A few years ago, my *other* professional society (INFORMS) recruited me to develop a continuing education course to help analytics professionals integrate their technical expertise more effectively into problem solving for businesses and other organizations. It's been running strong, with about 4 offerings a year in various locations around the US.
It occurred to me recently that some of my colleagues in the ASA might be interested in checking out what the course has become. The content is, in essence, a compilation and adaptation of the "canon" of skills that all management consulting firms use to manage their problem-solving process. (I first drank that kool-aid myself in the 80s at McKinsey & Company, before I got my PhD and started my academic career.)
These tools are often lumped together and tossed into the nebulous "soft skills" bucket. But most people find them to be both hard and essential - to getting to the heart of what a problem or project actually is about, how to break it down into workable pieces, and (on the other end of our analytical work) how to translate our results into insights and recommendations, and how to build a clear enough case to persuade others to take action, and actually unleash the value of what we've done.
I would recommend this material to any practicing statisticians who find themselves in need of better ways to engage with real-world clients, be they external consulting relationships, or simply internal business units that require our skills and expertise.
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about it, and of course you can see for yourself the kinds of tools and processes that the course covers at its INFORMS page:
Essential Practice Skills for High-Impact Analytics Projects ------------------------------
Patrick Noonan
Professor in Practice, Emeritus
Emory University, Goizueta Business School
Atlanta GA
------------------------------