Want to know the secret to getting better at almost anything? Measure it. Rambling story that only appears to be irrelevant …. For many years, I was on one committee or another that awarded funds to aspiring Olympic athletes. Often, my recommendations were at odds with the majority of the committee members, and if you…
My doctoral advisor, the late, great Dr. Eyman, used to tell me that my psychometric theory lectures were, A light treatment of a very serious subject. Hmph. Well, with all due respect to a truly wonderful mentor, I still have to state unequivocally that the majority of students when looking at a factor analysis for…
It all comes down to one word: Perseverance. Yesterday was the first time I got to read my dossier for the 40 women to watch over 40. In it was a quote from someone who had nominated me: “I think that perseverance is key to her success.” The tagline from my interview that just aired…
Every time something annoys me, I take it as a learning experience. For example, Darling Daughter Number Three has been remiss at getting back to me lately, with the lament, “But I’m SO busy!” I understand she just finished filming a TV show and has people line up for hours to get her autograph, etc….
When I first went to graduate school in the 1970s (yes, for my MBA, in 1978) , if one were to comment casually, “And then I factor-analyzed the correlation matrix to solve that problem.” Everyone would say, “Ooooh.” Back in those days before statistical calculators (forget the Internet), when computers only came in big (really…
I was working on something for a client when The Invisible Developer walked into my office, looked over my shoulder at the code and said, “So, you’re a PHP programmer now?” I answered, “I’m a whatever-language-we-happen-to-need-at-the-moment programmer.” A year and a half ago, I took a look at Codecademy and was underwhelmed. It’s gotten mixed…
In her dissertation on African-American leaders, Dr. Shanetta Robinson has a couple of memorable quotes on this topic. One executive she interviewed urged women leaders that have reached the top to “leave the ladder down”. Another admonished that if you reach the top, you should bring someone else with you. Michelle Obama, in her beautiful…
My heart goes out to whoever is writing the blog, “My start-up has 30 days to live”. It’s the truest thing I’ve read about business since Paul Hawken wrote that the reason most small businesses fail is that they have too much money. It’s funny, because I was on the Forty Women to Watch over…
So, yesterday, if you were paying attention, we figured out WHY to do a factor analysis today’s post is about how. I’m using SAS Enterprise Guide because I had it open on my computer. Here is what the completed project looks like: Here is what I did, reading from the top — I opened…
“The problem with women isn’t that they leave you, but that they have to tell you WHY.” Whether in teaching judo, statistics, programming or management, I’m a big fan of telling people why. As I said before, the first step in programming is to THINK. This applies to statistical programming as well, which is what…