Visualizing the Future
A conversation with the Mark Palmer
Mark is a board advisor for Correlation One, TalkMap, and the Data Visualization Society. He is also an author, mentor, and World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer. Mark was formerly the CEO of StreamBase, a streaming analytics technology company, which was acquired by TIBCO in 2013.
How do you define creativity? Do you view yourself as being in a ‘creative’ field?
Creativity is any visionary, inspired, clever, original pursuit. To me, it’s not about the medium: design, art, music, acting, or writing—those are just vehicles. For example, as a CEO, I view company building as a creative act. It takes creativity to inspire teams. It takes creative persuasion to activate board members. To me, that’s really creative work.
As a product designer, I’ve led the development of products that have garnered 17 Gartner or Forrester leadership positions. Product design is an art, and I don’t just mean the user experience. Product managers sense customer needs like designers—it’s an anthropological expedition. It’s an art to create novel, fair, scalable pricing policies. And, of course, there’s user interface design. One of my favorite experiences was leading the development of Spotfire and the incredible visual analytics team in Gothenburg, Sweden—they’re true artists!
Finally, all leaders are writers and communicators. The quality of your writing equals the quality of your thinking and your leadership.
So in more ways than one, all execs are creatives.
“As a CEO, I view company building as a creative act. It takes creativity to inspire teams. It takes creative persuasion to activate board members. To me, that’s really creative work.”
Hear about upcoming conversations:
Was there a point in your career when you had an ‘aha’ moment about the power of visualizing data?
Three points. First, in 1998 I helped write an X-windows program that visualized the layout of silicon that made the VAX 9000 mainframe work. Using our app was like exploring the bones of a computer. It was amazing to use, and even cooler that I helped build it.
Then there was seeing visualization at work in real-time on the trading floor at Bankers Trust in London. Watching stock prices jump and dive in milliseconds, and seeing how all that risk and reward could be visualized in real-time was thrilling.
Finally, in the headquarters of Spotfire in 2004, they had a copy of Edward Tufte’s Quantitative Display of Information. I flipped through and had never seen anything like it. From Tufte I learned that great visualizations are a reflection of good thinking. I read all of his books, which were trips down the history of visual thinking.
You have led major innovation breakthroughs in real-time analytics. What do you see as the biggest benefit of this technology? The biggest concern?
StreamBase was originally funded by In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the U.S. intelligence agencies. That mission was to help the world be a safer place, and I think that’s the biggest benefit of real-time analytics. We help buses, trains, and planes travel safer. We help manufacturers make vaccines at warp speed. We detect and stop fraudulent financial transactions before they harm people.
The biggest concern, of course, is that the same technology can be used for evil. Flash crashes, security breaches, and hackers can act faster than before, and it’s tougher to stop. So as with all advances, actors can use them for good and evil; yin and yang.
“Data scientists tend to start with the data at hand, with what’s known; humanists are trained to ask, ‘What’s missing?’”
You have a counterintuitive recommendation that companies can be more effective with data science by hiring fewer data scientists. How do you find people with" these ‘softer’ skills, and how does someone who might not fit the typical data science profile promote their abilities in the field?
I argued this a few years ago in Be Decision-Driven, not Data-Driven. It was a simple post based on a paper by researchers Bart De Langhe and Stefano Puntoni, and it blew up.
The idea is this: when you start with better questions, you get better data science. It argues for starting with questions, curiosity, and the unknown. Data scientists tend to start with the data at hand, with what’s known; humanists are trained to ask, “What’s missing?” Data scientists tend to be “certain”; humanists embrace ambiguity. Data scientists think the data speaks for itself; humanists seek blurry boundaries and interpretation.
The data supports this idea. Just 12% of organizations think they’re effective with AI, yet 93% of companies are investing more in it. Moreover, 90% blame culture as the reason for the ineffective use of data. Culture is about cultures of curiosity, and data humanists bring ballast to data scientists.
Innovations like AI-generated art are causing big reactions, both positive and negative. What do you think creative fields might look like in 20 years?
To me, generative AI is like any other technology that sparks creativity. Did photoshop kill visual creativity? No. Did synthesizers, mixers, and pitch correction technology kill creativity in music? Quite the opposite! These tools help humans be more creative and reach new heights.
