A Business Challenge Meets UC Davis MSBA Talent

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Since 2021, more than 5,000 people had taken the Percipio Company’s bias assessment. Within that growing dataset were valuable business insights, if the company could unlock them.

CEO Matthew Cahill found the right expertise through UC Davis MSBA Academic Director and data scientist Carrie Beam, who saw an ideal opportunity for a student to apply classroom skills to a real-world challenge.

Cahill selected MSBA student Jiayao “Yoyo” Zhang, who analyzed the data, improved the assessment and built a dashboard that transformed raw information into actionable insights. 

In this Q&A, Cahill discusses Zhang’s impact, the value of partnering with the UC Davis MSBA program and why he plans to hire two MSBA students next summer.

Finding the Right Talent for a Business Challenge

What challenge was Percipio Company looking to solve when you decided to work with a UC Davis MSBA student?

The Percipio Company partners with businesses and law firms to mitigate bias and increase trust. About five years ago, I worked with a developer to create a bias assessment, and more than 5,000 people have taken it since then.

This spring, I realized we had an opportunity to take a closer look at all of that data and understand what we could learn from it. We needed someone who could go beyond descriptive summaries and really dig into the data like cleaning and structuring it, looking for patterns across roles, functions and organizational levels and identifying insights that weren't immediately obvious.

In talking with Dr. Carrie Beam, it became a natural extension to bring in a UC Davis MSBA student who could help us make sense of the data, identify meaningful insights and determine how we could iterate on and improve the assessment itself.

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Connecting a Business Need With MSBA Talent

How did working with Dr. Carrie Beam help connect your business needs with MSBA talent?

I knew Carrie through ProVisors, a professional networking organization. She has developed an outstanding reputation for helping professional service leaders and business owners understand how they can leverage data to gain a competitive advantage and improve their operations.

MSBA Academic Director Carrie Beam recognized that what we were trying to accomplish was a strong fit for the skills students were developing in the MSBA program.

This wasn't just about cleaning a dataset. We needed someone who could analyze complex, human-centered data, challenge assumptions with evidence and then communicate those findings in a way that was useful to someone running a business.

Once the opportunity was shared, I had to stop after 10 people applied because I couldn't reasonably manage any more candidates. It was really a blessing of abundance. There was so much talent within the cohort.

A Deep Pool of MSBA Talent

What stood out about the MSBA talent you encountered?

I can't emphasize this enough. It was a deep pool of talent coming out of the graduate program. There were so many highly qualified candidates.

I ultimately selected Jiayao “Yoyo” Zhang, and she was outstanding. She had the technical expertise we needed, but what really stood out was how quickly she understood what we were trying to accomplish and took ownership of the work. She brought a level of curiosity and initiative that made her an exceptional fit for the project. 

What an MSBA Student Brought to the Project

What surprised you most about working with an MSBA student?

The level of autonomy Yoyo was able to take in tackling the project was the most impressive part. She was coming into a company and subject area that were new to her, yet she was able to work independently without letting important details slip through the cracks.

The project required someone who was comfortable working with imperfect and sometimes subjective data. It also required translating technical analysis into something a nontechnical audience could understand and use. Yoyo was able to do both.

She brought a graduate level of experience to the project and made sure critical details weren't being missed. When you're bringing someone new into a project, you don't always know how it's going to work out. In this case, she exceeded all of my expectations.

Turning MSBA Skills Into Business Impact

What did Yoyo's work allow Percipio Company to accomplish?

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One of the biggest examples was the reporting dashboard she built to help us make sense of the data. There were a lot of moving pieces involved. She had to export data from a database and CRM system, structure it for analysis and then create an interface that would actually be useful to me as an executive.

That was really the goal of the internship; moving from raw data to clear, usable insights. Going from raw data to rendering information in a meaningful way was a quantum leap. She was able to put those pieces together and give us something we had been missing. For this particular project, she absolutely was a missing piece.

Finding New Value in Existing Data

What did the analysis help you understand about your business?

The bias assessment was never designed to be a diagnostic tool. It was designed to be a conversation starter. What we uncovered through this project was that there is a rich data set that can help us understand and share patterns in how bias continues to evolve in workplaces.

That creates opportunities to educate people about what bias means, but it also has implications for the business. Yoyo helped show me how we can use these insights to start more conversations and potentially connect with new clients.

Why Companies Should Consider MSBA Talent

What would you tell another organization considering working with a UC Davis MSBA student?

If you have data within your organization and think you might already be using it in the best possible way, I would strongly suggest bringing in a student from this program to give you a fresh set of eyes.

There may be ways to leverage the data that is unique to your business that you haven't considered. For a business owner or someone within a professional services firm who hasn't considered having a graduate student come in, look at their data and see what can be done with it, you're missing a great opportunity.

A Partnership Worth Repeating

Would you work with UC Davis MSBA students again?

Absolutely. I can't wait for next summer. I would definitely do it again, and I could see bringing on two students next time.

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About Partner

The Percipio Company turned years of assessment data into actionable insights through a UC Davis MSBA summer internship, building a partnership CEO Matthew Cahill is already planning to expand. 

Learn more about the Percipio Company.

Take the Unconscious Bias Assessment.