More than four-fifths of Aussies are so overwhelmed and feel underqualified when talking about data that it is affecting their quality of life and they simply stop making decisions at all.
The data comes from a new global study of more than 14,000 employees and businesses across 17 countries. It also found that 95 per cent of business leaders have suffered from “decision distress” – regretting, feeling guilty about, or questioning a decision they made in the past year. Another 95 per cent of people have changed the way they make decisions over the last three years and 99 per cent want help from data.
“People are drowning in data,” said Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, data scientist and author.
“This study highlights how the overwhelming amount of inputs a person gets in their average day — internet searches, news alerts, unsolicited comments from friends — frequently add up to more information than the brain is configured to handle. People are tempted to throw out the confusing, and sometimes conflicting, data and just do what feels right. But this can be a big mistake. It has been proven over and over again that our instincts can lead us astray and the best decision-making is done with a proper understanding of the relevant data. Finding a way to get a handle on the stream of data at their fingertips, to help businesses distinguish between the signal and the noise, is a crucial first step.”
That’s not to say that Australians do not understand the value that data brings and how it helps in decision-making.
“Australia understands that data is instrumental to making accurate and reliable decisions. However, today, business leaders and employees are faced with an unprecedented volume of data, leaving many feeling overwhelmed and stripping them of confidence in decision-making,” said Stephen Bovis, regional managing director at Oracle ANZ, the company behind the research.
“Australians are famous for our laissez-faire, “she’ll be right” attitude. This study shows that perhaps, this attitude boils down to a lack of confidence in decision-making capabilities with many Aussies choosing to avoid making a decision altogether.”
