Data Inspired: Building an Organizational Culture for Inquiry and Lasting Transformation
Sebastian Wernicke
Georgetown University Press (June 2026)
“The essence of strategy is choosing what NOT to do.” Michael Porter:
In Data Inspired, Sebastian Wernicke achieves three separate but related, at times interdependent objectives. He thoroughly explains HOW and/or WHY
l. The Data Revolution has only just begun
Objective in Chapters 1-2: Demystify the power of data
2. Just adding data won’t “do the trick”
Objective in Chapters 2-5: Explore and correlate the factors of evidence-based decision-making
3. Complete the five action areas of data-inspired success
Objective in Chapters 6-10: Focus on activating/integrating data
4. Achieve a lasting organizational, on-going transformation
Objective in Chapters 11-4: Establish a solid foundation for the transformation process, viewed as a “journey”
5. Accumulate, master, and apply a “toolbox” of necessary tools and skills
Objective in Chapters 15-16: They include tried and tested workshop formats, methods, and checklists that support transformation
Wernicke seems to have an almost insatiable curiosity to understand what must be done to accelerate personal growth and professional development within a workplace culture, then share what he has learned with as many others as possible, especially with executives with direct reports entrusted to their care.
For example, here are ten key points on which he focuses throughout his lively as well as eloquent narrative:
o Focus on better decisions, not your datasets.
o Reimagine your business through a data lens.
o Make data a business driver, not a technical capability.
o Invest in culture first, tools second.
o Enmbrace experimentation and uncertainty.
o Commit to continuous evolution.
o Balance data with expert judgment.
o Acknowledge that human dynamics remain.
o Value quality over quantity in your data strategy.
o Honor what can’t be measured.
I presume to add these observations by others:
Lao-tse’s Tao Te Ching:
“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves.”
Voltaire: “Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.”
Alvin Toffler: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Charles Kettering: “If you’ve always done it that way, you’re probably wrong.”
Thomas Edison: “Vision without execution is hallucination.”
Theodore Roosevelt: “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Peter Drucker: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”
Sebastian Wernicke observes: “Data -driven organizations optimize what exists. Data-inspired organizations discover what’s possible.” He then asks you: “Which will yours become?”
Your response?
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Here are two suggestions while you are reading Data Inspired: First, highlight key passages. Also, perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand, record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to the “Key to Success” section that begins chapters and the “Takeaways” section that concludes them.
These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.