# Organizations are the Analysts They Keep By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2022-11-23 There is a saying that you are what you eat. The food you eat not only sustains you but is used to build and repair parts of your body. Thus, you are what you eat in some literal sense. There is another similar saying that you are the friends you keep. Here your friends are a reflection of what you believe and value. Whether the friends cause this or you sought them out is up for debate, but the emergent outcome is that people can estimate who you are based on the friends around you. These two sayings revolve around the idea that your surroundings and the things you consume reveal who you are and what you value. The implication is that if you don't like this then change these things. While these sayings are geared towards the individual, they can easily apply to organizations as they have many of the same foundational characteristics of consumption and behavior. Thus, the true character of an organization is revealed by what they consume and who they associate with. From the world of analytics, it is valuable to assess what thoughts and data the organization is consuming and how they are consuming it. It tells you everything about the function or dysfunction of the organization. If the data is a mess, so is the organization. If all analyses are about revenue, the organization only cares about revenue. If analysts are scared, so is the organization. If decision-making is torture, organizational anxiety is through the roof. In many ways, the data and analytics provide a direct path into the inner operations and thoughts of the organization. All the shortcomings, strengths, failures, and victories are reflected in the data, analyses performed, and the structure of analysis teams. When assessing an organization's character, look no further than the analytics team as organizations are what data they consume and what thoughts they keep. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Thinking]] [[Data]] [[Business]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Existential]]