Should data teams lead company strategy?

A chicken and egg scenario

The chicken and the egg. Which came first?

This is a popular debate that nobody knows the answer to. You need a chicken to have an egg, but need an egg to have a chicken. I guess you could also debate how the first human came to be on Earth….

But that’s a rabbit hole for another time.

Let’s look at a similar debate, but one that’s focused on data. Company strategy and data team analysis. Which one leads the other?

In scenario A, executives set high-level goals and areas to focus on in the upcoming year or next few years. They may even set target numbers.

In scenario B, the data team looks at past numbers like growth rates and determines what goals are realistic and make the most sense to drive the North Star metric.

Scenario A is driven by the industry knowledge of executives with a ton of experience growing companies under their belts.

Scenario B is driven by the hard numbers dug up by the data team.

Both approaches are very different, so is one better than the other?