Everything I needed to know about analytics I learned from playing with Legos. Perhaps I should have been learning how to be an engineer or an architect (I tried my hand at both) but Legos for me were an analytic endeavor.

For starters, I was never very interested in following the directions. In the 70’s and 80’s, Lego had yet to partner with big names like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or DC comics. Building houses, cars, or an occasional construction site had little appeal. My friends were building spaceships, submarines, and moon bases — I needed to learn how…

Analysis: So the first skill that Lego taught me was how to analyze. I learned to break apart — either literally or mentally — the cool things my friends were building. What techniques allowed the mostly square and rectangular pieces to look like jet fighters or robots? What special pieces were needed to model rocket launchers and space cannons? The first rule of Lego (and analytics) was breaking things down.

Synthesis: The very next skill should be obvious — putting it all back together. Lego is model building at its core. Hours of trial and error led to more and more realistic models. The more realistic the model — the more satisfying the playtime that followed. The bragging rights that came with the coolest designs were priceless as well.

Segmentation: While iterating between tearing things apart and putting them back together, patterns and organization become very important. This is especially true when you are rushing to finish your latest inspiration before bedtime or racing your friend or sister to get the pieces from the shared pile before they do. Sorting was an important and necessary process. Legos were quickly organized by color and shape.

Statistics: You are probably thinking this is a stretch. Or maybe you are one of those people who literally organized every lego by shape and color? But in my experience lego materials came from the bag, the box, or the pile. And once your designs became sophisticated enough — this required skill in estimation and probability. Running out of a certain color … was annoying enough. Spending too long looking for certain pieces seriously cut into play time. And running out of certain shapes or a specific piece could destroy the entire project. So the start of each ‘design’ session began with profiling and estimating the probability you would have and find all the necessary pieces.

ROI: Even today as a father and successful executive, I find Lego sets to be a pricey investment. As a kid growing up in working class America, Lego purchases were precious indeed. Precious in that Lego sets were infrequent gifts and hard to come by — but also the lesson that taught me. I learned to calculate the number and quality of the pieces. To know when two smaller sets were a better investment than one larger one.

Legos were a major part of my childhood. They gave me thousands of hours of fun and entertainment. But beyond that — they gave me some of my first exposure to skills that would empower decades of creativity and satisfaction.