I was reading the story this week about how Wells Fargo is facing a lawsuit from investors for fake DEI interviews. Notwithstanding the ethical issues – allegedly interviewing diverse candidates for high-paying jobs that were already filled – it’s a great example of how there is a focus on the people function to prove that ‘something was done’.

As I discuss in Proving Impact, what matters is what happens next, and what effects are created. The transactional activity of the ‘thing’ you did is just that – transactional data which, on its own, is meaningless.

Performative data marketing your ‘busyness’ doesn’t matter and can be, as this case proves, immoral and unethical.

If you work in #Learning or #HR look at which data you report like this and give me a call to help you to improve your measurement.