Course Description
Data Visualization: Telling Stories with Numbers equips MBA professionals with the Excel skills and design principles needed to translate complex data into clear, compelling visual narratives. Students learn to select appropriate chart types, build interactive dashboards, and apply visual design principles, including color, hierarchy, and labeling, to produce professional-quality outputs that drive executive decision-making. The course emphasizes ethical data presentation, audience adaptation, and the translation of data insights into plain-language business recommendations. Designed for working professionals, all assignments are grounded in real business contexts and can be applied immediately in current roles.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Select appropriate chart types and visualization formats to accurately represent datasets and support specific analytical conclusions.
- Apply Excel tools and functions to transform raw data into clear, professional charts, graphs, and dashboards suited to a business audience.
- Evaluate the clarity and accuracy of data visualizations, identifying common errors in design that distort or obscure meaning.
- Construct a data-driven narrative that communicates key findings and recommendations to non-technical stakeholders.
- Develop an Excel dashboard that presents a multifaceted dataset as a cohesive visual story, integrating multiple chart types and supporting executive decision-making.
Outcome Proficiency Groups
MBA 540 helps you grow in three of the five MyMBA program outcomes:
Strategic Thinking & Decision Making
Design dashboards that put the right information in front of executive decision-makers.
Analytics & Critical Thinking
Choose the right chart types and catch design errors that distort what the data shows.
Communication & Influence
Turn complex data into visual stories that non-technical audiences understand and act on.
Where This Course Leads
The skills you build here carry forward to the MBA Capstone, where you bring all five outcome proficiency groups together to tackle a contemporary business challenge.
