Signal to Noise: What Cambridge Analytica Taught Us

When a company can be brought down through one indiscriminate
 act it becomes increasingly important to embed ethical behavior

Ultimately, it is the individual (an employee at any level) who is responsible for assessing knowledge and how that may or may not affect business prospects, company credibility, industry disruption and ever changing customer preferences in any company. As businesses continue to flatten their hierarchy and employees are becoming more educated they have put decision making in more and varied hands within their organizations.  

Gone are the days that senior management sat at the top of a company hierarchy and made decisions about the company’s future (of course - there are still a few dinosaurs out there that manage from the top down.)Today, resilient forward thinking companies empower all levels of employees to consider and evaluate potential agents of change. Employees are more educated, they tend to enter fields of work that drive their interests and as a result, they are able to research, identify and consider new and alternative strategies more readily.

Take for example, the recent Facebook data leak engineered by Cambridge Analytica where Christopher Wylie claims, the company he worked for, improperly harvested Facebook data from some 50 million users in order to help seal victories for the Trump campaign. While Wylie was simply named as a contractor by Cambridge Analytica , he was still able to influence the direction and fortunes of this company without being integrated into the management hierarchy of the company. His research and unique viewpoint created a new means of utilizing data.

This can be cautionary tale, really a tale of two possibilities depending on how you evaluate knowledge and the process you have in place. The first possibility, we have already covered but let’s look at another opportunity that presented itself to Mr. Wylie. He pitched his services to the Liberal caucus research office and the Liberals signed a contract with Wylie in 2016 and he launched a pilot project. After seeing what Wylie had to offer, the party chose not to proceed further with the project. We are assuming that the techniques are similar in both instances, with Cambridge Analytica and with the Liberal Party Caucus.

I can’t provide a lot of insight into Cambridge Analytica’s process for evaluating knowledge, but one can guess that the evaluation parameters are far less onerous and opportunities are largely evaluated based on profitability rather than credibility, as was not the case with the Liberal Party Caucus.

Most tool sets and strategies available to business in this relatively new category of assessing and evaluating new ideas and strategies use tools such as the Balanced Scoreboard which analyses profit, customer experience, goals and innovation - or alternatively, the Success Case Method that primarily promotes the use of a field trail to evaluate effectiveness and outcomes. Regardless of the process, most of these options are designed for companies with larger infrastructure. Small business has a much more difficult time of it given the lack of resources and the need to innovate.

Embedding ethical culture in companies is becoming an increasingly important component of an organizations’ s life-cycle. When a company can be brought down through one indiscriminate act it becomes increasingly important to embed ethical behavior to ensure that all levels of management understand, promote and communicate ethical tenants and benefits when evaluating opportunities.

An article in Financial Management Magazine provides us with some interesting insight into the process about how effective embedding ethical behavior is- in today's decisions making. This study was conducted in 2017 and it explores the importance of upholding ethical standards. The study indicates that there are differences in demographics in how fraud, corruptions and unethical behavior is viewed by differences age categories.

While Christopher Wylie had a pang of quilt in the aftermath as he surveyed the damage his initiative wrought, clearly the management of Cambridge Analytica did not –even when they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. If your company is built to succeed now and greed (the gentrified term of course is profit) is the defining architect of the company vision - then embedding ethical standards all levels is not your concern. But if you are building for long term growth you need to consider developing strategies that raise awareness among employees and their role in preventing financial, reputation, or regulatory damage to the organization when considering new and transformative business initiatives.

Not For Profit: A lesson Learned

He looked at me and said: “No, while those objectives
 are all admirable – your one most important objective
 is to – find your replacement.” 

I have served as senior decision maker (president) for two “Not for Profit” organizations for a total of more than 10 years. For me, it was a way of giving back and contributing in my community.  While the rewards of contributing, working with like-minded altruistic professionals and helping change people lives was great – I learned a very important lesson that I would like to pass along should you be considering participating in a not for profit organization in any decision making capacity.

The situation unfolded some 8 years ago when I chose to take on the position of president for a not for profit organization.  I really had no experience but I wanted to find out more about what I was capable of and what I might be able to contribute.  After being elected to the position one of Board of Directors approached me privately and asked “What do you think your primary objective should be?” After a bit of thought I regurgitated the usual objectives, including some “boiler plate” mission statement objectives that the organization was committed to.

My initial thoughts on the question, suggested that perhaps this senior Board Member, who had a great deal of experience on many prestigious Boards of Directors was not confident in my abilities and was perhaps testing me in some way. After my response (and I am paraphrasing here) he said quietly “No, while those objectives are all admirable – your one most important objective is to – find your replacement.”  Now I was certain ….this person did not have a lot of confidence in my leadership abilities.  At that point he turned and walked away and he did not say another word…nor did I have any chance to ask about what the comment meant. I felt terrible…my first day as president of this Not For Profit…and I was being asked to seek my replacement as quickly as possible.

At this point I decided to make the best of it and keep a stiff upper lip and continue.  Months passed and I attended a number of in-person and teleconference meetings in my new position and did not have any occasion to find out more about the comment. A year passed and I was asked to take on a second Not for Profit senior decision making position – and in spite of my misgivings I accepted this position; and now I was President of two organizations.

