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Steve Wexler, author of The Big Picture: How to use data visualization to make better decisions--faster Bill Ringle and Steve Wexler discuss the approaches and benefits of presenting data as charts, images, and infographics to make better decisions, build consensus, and tell a better story about the results you are producing for small business managers and leaders. >>> Visit MyQuestforTheBest.com  for complete show notes and more expert advice and inspiring stories to propel your small business growth. My Quest for the Best is a top-rated small business podcast with over 300 episodes of thought-provoking and insightful interviews with today’s top thought leaders and business experts. Host Bill Ringle’s mission with this show is to provide the strategies, insights, and resources that will unlock the growth potential of your business through these powerful conversations. Interview Insights Top 3 Takeaways If we are data literate, we can read data faster, interpret them better, and be quicker in making decisions and providing solutions. The goal of data visualization is to provide the most significant degree of understanding in the least amount of effort. It spares us from cognitive overload because it is easier to understand what we can quickly see. Collaboration is about creating something far more significant than you can make independently. Read the Show Notes from this Episode Steve talks about his fourth-grade teacher, Mario Messi, who developed his love of reading. He is part of Steve's pursuit of data literacy. [01:45]How do the best leaders create the best conditions that allow their people to be their best and perform at their best and make sure to celebrate it. [04:29]Recognizing good work is not about physical rewards, like a plaque, but a genuine understanding of your people's contributions. [05:18]The Big Picture and The Big Book of Dashboards are geared toward data visualization practitioners. Steve talks about his fear in writing about this topic of serving some things that experts may already know about. [06:07]People tend to cling to their old tools, like spreadsheets, even if they are not as effectively reporting data as data visualization. Steve encourages us not to fear being a beginner again and embrace data literacy. [08:19]How to know if you are data literate. [10:16]Why do we see so many bar charts? [11:43]Data visualization versus storytelling: How to go from being just data literate to be able to use data to tell a story or make decisions. [14:27]The four components of setting the stage for effective data visualization: 1. Somebody needs to know the data. 2. somebody has to know the tool. 3. Have stakeholders help steer decision-making. 4. Be able to iterate quickly as you get feedback from others.[16:00]Steve shared his experience as one of the many people making graphs for Seth Godin's upcoming book, The Carbon Almanac. [21:15]Chapter eight of the book talks about Charle Menard's chart, which is considered the Monalisa of data visualization, and the problems that Steve finds in it. [23:25]Collaboration versus compromise. [25:34]My Quest for the Best lightning round begins. [29:32] Expert Bio Steve Wexler is the founder of Data Revelations, author of The Big Picture: How to Use Data Visualization to Make Better Decisions—Faster (winner of Data Literacy’s Most Insightful Data Book), and co-author of The Big Book of Dashboards: Visualizing Your Data Using Real-World Business Scenarios. Steve has worked with ADP, Gallup, Johnson & Johnson, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, Convergys, Consumer Reports, The Economist, SurveyMonkey, Con Edison, D&B, Marist, Cornell University, Stanford University, Tradeweb, Tiffany, McKinsey & Company, and many other organizations to help them understand and visualize their data. A Tableau Zen Master (Hall of Fame) and Iron Viz winner, Steve also serves on the advisory board to the Data Visualization Society and is co-host of the popul...