The Data Paradox: Why business leaders must rethink ‘data-driven decision making’
Data is everywhere—but are we making better decisions because of it?
In boardrooms worldwide, executives justify choices with one magic phrase: “We have the data.”
Numbers seem objective, turning opinion into fact — but, as an Auckland-based performance software company has identified, more data doesn’t always mean better decisions.
The Data Paradox – When More Isn’t Better
For over a decade, Dr Bernie Frey has studied an apparent paradox in leadership: the more data leaders have, the harder it becomes for them to make decisions.
As founder and CEO of the Praxxis Group, Frey has overseen the development of a unique software platform called Opal3, which helps organisation leaders manage the performance of their companies by tracking both financial and non-financial data, including risks, which are then turned into clear, actionable insights.
Drawing from backgrounds in organisational psychology and data strategy, Frey and principal consultant for Praxxis Group, Colart Miles, have helped dozens of businesses move beyond information overload to make clearer, more context-driven decisions.
Frey’s well-considered view – built on years of experience diving deep into the performance data of organisations – is that while raw numbers and data can provide vital insights, an over-reliance on them without expert critical thinking can lead to misinterpretation and poor outcomes.
“Business leaders love data, but we’ve found that they can often become so overwhelmed by it that they end up relying on instinct instead,” he explains; “Ironically, the more data they have, the harder it is for them to make an ‘informed’ decision.”
Frey says this often creates a situation where leaders make choices that are based on personal experience and intuition, rather than on data-based expert opinion.
This, he believes, is one of the biggest pitfalls in decision making that is ‘data driven’ – and he believes his company has the tools to help organisations avoid them.
Beyond Data – The Power of Context in Decision Making
Drawing from 20 years in management and leadership consulting, Miles argues that data alone isn’t enough — context is the missing link in decision-making.
“Data should be an enabler, not a dictator,” he says. “The real power of data isn’t in the numbers themselves, it’s in the insights they unlock. The key question isn’t just ‘What does the data say?’ but rather, ‘What does this data mean in our unique context?’”
Miles says most software simply graphs data, leaving leaders with a wall of numbers but no direction.
“At the end of the day, a dashboard doesn’t make decisions—leaders do. Opal3 goes beyond visualization to ensure leaders are asking the right questions and focusing on what truly matters,” says Miles. “It helps teams go from ‘data tells us X’ to ‘So what should we do next?’ That’s where real value is created.”
Unlike traditional business intelligence tools that only display data, Opal3 interprets it, layering in qualitative insights from middle managers, surfacing hidden risks, and providing clear recommendations that drive action.
“The Opal3 system allows managers to provide context to key metrics—explaining performance shifts, flagging emerging risks, and aligning insights across teams. This turns raw data into a decision-making ecosystem rather than just another reporting tool,” says Miles.
“It’s all about helping leaders move beyond numbers to real-world impact.”
From Data Fog to Strategic Focus
Frey’s view is that business leaders need to balance the expert insights from data with their own experience and strategic thinking.
“What separates Opal3 from the many other software products in the market is our emphasis on data analysis and expert opinion. Its ability to drill down into both insights and data allows leaders to ask critical questions and make informed decisions based on a deeper understanding,” he says.
“What we’ve learned is that data is only as useful as the decisions it informs. Aggregates and averages can obscure important nuances, so business leaders need to go beyond simply reacting to raw numbers and instead use their data as a tool to ask deeper questions.”
Frey cites an example of a mid-level government agency client whose leaders used the Opal3 solution to move past simple reliance on numbers for decision making.
“The first pain point for this client was the creation of timely and informative monthly financial reports. They would spend significant amounts of time each month extracting information from their internal systems, which they then had to massage this into a required format.
“With Opal3, they created an on-line dashboard that was able to receive direct feeds, as well as generate a one-click templated report that produced the required information in a pre-defined, but flexible format.”
Frey says the deeper issue was that board discussions often used the data to side-track into tactical or management considerations, instead of focusing on strategic governance issues.
“In cooperation with their corporate services team, we designed a series of ‘dials’ that still showed relevant ‘past performance’ information but also included very salient colour-coded forecast information,” he says.
“That way discussions could be guided toward operational issues that actually needed resolution and left the board free to focus on strategic concerns.”
Finding the Way Forward in a Data Swamped World
While Opal3 has focused most of its business on the government sector, they are currently looking at bringing their solution to the banking, finance and insurance sectors, as well as compliance-heavy sectors, like healthcare.
“We see a need for tools like Opal3 in those spaces, because it directly addresses the issues that help leaders move beyond just pure machinated data or being swamped by too much data. By understanding the context behind the numbers, you can enable more strategic and foresight-driven decisions.”
Miles also notes that with AI and predictive analytics growing in importance across today’s business landscape, it’s critical for leaders to combine these tools with human oversight to ensure unbiased, strategic decisions.
“The first time I saw the quote known as ‘Segal’s Law’, it really stuck with me. This says, ‘A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.’ That’s the space which Opal3 is trying to fill, because business leaders today simply have too many watches!”
Story by Brendan Boughen