 In the handling my responsibilities of this second more demanding positon I gradually began to understand what the comment had meant. As I continued in my responsibilities I oversaw many changes to both organizations and years passed I began thinking about how I could relieve myself of at least one if not both of these demanding positions.  I was working full time as an entrepreneur, our family was growing and changing, responsibilities for each organization was becoming more intense and I needed an exit strategy. 

Now that comment began to make sense - and I decided to put the question directly to the person who had originally posed it to me, “What did you mean when you told me I had to focus on planning for my replacement?” He smiled and he started by fist telling me what a great job I was doing and then went on to tell me, on the many boards he had served on he had learned one thing, that senior board positions are difficult to fill and if I wanted someone to carry on with the strategic process I had started I needed to find and put in place several people who I felt might one day be able to step into my shoes.

Suddenly it all made sense, for several years I had been second guessing myself and I finally realized that  this has just been a piece of advice from someone who understand the burden of leadership and what it takes to carry on the important work of not for profits.  I understood in that moment it takes time and effort to create a succession plan that would allow for seamless transition in leadership. 

I have since left both organizations and passed on the mantle of leadership to capable leaders who have worked to improve the reality for each of these organizations.  I have not forgotten this important lesson and I often see it play out in those I connect with in my everyday business experience – leaders doing great work who have not thought ahead to the day when they want to reduce their role and have a capable replacement  to carry on the important work of their organization.

Why Do Soft Skills Matter to Employers

Why do many employers still view training as superfluous, dispensable or peripheral to success? In this modern age where we have a cohort of young, educated people entering the workforce, the need for strategic  learning within companies and organizations is more important than ever.

Unorganized, on-the-job training remains the preferred method of preparing new hires and existing employees seeking to take on new responsibilities. Employers often cite the demands of day-to-day business as the primary reason that they just don’t have “time” and “money” to train and integrate employees into their workplace effectively.  They rely on the availability of skills in the open marketplace, planning that new hires will be able to step directly into the workplace and perform specific tasks.

In a broad cross section or companies and organizations I am hearing more and more that employees able to take on specific tasks, undertake increasing responsibility, work independently and conduct themselves professionally are is short supply. Employers are finding it increasingly difficult to hire specific skills for increasingly complex jobs. While the marketplace is producing a well-educated workforce, the largest part of entry level employees remain unemployed or underemployed, and as such, are not gaining experience and a practical knowledge of Soft Skills required in most workplaces today.

 The anemic employment rate is partly to blame, given the fact that in Canada and around the world the employment among young people is at epidemic levels.  Current average unemployment levels in Canada are hovering around 7.1% while youth unemployment is at about 13.5%.  This suggests that young people, and in particular, those new hires that employers are counting on to step right into their workplace are not getting the experience they need to transition their abilities into skills.

 Developing Soft Skills within this new cohort of entry level employees is increasingly important. As an example, a regional Labour Market Partnership Study ( Simcoe County)  has identified on-the job training and soft skills development as some of (over 2000, surveyed employer’s)  the most important concerns of businesses in meeting businesses future competitive and economic growth challenges.

What are Soft Skills and why do they matter? Soft Skills encompass topics like communications, leadership, problem solving and project management.  These skills provide a base of knowledge that allow employees to communicate effectively with co-workers, management and clients, understand their responsibilities in the life-cycle of projects, prepare to take on increasing responsibility and how to bring unique innovation and problem solving skills to everyday workplace challenges.

E Learning that teaches Soft Skills is designed to address many of these issues and provides learning in a way, at a time and through a medium that young learners can access readily and are familiar with. E Learning also addresses employer’s most pressing concerns by offering training programs that are flexible, accessible, cost effective and individual results can be tracked over time.

Most employers, whether they are willing to admit it or not, are not prepared to set up comprehensive learning in the workplace and often approach it with a patchwork of learning scenarios that may include costly meetings, presentations and workshops or poorly conceived eLearning that often amounts to nothing more than PowerPoint presentations.

Employers may not have the resources or commitment to understand the real value of learning in their organizations since the existing programs are cobbled together each year with no long term strategy and no clear understanding of the financial impact on their organization.   Only when a high-risk event forces action, or government intervention in monitoring compliance with workplace learning does an organization of company respond in an organized fashion.

I believe that Soft Skills development and in particular eLearning Soft Skills development can be an important cornerstone in an organizations success. It sets the ground work for employees to understand what is expected of them and helps fulfill their desire to grow, learn and take on new responsibilities and roles.

“Fulfilling an employee’s desire to grow and learn” is essential in the retention of good employees. It offers employees an opportunity to fulfill their ambition by understanding that there are opportunities for growth and advancement and as an employer you are willing to support them in their personal growth as well as their professional growth. It is a “win - win “scenario”, where the employer gets a motivated and an increasingly capable employee, and perhaps an innovative thinker, a leader that will contribute in a meaningful way to an organization's success in the future.

 If you want to learn more about soft skills online training or gain access to our unique Soft Skills eLearning program on Communications, Leadership, Project management and Problem Solving you can visit our web site at www.ycommunicate.com or contactus@ycommunicate.com or simply call 416-271-5259.