Senior leaders who write off the move toward big data as a lot of big talk are making, well, a big mistake. So argue McKinsey's Barton and Court, who worked with dozens of companies to figure out how to translate advanced analytics into nuts-and-bolts practices that affect daily operations on the front lines. The authors offer a useful guide for leaders and managers who want to take a deliberative approach to big data--but who also want to get started now. First, companies must identify the right data for their business, seek to acquire the information creatively from diverse sources, and secure the necessary IT support. Second, they need to build analytics models that are tightly focused on improving performance, making the models only as complex as business goals demand. Third, and most important, companies must transform their capabilities and culture so that the analytical results can be implemented from the C-suite to the front lines. That means developing simple tools that everyone in the organization can understand and teaching people why the data really matter. Embracing big data is as much about changing mind-sets as it is about crunching numbers. Executed with the right care and flexibility, this cultural shift could have payoffs that are, well, bigger than you expect.

Misguided marketing strategies have destroyed more shareholder value than shoddy accounting or shady fiscal practices. Yet, marketing functions typically reside deep in the organization, far from the executive suite and boardroom, and they are often poorly aligned with corporate strategy. Boards of directors, it would seem, have compelling reasons to monitor their companies' marketing activities. The authors argue that boards lack a clear understanding of how their companies are meeting customer needs and how their marketing strategies drive (or often fail to drive) top-line growth. To help remedy that problem, they've devised a "marketing dashboard," a series of management reports that could give the board this critical knowledge. The dashboard has three parts, each of which the board should review regularly. The first part tracks the company's main business drivers--those business conditions that, when manipulated or otherwise changed, will directly and predictably affect the company's performance. The second part describes the specific innovations in a pipeline of growth ideas that will allow the company to reach its short- and long-term revenue goals. And the third part provides an overview of the company's marketing skill set so the board can determine not only if the company has enough marketing talent, but also if it has the right marketing talent. Unlike isolated measures of marketing performance that are often insufficient, irrelevant, or misleading, the dashboard allows the board to assess quickly and routinely the effectiveness of its company's marketing strategies. Armed with a clear understanding of marketing's role and performance, the board can expose inadequate marketing campaigns, direct management to address the problem, and monitor progress.