When the scientific method began to be applied widely hundreds of years ago, innovation bloomed. Today, those same principles inform business leaders who rely on data analysis to set and shape direction.In this inaugural episode of All Else Equal, professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat about how to — and how not to — use data to make decisions.“It’s too easy to just anchor on a set of numbers,” Porat says. “Most important is to look at the trends over time, then break it down to the sensitivity analysis — what are the key variables that will drive behavior one way or another?“Coming with just a flat set of data is not constructive because obviously the world in which we live is not static.”All Else Equal is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business. It is hosted by Jonathan Berk, The A.P. Giannini Professor of Finance at Stanford GSB, and Jules van Binsbergen, The Nippon Life Professor in Finance, Professor of Finance, at The Wharton School. Each episode provides insight into how to make better decisions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.