For example, I love the Generative Art tool MidJourney. I get more visual ideas faster. Years ago, our Spotfire engineering team issued the first patents on an AI-driven recommendation engine that suggest visualizations that fit the data, depending on what data you choose in real-time. So generative AI, like most technologies, heightens and lifts human creativity.
“If you’re ambitious and resourceful, the playing field is more level than ever.”
You work as a mentor and advisor to underrepresented groups in data-related fields. Do you see any trends as to whether technological advancement is generally taking people along with it, or leaving some behind?
Data and data science are portals to prosperity. For example, I’m the “Mentor of Program Mentors” for Correlation One’s Data Science for All program. We’ve trained and coached thousands of students in skills for free, and most graduates have dramatically increased their salaries and secured jobs of the future with their new data skills.
We also run that program in countries like Jordan and Columbia, where women and financially disadvantaged groups can learn these valuable skills and increase earning potential they wouldn’t have otherwise. So, if you’re ambitious and resourceful, the playing field is more level than ever. Yes, for the unambitious or unexposed, we risk leaving people behind. But technology is a portal to prosperity for all. We just have to point more people at the portal.
You recently posted an article from Ryan Holiday about “how to read”. In it he quotes “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders must be readers.” (Harry S. Truman) How do you carve out time to “read to lead” in your schedule?
I hate to be Captain Obvious, but with reading, you have to “just do it.” I get up at 6 AM and block my calendar before 10 AM, and that’s my time to write, which always includes reading and research. I read on iBooks on the train, listen to podcasts on my bike rides and read a bit before bed.
That sounds simple, but habits are hard to break and form. I use an iPhone and Apple Watch app called Streaks; I’m working on 17 streaks now. For example, for reading, I need 30 minutes a day to keep my streak alive. I’m on day 152 in a row on that one. The app helps me nudge me along.
But just as important is a system to absorb what you read. That’s why I shared the Ryan Holiday stuff on LinkedIn—I love his “Commonplace Book” system to organize, interact, and digest ideas. I modified his system with the “Slip Box” technique that Sönke Ahrens described in How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning, and Thinking. It’s a simple system of indexing, cross-references and hashtags. If you can Tweet, you can use it.
There’s one more step in my “Learning OS,” which your next question covers...
“I’ve been invited to join boards based on stuff I’ve written, met terrific people, and attracted tons of inbound opportunities simply by sharing ideas in public. So, also, I get as much from writing as I put into it.”
You are able to keep up a consistent flow of thoughts shared through your blog, Technosapien. Do you have any tips for how to stick with a commitment to regularly write and post?
In The Practice, Seth Godin says, “Create art (writing), simply because it’s the generous thing to do. It’s the way we change our culture and ourselves.” That book, for me, was a beautiful inspiration to write in public every day, which I did every day for 100 days. But that almost killed me! So now I just write one article a week.
What I learned is to just keep it simple. I pretend I’m at the dinner table with my kids and share one important, funny, or surprising idea I learned that week. That’s it. Everyone learns one cool thing a week. I write it down and post it on my blog.
Writing in public is the last part of my “Learning OS”: read every day, maintain a Slip Box, and share one idea weekly in public. If I can summarize an idea in a blog post, I know I’ve groked it. And I might help someone.
And if generosity doesn’t kindle your fire, I heard someone describe writing in public as having 1,000 PR people working for you for free. I’ve been invited to join boards based on stuff I’ve written, met terrific people, and attracted tons of inbound opportunities simply by sharing ideas in public. So, also, I get as much from writing as I put into it.
What’s your next big project or focus?
Since leaving full-time work, my big pursuit is to answer Atul Gawande’s big question: “what does a good day look like?” For me, that means finally making progress on a book about the future of leadership. I’m reading about 30 books, learning to surf, mentoring for Data Science for All, studying Behavioral Economics, marveling at my kids as they figure out what they’ll become, obsessively listening to Shane Parrish’s Knowledge Project podcast, being delighted by our new Devon Rex kitten, serving on three boards, following my wife on her never-ending search for incredible restaurants, and re-connecting each week with one old friend.
To read more from Mark Palmer, visit techno-sapien.com.