INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  What unexpected or “soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-20-2025 10:00

    Have you drawn on experiences from the arts, teaching, leadership, or another field to enhance your work? These skills might be the key to unlocking your full analytic potential.

    In “The Unexpected Soft Skills You Need to Succeed in Data,” Christopher Chin shares how a background in music composition, once seen as unrelated, became his greatest asset. After pivoting into data without a formal degree, he landed roles at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Humana, and Fannie Mae, and now runs a business focused on data storytelling.

    Christopher’s edge? Skills that many overlook:

    • Creativity: Musical intuition helped him design visualizations that made complex data clear and compelling.
    •  Storytelling: He structured data presentations like cinematic experiences using emotion, pacing, and narrative to drive decisions.
    • Public Speaking: Performance experience translated into confident, engaging presentations that built trust and influence.

    In operations research and analytics, technical skills get you in the door, but it’s often the human-centered ones that help you lead, persuade, and innovate.

    What soft skills have helped you communicate insights, influence strategy, or solve problems in unexpected ways?



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    Garrett Johnston
    Membership Engagement Coordinator
    gjohnston@informs.org
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  • 2.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-22-2025 14:05

    The most important skill is being able to communicate effectively.   The best OR analysis has no impact if the decision executive (DE) doesn't act upon it.   If the results are consistent with the DEs gut then they ask why did we spend time and money on this project.   If it is different from their gut then you have to be able to explain it in not mathematical terms but more in a story telling way.   Or perhaps tease out what assumptions they might have made that were different in the analysis that led to a different recommendation.  



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    Brian Putt
    Decision Scientist Consultant
    retired
    Fremont CA
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  • 3.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-26-2025 14:34

    Great point, Brian! Like you said, communication is key!



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    Garrett Johnston
    Membership Engagement Coordinator
    gjohnston@informs.org
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-26-2025 08:10

    Dear Professor Garrett Johnston,

    The "soft" skills that have proven most consequential in my operations research and analytics practice have not been technical in nature.

    • Problem framing: transforming ill-defined requests into well-posed decision problems with clear objectives and constraints.

    • Translation and narrative construction: articulating model insights in managerial terms (i.e., "what changes on Monday morning?") to secure stakeholder commitment.

    • Facilitation and negotiation: orchestrating workshops, aligning divergent incentives, and navigating toward solutions that are "sufficiently good" for deployment.

    • Entrepreneurial prioritization: emphasizing incremental, implementable interventions that deliver measurable returns on investment.

    Additional competencies include inquiry driven by curiosity, precise written communication, and effective change management. Although not often emphasized in formal training, these skills frequently play a pivotal role in turning elegant models into lasting organizational impact.

    With warm regards,

    Jacek Dominic Sledzinski

    Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology
    📧jacek.dominic@gmail.com

    İsmail Özcan  

    PhD
    📧 ismailozcanmath@gmail.com

    Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber
    Faculty of Engineering Management, Poznan University of Technology
    📧 gerhard.weber@put.poznan.pl



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    Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber
    Professor
    Poznan University of Technology
    Poznan
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  • 5.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-26-2025 14:33
    Edited by Garrett Johnston 08-26-2025 14:34

    Hi Gerhard-Wilhelm,

    Thank you to you and your colleagues for these insights! Clear and direct communication is always important. I appreciate how you broke down each of these points and how valuable they can be! 

    Best,

    Garrett 



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    Garrett Johnston
    Membership Engagement Coordinator
    gjohnston@informs.org
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-27-2025 09:05

    Always listen carefully to your "customer", whether you are an OR consultant or an OR professional working within a company.

    Listen and be open to changing your understanding of the problem based on what you hear from the business persons who will be using and relying on the modeling tools (e.g., optimization, simulation, etc) that you are building for them.  Also, remember that often (and perhaps always) they may not be able to explain the business problem in a "mathy" way.  It's your job to translate their business focused explanations into a mathematical understanding of the problem that can be translated into a model(s).  Respect your customer.  You are building a tool that needs to be practical useful to them to do their work more efficiently.  



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    Charles Rosa
    Operations Research Fellow
    XPO
    Rochester Hills MI
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  • 7.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 08-30-2025 15:27

    For me, the most valuable soft skills have been storytelling and active listening. Storytelling to turn analysis into insights people or clients can remember and act on, while active listening builds trust and ensures that the analysis addresses the needs behind the questions.



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    Philipp Ahrens
    Lead Consultant Advanced Analytics
    TD Reply
    Berlin
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  • 8.  RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

    Posted 09-01-2025 11:26

    Knowledge Acquisition skills are vital to OR/AI/DS careers. These include the soft skills of communicating, writing, diagramming, and interviewing. The engineering focus can span from large groups efforts where 'system thinking' is crucial to individuals where interpersonal skills in collaboration impact success.



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    John Huffman
    Senior Technical Fellow - Emeritus
    Spirit Aerosystems Inc
    Wichita KS
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