Name: Jeffrey Popova-Clark

Title: Founding Partner

Organisation: Data Analytics Management Consulting

Us humans are not naturally made to fit well into this modern society that we have evolved around us. We are limited by our irrational, cognitively limited brains and our slow, noisy, error-filled interpersonal communication systems. But look what humanity has accomplished so far despite these limitations! Imagine what we could achieve if we consistently used the best methods to overcome our limitations. I synergistically combine experts (with self-awareness) and toolsets (with algorithms) to help organisations and individuals radically improve performance. Understanding, Decision Making, Judgement, Prediction, Coordination, and Trust are all areas I help my clients improve through a combination of psychological (e.g. Executive Judgment) and technological approaches (e.g. Big Data).

Specialties: Re-designing organisations to better exploit newly available but proven approaches to better leverage data, facts, better judgment and better governance to improve overall performance

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Jeffrey's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Other leaders who are more obsessed with gaining power than with achieving outcomes

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

Just always coordinated from when I was a teenager. Just always gravitated to being captain of the team.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

Try to give a little time to every plate currently in the air.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

Never forget that others aren't always just trying to do whats best for the team.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

The Secret of Our Success - makes it clear that humans are very bad at thinking rationally and only rise above animal herds through collective action.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Even if you're pure of heart...not everyone else is. There's very successful sociopaths out there who will thoughtlessly burn it all to the ground if they think it will help them. Try to spot them early.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

Leadership is actually a web of relationships from which you can pull cooperation. You must spend time cultivating those relationships so that you can help others when they need and they can help you when you need.