The 19th discussion: What qualities are needed by statisticians to achieve top leadership positions?

Reflections on the top leader's panel discussion at the 2023 ISI WSC in Ottawa

With the release of this issue of the Journal (March 2024), the 19th SJIAOS discussion will be opened. This discussion; ‘What qualities are needed by statisticians to achieve top leadership positions? Invites the readers to react with their opinion on the content of the manuscript “Reflections on Statistical Leadership: Summary of a panel discussion at the WSC” with contributions from Stephen Penneck, John Bailer, Ed Humpherson), Mariana Kotzeva, and Denise Silva. 

The manuscript in the Journal reports from the panel discussion held at the ISI World Statistics Conference in Ottawa in July 2023. During this session and summarized in the manuscript, five panelists shared their opinions and experiences by responding to five key questions on statistics leadership. A main theme in this discussion in the journal is the need for official statisticians to complement within the frame of ‘statistical leadership’ the basic elements of statistics as a profession (skills, knowledge, and a set of values) with elements of leadership (vision and communicating this, getting the right work done and work done better).

The readers are invited to provide their comments on five of the six questions on leadership as they were also raised to the panel. You can read in the manuscript the reflections from the five panelists who are all top leaders in official statistics, on these questions. In answering you can keep in mind as the main starting point from the panel discussion that ‘management is about getting the work done well, while leadership is about getting the right work done better’.

These questions you might want to answer following the example of the panelists are: 

1. What qualities are needed by statisticians to achieve top leadership positions in academia, business, Industry, and government?

2. Is leadership just needed by top, management or do all statisticians have a role, if so, what is it?

3. Do statisticians naturally make good leaders? What new skills do they need to acquire? What skills and advantages do they have?

4. Did you work for people who were not good leaders? How did they fall short? What good role models did you have?

5. Is it harder for Women to be in a top leadership position? And for Other under-represented groups?