Analysis Paralysis

You may have heard the term ‘analysis paralysis’, for the past 5 years I have lived it. For context, I work in the marketing/ strategy department of a mid-sized company. We have a large customer base, and we have access to real-time customer data. That, in short is the bane of our existence and the cause for our downfall. More than a decade ago, when the company was founded, we realized we were sitting on a hot commodity, that is REAL TIME CUSTOMER DATA, and we could use it to justify all kinds of business decisions. A few years away, our focus shifted. We started using data to avert all kinds of business decisions. We prided ourselves on being data-driven, when really we were fear-driven. We feared being held accountable to such a degree that we stopped taking action altogether. ‘Let’s come back to this’, they’d say ‘after looking at more data’ – this for the most mundane business decisions. Whereas organizations have a bias to action, ours is a near obsession to analyze (and subsequently shelve). We have evaluated every shiny trend in the industry, only to later discard it on the basis of some periphery failing. What aggravates this fatal flaw is the democratic culture of the organization. I am all for democracy, just not when it hinders progress to such a degree that a simple 5% price up inspires weeks of impassioned debate. Believe me when I say there is a real cost to this mindset. We have watched and done nothing as our market share slipped away year after year. And now we sit at the brink of an acquisition borne out of nothing but our inability to take important business decisions in the face of critical business realities