Are you authoritative? Intuitive? Experienced? A natural-born leader whose direct reports would follow off a cliff? That’s a phenomenal start, but these days, it’s only half the equation.
Modern business leaders need a seamless blend of high-level human skills and data analytics skills. In competitive markets, professionals with both are known as dual-threats.
Data skills sharpen your decisions. Human skills turn those decisions into action. Here’s how you can build both and why that balance matters.
A data-first mindset helps you act on facts, not guesses. Markets change fast, and your hard-earned experience could betray you if your intuition points left while your customers and competitors take a sharp right.
Data analytics skills don’t replace your instincts; they validate them. Data helps teams avoid “analysis paralysis” and make fast, high-stakes decisions with confidence. The goal is to move from “I feel like our customers want this” to “the user behavior data shows our customers want this.”
While there are online data analytics programs and courses, you don’t need a full degree to start. You can build this skill now by focusing on the right KPIs, or key performance indicators.
Shift your focus from lagging indicators (outcome metrics like last quarter’s revenue or past web traffic) to leading indicators (metrics that signal future trends).
The leading indicators you track will depend on your industry:
| Industry | Leading Indicator |
| Marketing and B2B Sales | Early-stage pipeline velocity: The speed at which a lead moves from initial contact to a qualified opportunity, predicting future revenue. |
| Digital Marketing | Search intent and keyword volume shifts: Spikes or drops in organic search queries, signaling changes in consumer interest long before sales numbers shift. |
| SaaS and Product Tech | Product usage frequency: Drop-offs in daily active login rates serve as an early warning sign for upcoming subscription cancellations (churn). |
| Customer Success | Onboarding completion time: How quickly a new user reaches their first milestone, which correlates directly with long-term retention. |
| Operations and Logistics | Purchase order lead times: Increased supplier delivery timelines signal upcoming project bottlenecks or inventory shortages. |
| Human Resources | Employee pulse survey scores: Frequent, brief assessments of internal morale serve as a primary indicator of future employee turnover. |
According to a report by MicroStrategy, 56% of organizations cited “faster, more effective decision-making” as one of the top benefits of data analytics. Yet data from Wavestone reveals a gap: While companies have invested heavily in data analytics, only 48.1% of organizations have built a true data-driven culture.
That gap is exactly where trained leaders can create a competitive edge, turning scattered data into decisions the rest of the company can act on.
The best data in the world is useless without someone who knows how to use it. And that takes human skills, especially as AI handles more of the repetitive work.
Gartner predicts that by 2030, 60% of companies successfully using AI to outperform competitors won’t win simply because they have the best technology; they’ll win because of excellent leadership. When AI takes over routine, data-heavy tasks, human connection becomes your biggest differentiator.
Two distinct human skills worth building are:
A strong data story follows a clear narrative structure:
For example, imagine the marketing team at your future company is pitching a budget increase. The setup shows that their current ad spend favors Instagram over email. The conflict reveals that email is driving 40% of sales despite getting only 10% of the budget, while Instagram ad spend isn’t looking nearly as promising despite a higher budget. The resolution recommends shifting more spend into email and cutting the underperforming Instagram budget.
Support your story with charts or diagrams, which will bridge the gap between technical data and your team’s goals and help them see why the numbers matter.
If you’re ready to become the complete professional package, UT Permian Basin’s 100% online Master of Business Administration with an analytics concentration is built for you.
Courses like Accounting Analysis and Financial Management sharpen your analytical precision, while courses like Organizational Behavior refine your leadership skills. You’ll graduate fully equipped to lead in the future of business.
Explore UT Permian Basin’s online MBA with analytics concentration and take the next step in your career.
Sources:
https://www.thoughtspot.com/data-trends/best-practices/data-storytelling#DS1
https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/media-center/human-skills-will-matter-more-than-ever-in-the-age-of-ai
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