
Practical Charts for Finance Teams to Turn Data Visuals into Strategic Tools with Nick Desbarats
From FP&A Unlocked by Paul Barnhurst
March 5, 2026 · 59 min · Season 1 · Episode 104
About this episode
Nick Desbarats discusses the skills and insights needed for effective data visualisation in finance.
In this episode, host Paul Barnhurst is joined by Nick Desbarats, a data visualisation expert, bestselling author, and independent educator, to discuss data visualisation. Nick talks about the skills needed to create effective charts, how to avoid common mistakes, and the importance of understanding the "job" of a chart. He shares his journey from software executive to becoming an authority in the field and explains why the true skill of visualising data goes beyond knowing the software. Nick is the author of Practical Charts (Amazon #1 New Release) and the upcoming Practical Dashboards . He has taught thousands of professionals globally, including teams at NASA, Bloomberg, Visa, the United Nations, Shopify, and more. He is also the first educator authorised by Stephen Few to teach his foundational data visualisation workshops. Expect to Learn: Why understanding the "job" of a chart is more important than the data itself The key skills needed for creating effective charts Common mistakes in data visualisation and how to avoid them Why empathy for your audience is crucial when designing visuals How to decide when to use default charts vs. creating custom visuals Here are a few…
People in this episode
Host: Paul Barnhurst
Guest: Nick Desbarats
Topics covered
- data visualisation
- effective charts
- common mistakes
- audience empathy
- custom visuals
Keywords
- data visualisation
- charts
- skills
- audience
- common mistakes
- custom visuals
- software
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NASA, Bloomberg, Visa, United Nations, Shopify
Products: Practical Charts, Practical Dashboards
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