Mom Made Me An Analyst
Analyst By Nurture
So yes, I run with the tagline Analyst By Nature. Hell, we are even making shirts. But given the occasion and a little more thought, nurture likely had a lot to do with it. Mom made me an analyst.
Mom was the first person to teach me. Analytics is the science of learning. It was my first exposure to a life-long passion. She was the instructor, the lecturer, and the first to show me the value of hands-on. It was important to do things yourself.
Mom was the first person I needed to communicate with. She might take issue with me ending that sentence in a preposition, but she was definitely the first one to listen to all my stories. I had a lot of them.
My Mom used to make me recount everything I did each day at school. Start at the beginning. And then what?
Storytelling was important. It was how people communicated. It is how analyst share, too. Early practice was really important.
Mom was the first person I tried to argue with (and until my wife the only one with a winning record). Moms are crucial for providing all of us with a basis for how we argue and debate.
My Mom was swayed best by facts. I doubt that surprises most of you. Perhaps if it had been emotion that won the day, I would be a psychologist or an actor?
I had to build solid and honest arguments if I was going to win. Every once in a while, she let me. There are some that say arguing with your children is the wrong call… personally, I don’t think their mother did a good job of teaching them how to argue.
Mom was the first person to show me how to solve a problem. I believe Mom may actually mean problem solver in some ancient language. Moms (or at least mine) often had processes for solving problems. Their were steps we had to take and things we should try. Problem solving was a craft.
My Mom also had rules for how problems should be solved. To be fair, they tended to mostly apply to my Dad. Moms also teach us management — they are our first exposure to project management, HR, and the executive.
Mom was the first person to show me how to organize things. We put my toys away. I am not saying I was very good at that, but Mom showed me how. She also reminded me of the importance of organizing. Things go faster when sort them. We don’t lose our toys when we remember to put them away.
My Mom taught me this trick, too. We didn’t use a shoe box, though. Innovation is another skill where nurture may be as important as nature. I like to think of myself as creative, but Mom was the first to show me how that could be applied to menial tasks or even homework assignments.
Mom was the first person to show me how to make decisions and the first person to hold me accountable when they were not so good. Some businesses could really use a Mom! Accountability is hard to teach. Our moms (or at least our earliest influences) may be the only ones to have a chance. Accountability is another core component of analytics.
Mom was the first person to show me how to put things back together when I had broken them apart. I was an analyst by nature, remember.
Puzzles and Legos, models and broken toys — some things can never go back together. But other things can be broken apart and rebuilt, over and over again. These were some of our favorite toys. She would help me with my Legos. I would help her with her puzzles.
Mom was the first person to talk about the importance of understanding the rules. Decades later, I am still trying to decipher them. We had rules for a reason.
Mom was the first person to teach me what happens when you break the rules. Outcomes, correlations and plenty of consequences — the vocabulary was years off but the concepts began early.
My Mom taught me a lesson in iteration when I broke one of her rules. Bart here has a long way to go, if he is working on the same punishment. I actually learned a secret. If you just write 100 I’s then 100 w’s and so on… this punishment goes by way faster!
Mom was the first person to teach me how to deal with adversarial relationships. They were never easy but we fought through them together. These were opportunities to make me better.
My Mom was also the first person to crush me at more than a handful of video games. Talk about an adversarial relationships. Breakout, Space Invaders, Pac-Man — she would quickly outpace me often roll-over the score counter.
I quickly moved on to strategy games. Perhaps not the consequence she intended, but another life path that has served me well. Not everyone’s Mom was a gamer.
Moms gave most of us our first understanding of judgement and perspective. They introduced us to criteria and conditions. They helped us to find, to figure out, and to fix. These skills aren’t all reserved to analytics, it is a unique combination that nurtured me.
Some readers will inevitably be doctors, developers, or even Mom’s dedicated to doing just that important role, for now. I would guess that your mothers had some influence on where you are. Today is a day for celebrating just that.
But personal experience tells me that in the realm of analytics, there may me no greater teacher than Mom. So I think I will get out some crayons and make her a card to tell her… oh, perhaps I just did? Thanks Mom! And thanks for reading!
A parting thought…
As I sit here completing this article, I am witnessing my wife and 16 year old son taking on The Great Gatsby. I am also having flashbacks to a poetry project years ago…
Moms are the first to teach interpretation. It is just a variant of analytics by another name. Whether a weekend spent digging into The Great Gatsby or designing a poem about Evil Knievel, Moms are in the trenches with us. My Mom still reminds me of that very long weekend decades ago… but hey, that poem was selected to be on the radio. (I think she still has the recording!)
My wife and son will always have The Great Gatsby — for better or worse. Moms are there with a level of patience that I don’t think most Dads could ever approach.
Happy Mothers Day! Dedicated to My Mom, to all the mothers in my life, and to all of you building the next generation of analysts… or doctors, developers, and future moms. We are lucky to have you! And with a little more luck we will probably figure it out…
