John Amaechi OBE, organizational psychologist, author, and founder of APS Intelligence, is a keynote speaker at AESC’s Global Summit on Leadership in London, November 17–18. His challenge to today’s leaders and leadership advisors is both profound and practical: if anxiety and fear are holding the modern workplace back, only human leadership, truth, and trust can set it free. The Data Distraction In the age of analytics, organizations have become intoxicated by the illusion of certainty that data provides. Metrics of every kind promise precision and objectivity. Yet, as Amaechi reminds us, data informs, but only humans can conclude. “Data and analysis are for insights, not for conclusions. Human beings are for conclusions.” He cautions that the field’s focus on “valid” measures too often mistakes replication for truth. “Creating something that is considered valid is easy; proving that it's valid requires decades, and most of the metrics that I look at are a picture of leadership of the past. If you're still saying extroversion is important in leadership, the 1980s called and they want their data back.” For Amaechi, the problem isn’t data itself, it’s deference. Executive search professionals and leadership advisors, he suggests, must be interpreters, not statisticians, helping clients [...]