Admittedly, I am not a Kung Fu Master. But I am a fan of Kung Fu movies (with subtitles and mouth movements that never match the audio), where the overarching theme is always good vs. evil, Ninja vs. Ninja, and the Master always wins. In spending most of my days with spreadsheets, analyzing social media campaigns and CRM programs, it has occurred to me that analytics is an awful lot like Kung-Fu.

Kung-Fu literally means “hard work with accomplishment.” It’s a methodology focused on calm, precision-oriented submission to 18 movements meant to teach the discipline and the “objective centeredness” necessary to endure the hours of meditation that Chinese Monks had to perform. That rigorous discipline gives the Kung Fu Master the power to command his disciples and the mental stamina to defeat his enemy before any contact is ever initiated.

The secret of Kung Fu is command and steady stance. Regardless of the elements, the toughness or weapons of the enemy, the Kung Fu Master wins with steady discipline and a fierce allegiance to the objective centeredness of the methodology. Any deviation to a more self-styled version or subjective performance nets you one butterfly kick to the gut – and you lose.

The Real Mastery of Analytics

In analytics, the steady hand, the discipline to the data and the objective stance of looking beneath the numbers is the real mastery. Creating the analytical story of campaign performance or of customer behavior is indeed that “command” of allowing the numbers to lead you to accomplishment. Each season brings new, probing technology and more innovative ways of discerning what’s going on in the market. However, under the watchful eye of the Kung Fu Master, disciples who go into combat with little training and a supposedly “better” way to act will go down in defeat as discipline is sacrificed for speed and shortcuts.

The best analytical efforts emerge from the art and science of allowing the numbers to paint the picture. Discipline to the data is the benchmark from which all metrics are made. Sound too simplistic? Possibly, but considering that primary electronic “footprints” of how, where and why customers behave the way they do online are easily derived with even the most primitive web tracking tool: You don’t need a Ferrari to catch a Rhinoceros.

Three Philosophies to Live By

The three centering philosophies of Kung Fu as an art form provide a foundation to my recommended approach to analytics: (1) motivation; (2) self-discipline; and (3) time.

Motivation

Motivation is the will to act and a critical philosophy of good analytics. In order to better perpetuate your message, your motivation to have analytical tea leaves dispensed at your desk should be driven by your honest desire to get to know more about your customers as well as what you don’t know about them. Your motivation should be to find clear, crisp “spin-free” numbers. Your analytics expert should be motivated by honest data and a clear view of what’s going on regardless of what the sales team or corner office may think.

If you’re responsible for performance measurement, then use your inner warrior to only present true and tangible numbers. If you’re on the receiving end of the numbers and suspect a slightly less than honest approach from your vendor or team, it’s time to get a Kung Fu Grip and demand a new match.

Self-Discipline

The second philosophy is self-discipline ― the most difficult of the three to master. I get on my soapbox frequently to talk about discipline to the data, but it is paramount to the credibility of the reports to allow the data to speak for itself. You must understand that at their most basic level reporting and analytics are truly different functions and distinct skill sets.

Calm and centered, the Kung Fu Master has extreme self-discipline to allow his craft and his teachings to guide and lead as he goes to battle. This measured approach and total preparation will no doubt lead to victory in combat. The data is what it is. And should you ever wonder if your analytics source (in-house or outsourced) is purely creating a self-interested (or self-preserving) view in order to show that it’s always “sunglasses and lipstick” on your account, demand an audit.

The discipline, if you are not in the analytics sea on a daily basis, must come from your side as well. Your discipline and understanding is needed to realize that you may see numbers you don’t like, don’t agree with or flatly refuse to accept. And while there may be temptation to argue, push back or engage in a little balloon squeezing – pushing things down in one area to make them go up in another – you too must step back and collect your inner warrior to let the numbers tell you what may be difficult to see.

Kung Fu emphasizes the discipline to garner spiritual calmness, to push past the obstacles and absorb body blows and unexpected vigor from your opponent. And while full-contact battle is typically restricted in most corporate environments (except for a few I know personally), you should prepare to defend the numbers, whether they are what you want to see or not. While motivation is the mental state of wanting to act, discipline is required to put motivation into action. What can you do with this mounting empirical evidence that something is going either extremely well or terribly wrong? Do you have the self-discipline to see what is happening and act?

Time

The last of the three philosophies is time. Likely the most overlooked and undervalued part of the analytical gyrations is allowing enough time to go by before making pronounced prognostications on performance. Time is also a code word for patience. In the study of Kung Fu the student must demonstrate patience to avoid looking for speedy resolutions or instant defeat of the enemy. There is precision involved as the warrior can look three or four moves ahead in strategy and anticipate his opponent’s moves.

In analytics, the patience to let scenarios play out to see where the data is going requires both the motivation and self-discipline as you evaluate what your customers are doing. Any seasoned analytical professional will tell you that time (with both a look backward and a look forward into forecasting) is the single most important quotient in analytical math. More important than clicks, tricks or spend, time elapsed has great weight in determining whether a promotion has succeeded or failed. Time is really your most valuable commodity as it cannot be repeated or replaced. Time is the constant movement that allows the underlying current of changing behavior to have one commonality shared across all channels.

Channel Your Inner Ninja…

When we as analytic professionals strap on our tunics and take our place on the combat floor, we have to be focused. With a steady hand, discipline to the data and a true objective stance, we can be prepared for defensive battle regardless of the instrument or weapon used. When we channel our Analytic Ninja, we allow the numbers to lead us to accomplishment.

Author: Kathleen Stockham is the Director of Strategy & Analytics at Response Media, a digital agency specializing in relationship marketing and customer acquisition services. Kathleen developed her expertise in all facets of digital and relationship marketing through experiences at industry-leading companies such as AOL, Office Depot and Best Buy. She was considered one of the original pioneers of SEO/SEM best practices for major retailers in the brand space and helped lead the way for retailer benchmarking in the early days of online shopping. When not wrapped up in spreadsheet formulas and statistics, Kathleen can easily be located at any number of All-Star Cheerleading competitions with her daughter or enthusiastically rooting for her beloved Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.