Data Radicals

The Human Side of Data Leadership

Sep 13, 2023

This podcast delves into the traits of a successful data leader, the importance of soft skills, and the challenges faced by a Chief Data Officer. It also explores the impact of building a data culture and adapting strategies in the face of challenges.

24:38

Creator website

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Establishing trust and collaboration with business sponsors is crucial for data leaders to solve important business questions.

Data leaders must cultivate a data culture by leading by example, being curious about data, and involving people with a background in data to push for data-driven decision-making.

Deep dives

Traits of Successful Data Leaders

Successful CDOs quickly establish trust with business sponsors and work together to solve important business questions. Communication skills are crucial for CDOs, who act as the bridge across different stakeholders. CDOs must be flexible, playing offense and defense to drive value across the data value chain.

Introduction

3min

The Skills and Role of a Chief Data Officer

2min

Leading by Example and Building a Data Culture

3min

Adapting Strategies and Transforming Data in the Face of Challenges

14min

Leading in a Startup Environment and the Paradox of Leadership

3min

Over the last two seasons of Data Radicals, we’ve seen that data experts have been promoted to leadership roles. It’s proof that organizations are seeing the value of data and the significance of establishing a data culture.

In this episode, you’ll hear from past guests like Stan McChrystal, Tricia Wang, and Paul Leonardi as they discuss traits of a successful data leader, adapting your data strategies, and the importance of soft skills.

--------

“I found that if I told somebody to do a task, they might try to do that task. But if I say, ‘Create this effect,’ they owned it because they felt a level of responsibility for what approach that they chose, and it made it much stickier.” – Stan McChrystal, Retired US Army General

“I think having gone through the valley of suffering myself, I have a massive amount of respect for founders because they carry a weight that most people will never realize. So it's hard for me not to like them.” – Jepson Taylor, Chief AI Strategist at Dataiku

“Those CDOs that are most successful quickly establish trust within business, with business sponsors. They work with the business sponsors to identify what are the one or two or three most important things to them and see if they can solve those questions, even if it’s with a very small subset of data, to begin to develop that relationship, that trust.” – Randy Bean, Author of Fail Fast, Learn Faster

“You have to be able to have a learner’s mindset. You have to understand what different teams and functions do and how they play into a bigger picture so that you can get into cause and effect. And then when you start to do that, you have a lot more ability to actually have impact.” – Wendy Turner-Williams, CDO at Tableau

--------

Time Stamps:

*(00:48): Randy Bean: Alignment with expectations

*(02:39): Jennifer Belissent: The diplomatic CDO

*(05:01): Taylor Brown: Lead by example

*(05:44): Ashish Thusoo: The DNA of a CDO

*(07:48): Stan McChrystal: The strength of humility

*(15:40): Paul Leonardi: Collaboration, computation, and change

*(17:50): Mike Capone: Tapping your network

*(18:39): Tricia Wang: The other vital “C’s”

*(19:41): Bernard Liautaud: Setting your North

*(21:03): Jepson Taylor: Heroism and the human touch