New Book 'Data at Speed' Reveals What Professional Racing Teaches Leaders About Decisions and Performance

Analytics pioneer Mark Ramsey, Ph.D. built a race team to test his theories — and distills five racing principles for leaders who compete with data

ROANOKE, TX, UNITED STATES, July 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- What can a Ford Mustang landing on the hood of a race car at 110 miles per hour teach a Fortune 500 executive about data strategy? More than any boardroom ever will, argues Mark Ramsey, Ph.D. — who was in the driver's seat when it happened — in his new book, Data at Speed: What Professional Racing Teaches Leaders About Decisions and Performance, available now on Amazon.

Ramsey is one of the most experienced data and analytics leaders in the industry: the first Chief Data Officer at Samsung Telecommunications America, the first R&D Chief Data & Analytics Officer at GlaxoSmithKline, and former leader of IBM's global Business Analytics & Optimization practice. He holds 30 patents and a Ph.D. in Applied Computer Science. Then he did something nobody expected — he built a professional racing program called Big Data in Action and took his theories about data-driven performance onto the track — campaigning a Mercedes-AMG GT4 in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competition, and today racing a 600-horsepower KTM X-BOW GT2 in the Spring Mountain Sportscar Series.

What he discovered is that the racetrack and the enterprise fail — and win — in exactly the same ways. Tire degradation mirrors resource depletion. Pit stop timing is change management. Real-time telemetry is the analytics pipeline every organization wishes it had. And when a mid-pack collision at Laguna Seca sent another car airborne onto his hood at race speed, Ramsey learned more about organizational resilience than three decades of leadership seminars had taught him.

Data at Speed translates those lessons into five racing principles any organization can apply: "decompose your key metrics," "predict your resources," "expand your use of external data," "find unique data sources," and "mine your history creatively." Each is grounded in real telemetry from the cockpit, Formula 1 strategy rooms, and the author's work advising five of the world's ten largest pharmaceutical companies.

"Most organizations don't have a data problem — they have a decision-speed problem," said Ramsey. "A race car generates thousands of data points a second, but none of it matters unless the team can turn it into action before the next corner. That's the discipline I want every leader to take from this book."

Early praise is led by Richard Y. Wang, Ph.D., former MIT professor and founder of the CDOIQ Symposium and the Certified CDO Program: "A rigorously constructed framework for understanding the organizational imperatives of data-driven leadership… It is with the utmost confidence that I commend this book to you without reservation."

Ramsey will speak at the 20th Annual CDOIQ Symposium, July 21-24, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where signed copies of Data at Speed will be available to attendees.

Data at Speed (201 pages) is available now at Amazon.com in four editions: hardcover ($39.99, ISBN 979-8-9953053-0-9), full-color paperback ($34.99, ISBN 979-8-9953053-1-6), black & white paperback ($24.99, ISBN 979-8-9953053-3-0), and Kindle ($12.99, ISBN 979-8-9953053-2-3). For excerpts, review copies, interviews, and the full media kit, visit dataatspeed.com/press.

About the Author

Mark Ramsey, Ph.D. is Managing Partner of Ramsey International, and over more than 35 years has advised hundreds of organizations across dozens of industries on data strategy, analytics, and AI. He is a keynote speaker, a master inventor with 30 patents, and races under the Big Data in Action banner as car #592.

About Ramsey International

Ramsey International, LLC is a Roanoke, Texas-based consultancy that helps global organizations design and deliver modern data ecosystems with a focus on generative AI, and is the publisher of Data at Speed. Learn more at ramsey.international.

Mark Ramsey, Ph.D.
Ramsey International, LLC
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