Asking Better Questions Before Making a Decision

Leaders receive recommendations through briefings, dashboards, staff estimates, and AI-assisted tools. Those products can organize information quickly, but they still reflect choices about what was measured, what was left out, and what was assumed.

Data literacy does not mean checking every calculation. It means knowing which questions to ask before a recommendation becomes a decision.

Before you accept a recommendation, pause and ask:

• What decision is this information meant to support?

• Where did the data come from, and is it complete and current?

• What context or risk would change the answer?