Take action…

Take action...

"The greatest wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data." - Peter Drucker

This is my favorite quote about data. As I always tell my clients, "Don't collect data you're not going to use." And by "use," I really mean "take action on." Putting the data into a report and saying "Isn't that interesting?" is not really using it.

So I was pleased to see this quote come across my transom:

"Life rewards action, not intelligence." - James Clear

This is a great rephrase of Drucker. You can be super-smart (i.e., have all the data) but if you don't take action, there is no reward.

So whether it's the data in your association database or the data of your life, are you acting on it? Or are you just "collecting interesting information"?

Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives

The unified shopping cart: Dreams vs. reality

January 21, 2026

The unified shopping cart: Dreams vs. reality One of the more common requests I hear […]

Don’t forget to celebrate!

January 14, 2026

Don’t forget to celebrate! Truth be told, I’m not a big celebrator. (Maybe it’s because […]

Three thoughts on duplicate records

January 7, 2026

Three thoughts on duplicate records Duplicate records are a reality in any database of any size, […]

Please don’t do this…

December 17, 2025

Please don’t do this… I’ve noticed a trend among online retailers that I want to […]

AI is perpetually patient

December 10, 2025

AI is perpetually patient My friend and colleague Noel Shatananda of fusionSpan was providing me some […]

User adoption is (almost) all that matters…

December 3, 2025

User adoption is (almost) all that matters… I was speaking with an association recently about their […]

When “overcommunicating” becomes overwhelming

November 19, 2025

When “overcommunicating” becomes overwhelming There is a common belief in project management and general business management that overcommunicating […]

Communicating when there is a major technology change

November 12, 2025

Communicating when there is a major technology change For those of you who are ASAE […]

Everything works, until it doesn’t.

November 5, 2025

Everything works, until it doesn’t. “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” – […]

Some things are unknowable

October 29, 2025

Some things are unknowable One of the most challenging aspects of moving to a new […]

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top