Hey Reader,

Remember Mister Rogers?

"Won't you be my neighbor?"

That show taught me back in the day (and my now-grown kids more recently) along with millions of others young and old how to approach new situations with curiosity instead of fear.

Turns out, that's exactly the mindset you need when someone drops an unfamiliar database on your desk.

Here's the situation every analyst will face:

You start a new job or project.

Your manager says "Pull the customer data for Monday's meeting." You open the database and there are 47 tables, 15 columns in the customers table alone, and abbreviations you've never seen before.

Super overwhelming.

Its nerve wracking. This happened to me when I was tasked with building a sales opportunity pipeline reporting based on a legacy CRM that nobody knew. I had to hunt and peck through the data model. So I get the feeling of overwhelm.

The best analysts do something different.

They channel their inner "Mister Rogers". They approach the data like a friendly neighbor, not an intimidating expert.

Let me show you this in action using Summit Adventures, that fictional travel company I mentioned last week. I'm going to walk through exactly how I'd approach their customer database for the first time.

Here's what I call The Mister Rogers Blueprint:

1. Ring The Doorbell (Start With Curiosity)
2. Ask About The Details (Get More Specific)
3. Notice What's In The Yard (Read Between The Lines)
4. Be A Good Neighbor (Offer Helpful Next Steps)

1. Ring The Doorbell (Start With Curiosity)

Imagine you move into a new neighborhood.

Naturally, you want to get acquainted with your new neighbors. You don't march on into your neighbor's front door demanding answers. You approach with friendly interest: "Hi, I'm new here. Tell me about yourself."

Same with data. Your first query starts off simple:

SELECT customer_id, first_name, last_name, 
       email, city, state, experience_level
FROM customers 
LIMIT 10;

That's it. Just peeking at the first 10 rows and a few columns.

Here, you can see customers are spread across different states and experience levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert). Some emails look odd (evan.clarke743@noemail can't possibly be real!).

You aren't analyzing yet. Just getting comfortable before we move onto the specifics and dig a bit deeper.

2. Ask About The Details (Get More Specific)

Now you can get more specific.

We saw that experience_level field in the customers table. Looks interesting -- let's ask better questions:

• How many total customers?
• What's the breakdown by experience level?
• How geographically diverse is this customer base?

WITH base AS (
    SELECT 
        COUNT(*) AS total,
        COUNT(*) FILTER (WHERE experience_level = 'beginner') AS beginners,
        COUNT(DISTINCT state) AS states_count,
        COUNT(DISTINCT city) AS cities_count
    FROM customers
)
SELECT
    total AS total_customers,
    beginners AS beginner_count,
    ROUND(beginners * 100.0 / total, 1) AS beginner_pct,
    states_count,
    cities_count
FROM base;

Results: 1,000 customers total. 247 are beginners (24.7%). They're spread across 43 states and 129 cities. Now we're getting somewhere.

Let's dig even deeper.

3. Notice What's In The Yard (Read Between The Lines)

The best neighbors notice things that aren't explicitly said.

You've got to read between the lines and dig even a bit deeper to get to know your neighbors even better. Maybe they have a playset in the back yard (reading between the lines ⇢ they've got young kids). Maybe their garden is immaculate (fresh veggies coming your way!). You get the picture.

Step 3 in this blueprint is all about looking for gaps.

Let's look at the full experience level breakdown:

SELECT
    experience_level,
    COUNT(*) AS customer_count,
    ROUND(COUNT(*) *100.0/SUM(COUNT(*)) OVER(),
    1) AS percentage
FROM customers
GROUP BY experience_level
ORDER BY customer_count DESC;

Results:

• Expert: 268 customers (26.8%)
• Beginner: 247 customers (24.7%)
• Intermediate: 243 customers (24.3%)
• Advanced: 242 customers (24.2%)

Interesting. Pretty evenly distributed. But here's where we notice something "hiding in the yard"...

Let's check the product catalog:

SELECT
    difficulty_level,
    COUNT(*) AS expedition_count,
    ROUND(COUNT(*) *100.0/SUM(COUNT(*)) OVER(),
    1) AS percentage
FROM expeditions
GROUP BY difficulty_level;

Results:

• Beginner: 34 expeditions (34.0%)
• Intermediate: 24 expeditions (24.0%)
• Advanced: 23 expeditions (23.0%)
• Expert: 19 expeditions (19.0%)

Wait. That's a gap!

We have 268 expert customers (26.8% of the base) but only 19 expert expeditions (19% of offerings). Expert customers are underserved. That's an insight we can actually do something with (and get noticed at work!)

4. Be A Good Neighbor (Offer Helpful Next Steps)

The best neighbors don't just notice things. They offer helpful suggestions.

Don't say: "You have a product-customer mismatch." (true, but worse than useless)

Do say: "You have 268 expert customers (27% of your base) but only 19% of your expeditions target them. Here's what you should do:

1. Product Team: Develop 3-5 new expert-level expeditions in the next quarter to match demand
2. Marketing: Survey those 268 expert customers to understand what they want in advanced trips
3. Sales: Create an 'expert advisory board' from your top customers to co-design future offerings"

Business leaders ALWAYS want to know: "So what should we DO with this information?"

The Mister Rogers Blueprint in Action

We just went from "intimidating database with 47 tables" to "actionable business recommendation" in four queries.

Key takeaway: You don't have to be a know-it-all expert on day one.

You just needed to be a good neighbor:

1. Started with curiosity (simple SELECT with LIMIT 10)
2. Got specific (counted segments, asked better questions)
3. Noticed gaps (compared customer mix vs. product mix)
4. Offered helpful next steps (tied insights to business actions)

This is why the Mister Rogers Blueprint matters for your career:

By approaching new data with curiosity (instead of panic) you will:

• Spot opportunities hidden in the data that others miss
• Start new projects with confidence (not imposter syndrome)
• Answer vague executive questions that analysts struggle with

These are the skills that get you noticed.

These are the analyses that lead to promotions. Because most analysts can write queries. Fewer can translate messy business questions into actionable insights. Almost none can explain their insights in a way that leads to action.

The Mister Rogers Blueprint gives you all three.

This blueprint works for ANY unfamiliar dataset in ANY tool:

• SQL databases (obviously)
• New SaaS platforms
• Tableau dashboards
• Google Analytics
• Excel files

Approach with friendly curiosity → start with easy exploration → ask specific questions → notice what's unspoken → be genuinely helpful.

Want to try this yourself?

The data I shared here comes from the Summit Adventures database I built out specifically for my students (people like you that want to improve all three skills that get you noticed in the workplace).

SQL Lab a great way to learn these skills and practice being a good neighbor to data. I'll share more about that in the coming weeks.

One question for you: What's your biggest fear when you open an unfamiliar dataset? Let me know using the subscriber survey and I'll include how to tackle it in an upcoming Analytics in Action Blueprint like this one.

Talk soon,

Brian

P.S. You might be thinking: "Cool framework, but does this actually work?" Next Saturday, I'll show you what happens when analysts stop memorizing syntax and start thinking like good neighbors. (Spoiler: One student ditched a $2,500 Ivy League SQL course for this approach.)

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1. Get more data analytics tips in my previous newsletter articles​
2. Fill out the subscriber survey and let me know what business analytics challenges you're currently facing.