# Next Gen Messenger Armor By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-06-07 As the metaphoric phrase goes: don't kill the messenger. While analysts will inevitably influence at least some minor aspect of the message they are reporting, the message is often well outside their control and significant influence. All the dashboards and reports they generate are bound to create bad news at some point. When analysts uncover a terrible message, they will intuitively gather to talk about it. Part of this is to confirm that the information is indeed bad, but the other part is figuring out how to survive the telling of the bad news. This is human nature. Good analysts know that strong negative emotions and uncomfortable social and power dynamics will be front and center in the presence of bad news. Finger-pointing will begin, and the analysts will be intensely interrogated. Politics, power, relationships, and presentation matter. If not adequately accounted for, the messenger is likely to be killed. Analytics within organizations can be a dangerous game of power. The danger only grows as data-driven decision-making becomes the norm and expectation. As data becomes a more powerful weapon, we must find a more robust set of armor to protect ourselves. The armor of statistical validity and data "completeness" is insufficient when truth derived from data is just a subjective reflection of the observer's belief. It is unwise to bring a knife to a gunfight. Analysts must protect themselves with philosophy, organizational theory, sociology, and psychology when truth and beliefs get involved. It turns out that not being killed as the messenger is more about finding ways to reveal and understand humanity and less about the content of the message. #### Related Items [[Philosophy]] [[Organization]] [[Power]] [[Relationships]] [[Analytics]] [[Data]] [[Validation]] [[Psychology]] [[Dread]]