I’m in Australia having a wonderful time with my sister and her family. Yesterday we were invited to the neighbourhood sausage sizzle – think street party with a firepit instead of bunting, hotdogs instead of sandwiches and cold wine instead of warm beer. Oh, and instead of hanging around on the street we’re all sitting in folding chairs under the sun on the big green space at the end of the road.
I got chatting to a couple, Lina and Dave, about work (because that’s what people who don’t know each other do) and it was one of the conversation highlights of my trip. Lina has had the most AMAZING work life. She’s a statistician and I think she’s actually changed the world. Working for the World Health Organisation where amongst other things, Lina worked across the globe to standardise how death is recorded.
At first glance it sounds morbid and the uninitiated might be questioning my excited but it’s people like Lina who can tell us whether or not more (or less) people are dying from malaria, heart disease, HIV.
Definitely put my life and work into perspective and got me thinking a bit about accuracy, continuous improvement and starting points. When I’m back in the UK next month I’ll be working on a new project for a new client. Working for someone I worked with many years ago (in very different circumstances), I’ll take my conversation with Lina into this work as we start to develop and insight pathway for a new and rapidly growing organisation.
I’ll be looking for ways to keep it simple while delivering the maximum possible insight.
