🤔 Are Practical Thinkers Surprisingly More Data Literate Than You?

I’m not a numbers person.”

“You can’t understand people using data.”

“You need to use the art as well as the science.”

I’ve heard these phrases and others like them at work over the years, and I often thought to myself: they just don’t get it.

I was wrong.

Over time, I’ve come to realise that the people I once assumed “just didn’t get data” might actually be far more data literate than I’d ever realised. In fact, they may even be more data literate than I am. Here’s why.

The Unexpected Data Literacy of Practical Thinkers

It turns out that the people without “data” in their job titles—those in roles like mechanics, teachers, frontline workers, and team members who know their work inside and out—are often the ones who understand data in ways we might overlook. While we might be busy refining our data tools or building dashboards, practical thinkers are often busy turning information into knowledge.

Where I once saw data as numbers on a screen, they saw patterns in their day-to-day work. Where I focused on techniques, they spotted connections that pointed to real-world insights. This wasn’t traditional data literacy, but it was powerful—and often more impactful than anything a sophisticated tool could produce.

What Makes Practical Thinkers Data Literate?

Practical thinkers have an intuitive sense of what data means, even if they don’t call it that. They know how to sift through information to find what truly matters, filtering out noise to focus on meaningful insights. Here are a few ways they excel at data literacy:

📊➡️🔍 Seeing Beyond the Numbers: Practical thinkers focus on the insights that data represents, rather than just the numbers. They’re more interested in what data means for their work and less fixated on the technical side.

⏱️💡 Applying Knowledge in Real Time: These thinkers don’t need formal analysis to make decisions. Their deep experience allows them to quickly spot trends and make adjustments, often before a formal analysis is complete.

🔄👀 Recognising Patterns and Nuances: Working day in and day out with people, products, or processes, they’re highly attuned to what looks or feels “off.” This is a form of data literacy that doesn’t rely on tools—it’s rooted in deep familiarity with the details.

📈✋📉 Filtering Noise from Signal: Rather than getting caught up in every fluctuation or variation, they know when changes are meaningful and when they’re just noise. This skill is often the difference between knowledge and information overload.

Reframing Data Literacy as a Mindset

In this latest episode of Wired Minds, I explore how practical thinkers may actually be the data literate ones, challenging the assumption that data literacy is only for those with technical roles. Practical thinkers demonstrate that data literacy is as much a way of thinking as it is a set of skills. It’s about asking the right questions, noticing patterns, and connecting the dots in meaningful ways.

​Listen to it here >>>​

What We Can Learn from Practical Thinkers

The way practical thinkers engage with data offers valuable lessons for all of us. They remind us that being data literate isn’t just about knowing the latest tools; it’s about understanding and applying data in a way that drives real insights and actions.

If you’re curious about how to cultivate this practical, results-oriented approach to data literacy, tune in to this episode of Wired Minds. Whether you’re a “numbers person” or not, there’s a lot to learn from those who see beyond the data itself and turn information into real-world knowledge.