Journey to Chief Data and AI Officer

In Episode 30, of Season 4, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Sol Rashidi, Former Chief Data, Analytics & AI Officer at various Fortune 100 organisations and now advisor, where they discuss what really causes many of the Data & Analytics industry's challenges and the importance of perception, which includes;

• Starting out as a Data Engineer
• Being a translator before the translator skillset was recognised
• Being a techno-functional Data Executive
• Helping to launch IBM Watson
• Why you’re never brought in as a CDO when things are going well
• Why your value has nothing to do with what you can build
• Why success has nothing to do with your competence in the data space
• Why you’ve only got 6 months to build the perception of value as a Data Leader
• The framework of understanding what are common, core and local data challenges
• Putting wins on the board amongst conflicting agendas
• Over 70% of organisations don’t understand the value of a CDO yet
• The importance of asking your stakeholders what they think your job is
• Understanding who and what you should prioritise
• What we actually mean when we talk about 'good communication' and ‘getting out in the business’
• Why you need to create function-specific strategy documents for each key stakeholder
• The importance of talking in the language of your stakeholders
• Why you should always talk about their needs and requests
• Creating brand equity by ensuring your stakeholders feel heard and understood
• The catalyst for writing her best-selling book
• Having 40 AI deployments in production at in enterprise organisations
• The 3 key reasons why organisations change tact and don’t follow through
• Why data analytics work is the hardest to quantify in business
• The three measurements of value and ROI; financial, cultural and relevancy
• Landing different messages for different personas
• Why 60% of the day is committed to communication
• Why you presume that people know what you’re doing but they never do
• Why data and analytics people don’t get the correct training to be successful at the executive level
• Why it’s less about IQ and more about EQ, BQ and SQ
• Why you need to report to ‘the business’ if you want to be respected, but, why it’s easier to do the work under IT
• Why you’ll always be starting from a deficit in perception if you sit within IT  
• Why having responsibility is different to having the authority
• What the future of AI will look like
• Why they’ll be a decrease in the amount of AI-based projects over the next 12-24 months  

Thanks to our sponsor, Data Literacy Academy.

Data Literacy Academy is leading the way in transforming enterprise workforces with data literacy across the organisation, through a combination of change management and education. In today's data-centric world, being data literate is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity.

If you want successful data product adoption, and to keep driving innovation within your business, you need to start with data literacy first.

At Data Literacy Academy, we don't just teach data skills. We empower individuals and teams to think critically, analyse effectively, and make decisions confidently based on data. We're bridging the gap between business and data teams, so they can all work towards aligned outcomes.

From those taking their first steps in data literacy to seasoned experts looking to fine-tune their skills, our data experts provide tailored classes for every stage. But it's not just learning tracks that we offer. We embed a deep data culture shift through a transformative change management programme.

We take a people-first approach, working closely with your executive team to win the hearts and minds. We know this will drive the company-wide impact that data teams want to achieve.

Get in touch and find out how you can unlock the full potential of data in your organisation. Learn more at www.dl-academy.com.