Superhero Lessons in Analytics — Ep. XVIII
Analysis & Decision-Making — Lessons From Daredevil’s Stick
Marvel’s Daredevil has completed two seasons on Netflix. It has been a platform for spin-offs as well (The Punisher to name one). It is also a pretty robust platform for lessons in analytics and decision-making. Just an episode or two from season one was enough to inspire this article. It didn’t require a main character either. Let’s talk about Stick.
I am not going to dig through Stick’s comic book past. I don’t have the pedigree, but it is worth developing a little context. In the TV series, that comes Matt Murdock himself. A story line where a blind boy, even one with radioactive-waste-in-the-eyes induced super senses, grows up to be a parkour super ninja begs a question. How did he learn this stuff?
Enter Stick, the answer to the question and a play on an age old idiom:
the blind leading the blind
Oddly enough, it all began with a vanilla ice cream cone and a dialogue around analysis.
Young Matt: No one’s bought me ice cream since my dad died.
Stick: What’s it taste like?
Young Matt: Vanilla.
Stick: [scoffs] Everybody can taste vanilla. Pay a little more attention, use those gifts. You know what you got?
[sniffs]
Stick: Sugar grains, vanilla bean, milk from three different dairies from two states…
[licks]
Stick: ugh… batch of chemicals straight off the periodic tables and…
[sniffs]
Stick: dirt off the guy’s hand that served it to you. He spent his morning gardening. Whole world around you, Matty, and it is friggin’ huge. And all you need… are the guts to let it in. Try. That dog, what’s his story?
Young Matt: He’s hungry… his stomach’s growling… and he’s dying to eat the hot dogs that guy’s carrying just upwind of him.
While much of the dialogue is laced with Marvel’s favorite buzzword — gifts, it is really a great little dialogue on analyzing data. Yes, most of us can’t taste the chemicals or smell the minuscule amount of potting soil in our ice cream. Thankfully. But we live in a world surrounded by data and plenty of information to make assessments of our own.
Stick: Not bad. What about the girl?
Young Matt: Her skin’s… Her skin’s too hot. Her heart’s beating fast. Is she sick?
Stick: Worse. She’s in love. And the old man?
Young Matt: He’s… He’s dying.
Stick: And there’s nothing you can do about it. Big world… not all of it flowers and sunshine. And the only way guys like you and me can survive is to grab it by the throat and never let go.
Stick also works in a little cynical, or perhaps practical, qualifier on their assessments. Analytics is full of understanding that is completely unactionable. Worse still, it can be full of disappointment. Perhaps not so much as a action-drama series about super heroes but you get the point.
Also, don’t mistake Stick for a superhero. Well, at least not the hero part. How he got his “gifts” was not explained in those early episodes, but his view on heroism certainly was. Stick is doing a job. He is a soldier, not a hero… or a father.
But Stick has more wisdom to impart on the nature of intelligence:
Stick: You know what they call stuff like that? Gifts. The special kind. The kind that very few people have. Or deserve.
Young Matt: I never thought of it that way.
Stick: Well, that’s because you’re stupid.
Young Matt: I’m not stupid, I’m smart
Stick: Because you taught yourself how to run your little fingers over the bumps and read Braille? Smart don’t come out of books, kid. Smart is making the right decision at the right time. Like now. What’s it going to be, Matty? You going to spend your life crying and rocking yourself to sleep at night? Or are you gonna dig deep, and find out what it takes to reshuffle those cards life dealt you? Your Call.
Young Matt: [‘looks’ at Stick]
Stick: [chuckles] Good choice, kid.
Analytics is learning. It is decision-making. It is not specifically education or intelligence. Stick uses “smart” to describe the former verse the latter. It is a profound lesson and a very analytic one. Decision-making is the goal of analytics. It is actionable. It is measurable and it is “smart”.
There is a certain poetry in the idea of “reshuffling those cards life dealt you”. I doubt Stick fancies himself a poet, but intelligent people have a tendency of playing the role on occasion. While Stick certainly fancies himself more a man-of-action and of outcome, the way he approaches life has made him both intelligent and educated. Only he was just trying to make good choices… and learn from them.
Analysts can learn a lot from this character and this series. We will certainly revisit it. Until then — thanks for reading! For more Superhero Lessons:
