The numbers you use to grade a partner usually come straight from that partner.
In this episode of The Dataliction Podcast®, John Staub talks with Paul Brinkman, president of Trans-Solutions Consulting, about what happens when a company runs on data it never actually owns. Paul works with manufacturers, retailers, and shippers whose reports arrive already summarized by carriers and third-party logistics providers, with the detail stripped out before anyone in the building sees it. He explains the giveaway that tells you your data has been cleaned before it reached you, why rolled-up cost numbers hide the story, and how trimming both ends of the bell curve gets a leadership team to the 80% they can agree on. He also lays out a reporting cadence for teams stepping out of firefighting mode, and what your data has to tell you before the next tariff or war risk surcharge lands.
Chapters:
00:00 Whose Story Is Your Data Telling
00:35 Meet Paul Brinkman and Trans-Solutions
01:26 Firefighting Instead of Fixing the Cause
02:40 How Much Data Is Enough
03:35 Every Milestone From PO to Final Mile
05:11 Catching Sparks Before They Become Fires
06:59 The Mountain and Micro Adjustments
08:34 Challenging the Cost of Doing Business
10:41 The Only Constant Is Change
16:11 Junk Data In, Junk Data Out
17:40 Trimming Outliers to Find the Real 80%
20:45 How to Spot Data That Has Been Cleaned
23:40 Choosing Your Reporting Cadence
27:50 Preparing for What’s Coming
Connect with the host and guest:
John Staub: / john-staub
Paul Brinkman: / paul-brinkman-3634894
Trans-Solutions Consulting: https://trans-solutions.com
Dataliction: https://dataliction.com
The Dataliction Podcast—where data meets action. We break down analytics, share real-world stories, and give you the tools to turn your data into decisions that drive real growth. Follow us and keep the conversation going. Enjoy this episode? Leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it!