How Can Data Leaders Shift from Data-First to Business-First Mindset? With Deepak Jose, Global Data, Analytics and AI leader

Oct 16, 2024

Deepak Jose, Vice President of Data Sciences & Business Intelligence at Niagara Bottling, discusses his career transition from mechanical engineer to data leader. He emphasizes the necessity of a business problem-first mindset over a data-first approach. Deepak shares insights on the evolving role of AI in business, advocating for adaptable strategies rather than rigid capabilities. He stresses the importance of empathy and collaboration in leadership to truly solve organizational challenges. Personal reflections highlight the significance of family and work-life balance.

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Episode notes

Intro

00:00 • 3min

From Data to Business: The Transformational Journey

02:44 • 19min

Evolving Data Strategies in the CPG Industry

21:26 • 3min

Transforming Business with Generative AI

24:17 • 17min

Inspirational Leaders and Motivational Stories

41:30 • 2min

Balancing Life and Grief: Family First

43:00 • 3min

Key Moments

From Engineer to Data Leader (03:05)
A Mindset Shift: Business Problem First, Data Second (9:31)
Learning From Missteps (11:00)
The Gazelle and the Lion Analogy (14:53)
The Role of AI: Do Things, Do Things Better, and Do Better Things (25:58)
Built to Last versus Built to Adapt (40:01)

Key Quotes

"Instead of a data-first mindset, you need to have a business problem-first and data-second mindset. That has helped me transform myself as a leader quite a bit."
"It’s more important to define the problem right than solving the problem. How can we understand what you’re trying to solve, and how it impacts the stakeholder?"
“The head of data analytics functions need to be business problem driven, empathy driven, and not technology-first minded or AI-first minded. Our objective is to solve the business problems of the organization. Data, AI, and tech are the enablers.”
"In the past, we built capabilities to last. Now, the mindset has to be to build capabilities to adapt."

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Deepak Jose Biography

Deepak Jose is Vice President, Head of Data Sciences & Business Intelligence at Niagara Bottling. He is a member of the Forbes Tech Council, AWS Retail and CPG Executive Advisory Forum, industry standards associations, Editorial Board for CDO Magazine, and an advisor for startups and AI analytics service companies.

Before Niagara, Jose was part of global brands like Coca-Cola, Mars, ABB Group, Asurion and Mu Sigma in strategic roles driving business growth. He was named to the 2023 Consumer Good Visionaries by Consumer Goods Technology and Retail Info Systems News, the 2023 40 under 40 by CDO Magazine, the 2022 and 2023 Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics by Corinium Global Intelligence, the 2023 100 Most Influential AI Leaders in USA by AIM Research, the 2023 Direct 60 List by The Lead, and the 2023 DataIQ 100 lists.

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