Book Review: Analytics the Right Way: A Business Leader’s Guide to Putting Data to Productive Use 

Data and analytics have become so entrenched in how we think about business that we sometimes forget we need to know how to use them. The gap between best intentions and actual insights prompted data and AI experts Joe Sutherland and Tim Wilson to write Analytics the Right Way: A Business Leader’s Guide to Putting Data to Productive Use (Wiley, January 22, 2025). It’s a no-nonsense look at how to actually leverage data and analytics by authors who combine experience, wisdom, and also respect for what these innovations are capable of — if used correctly. Sutherland and Wilson also have a knack for getting into great detail without seeming to pull readers into the weeds. Read this book, and you’ll come away feeling smarter — at least about AI and machine learning.

No question, this is a timely book, ideal for navigating this fast-paced phase of the digital transformation — when enterprises are eager to adopt AI and machine learning but wondering if it’s going to be a magic bullet or a loss. Companies of all sizes are looking to make substantial investments into the technologies and related consultants and initiatives, and may be wondering why nothing’s changed. To make data useful, the authors assert, you need to know how it’s not useful as well. For instance, data doesn’t necessarily eliminate uncertainty, hard data isn’t without bias, the more data you have is not necessarily better, and all the gospel about actionable insights is smoke and mirrors unless you know what, how, and why you’re measuring — and if you’re measuring for the right thing.

When it comes to data and analytics, Sutherland has been on the front lines both public and private. As a public servant he was an educator for the Dow Jones 30, The White House, and a number of universities, and founded Emory University’s Center for AI Learning. His firm (J.L. Sutherland & Associates) works with major clients (Box, Cisco and Canva among them). Wilson has been involved in analytics since 2001 and consults with Fortune 500 Global firms. This pair truly has the credibility to write this book — and a certain empathy for their readers.

While they’re writing for executives, business leaders, managers and anyone tasked with using data and analytics, they don’t talk down. The book has the feel of an essential, thought-provoking course to truly understand how to get business value out of data — and it challenges readers to learn. That’s a nice element to this particular title — while data and analytics are sometimes touted as better than people when it comes to decision-making, Sutherland and Wilson want to help people get smarter about the technology so it can be used effectively. Their point: to truly harness any kind of intelligence, you have to use your own.

Chapters build on a sequence of concepts and skills, including how to understand causality and uncertainty, create a structured approach, make decisions, create a framework to validate hypotheses, navigate the pitfalls of descriptive and scientific evidence, and effectively harness data for operations enablement. If these terms sound a bit academic, they won’t: as you move through the book, each concept and ability builds on what came before. If you truly want to build confidence when it comes to leveraging analytics, this is a great book.

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