CEOs believe there are more opportunities for data-driven Leadership today than there were just a few years ago.
To make the most of these opportunities, organizations will need leaders who can navigate large quantities of data and use it to make informed decisions. To prepare future managers for this business landscape, many business schools are incorporating data analytics into their programs.
At (JHU Carey), incoming full-time MBA students can choose a new Analytics, Leadership, and Innovation pathway.
“This pathway emphasizes analytic skills, which are in high demand these days,” explains Goker Aydin, professor of operations management and business analytics at JHU Carey, who has been involved in creating the new pathway.
BusinessBecause caught up with Goker to find out how the Big Data skills being taught on the program can make you a better leader:
Now that companies have access to unprecedented quantities of data, the nature of decision making is changing. By understanding how to analyze and interpret this data, you can improve your leadership by making better informed decisions, Goker explains.
Being able to manipulate swaths of data without getting overwhelmed allows managers to pick out insights that might otherwise be missed.
On the Analytics, Leadership, and Innovation pathway at JHU Carey, students have ample opportunities to practice this kind of decision making, through experiential learning courses like the Big Data Consulting Project.
“The course will feature a partner organization ‘client’ providing a large data set with business enquiries,” Goker says. “Students will take the questions and come up with a creative solution.
"We expect students will adopt a mix of descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics tools, as well as causal inference techniques, to create their solution."
Once these solutions have been created, teams must communicate them to the “client” in a presentation.
This experiential course helps prepare students for the kinds of jobs they’re likely to find when they graduate. “The presentation needs to be a clear, engaging, and convincing description, like a consultant would give,” Goker explains.
