The Big Picture: How to Use Data Visualization to Make Better Decisions--Faster - Paperback

by Steve Wexler (Author)

Not a data expert? Here's an engaging and entertaining guide to interpreting and drawing insights from any chart, graph, or other data visualization you'll encounter.

You're a business professional, not a data scientist. How do you make heads or tails of the data visualizations that come across your desk--let alone make critical business decisions based on the information they're designed to convey?

In The Big Picture, top data visualization consultant Steve Wexler provides the tools for developing the graphical literacy you need to understand the data visualizations that are flooding your inbox--and put that data to use. Packed with the best four-color examples created in Excel, Tableau, Power BI, and Qlik, among others, this one-stop resource empowers you to extract the most important information from data visualizations quickly and accurately, act on key insights, solve problems, and make the right decisions for your organization every time.

Back Jacket

You need a license to drive a car, and you should be required to read this book before you use a chart, a graph, or a table in a presentation. It's fun, clear, and useful. Numbers and words are not enough, it's time we got smart about communicating data.
--Seth Godin, author of This Is Marketing

"Steve Wexler's graphs are vivid, funny, practical, and highly informative--and so is this book."
--Tim Harford, bestselling author of The Undercover Economist and The Data Detective

"Steve Wexler has done for data visualization what Dale Carnegie did for the art of making friends and influencing people and Strunk & White did for writing. The Big Picture helps professionals at every level of an organization master the fundamentals and develop better 'maps' that lead to better strategies."
--John C. Pittenger, former SVP of Corporate Strategy for Koch Industries, Inc.

"You need this book. Data visualization is the key to sifting through the onslaught of numbers in our professional lives, and Steve Wexler gives incisive, practical advice on how to derive deeper insight and understanding from data more quickly. With his infectious love of making data accessible, Wexler enables us to see things differently, inspiring us to ask even better questions."
--Jon Cohen, Chief Research Officer of SurveyMonkey

"Every business leader will benefit from the wisdom in this book. The Big Picture is an essential guide that shortens the time it takes to come to a deeper understanding of your data. Leveraging visuals that truly illuminate insights--and avoid misleading representations--helps organizations be more agile in their decision-making. Every business leader I know wants to make better decisions faster. This invaluable tool will get you there."
--Kendall Crolius, President of G100 Next Generation Leadership

"If a picture is worth a thousand words, then The Big Picture is worth a million dollars. It will enable business leaders to see patterns in data with the least amount of effort, uncovering opportunities and galvanizing action. Indispensable!"
--Brad Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer of Precision Medicine Group

"Steve Wexler's passion for removing the distance to the actionable insight is inspiring, and I came away with new tools to transform data into intelligence and impact. The Big Picture is a quick read, and Wexler doesn't get bogged down in theory, but instead uses his arsenal of real-life examples to illustrate his points. I will be sharing this book and its many lessons with my entire organization!"
--Molly Schmied, Chief Analytics Officer at the Office of Advancement of The Ohio State University

"Illustrated with a vast array of examples and real-world case studies, The Big Picture is a practical primer on data visualization designed to help business professionals achieve a clearer comprehension of dashboards and graphs--and how to use them to change minds. Steve Wexler's smart and humorous approach makes for an enlightening and entertaining read."
--Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, founder and CEO of storytellingwithdata.com and bestselling author of Storytelling with Data

"Data analytics is becoming ubiquitous--but to truly be data driven, businesses must embrace a data culture in which analytics are used democratically and holistically. The Big Picture offers essential data literacy lessons necessary for informed, intelligent conversations about data."
--Adam Selipsky, President and CEO of Tableau

Author Biography

Steve Wexler is the founder of Data Revelations, a data visualization consultancy. His clients include Johnson & Johnson, Comcast, The Economist, Stanford University, ExxonMobil, Axios, FreddieMac, Ohio State University, Gallup, McKinsey & Company, Warner Media, ADP, NextEra Energy, and dozens more. He served as Director of Research for The Institute for Corporate Productivity and The eLearning Guild, and he was founder and CEO of WexTech Systems, creators of Doc-To-Help and AnswerWorks. Wexler has taught thousands of business professionals and is known for conducting his workshops with clarity, patience, and humor.