Data Radicals Delegate to Innovate: How Letting Go Makes You a Better Leader with Todd James, Founder & CEO of Aurora Insights
What does it take to turn AI hype into operational value at enterprise scale?
In this episode of Data Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Todd James, former Chief Data and Technology Officer at 84.51° and Kroger executive, to unpack the realities of leading AI transformation inside one of America’s largest grocery retailers.
Drawing on a career that spans the Coast Guard, consulting, and Fortune 100 leadership, Todd shares how scaling AI isn’t just about building advanced algorithms—it’s about solving real problems, embedding with the business, and building reusable infrastructure that lasts.
“If the people at the consumption end of your sciences aren’t bought in, they don’t get implemented.”
Listen to this episode to learn:
- How effective leaders “delegate to innovate” and create space for team growth
- How AI reduced Kroger’s pick-order travel time by 10% and truck route distance by 8.6%
- Why the CDO role is likely transitional—and what’s next for data leadership
- What it takes to embed data science into the operational core of a business
This conversation is a must-listen for anyone building AI programs, leading data teams, or navigating digital transformation.
Listen now: https://www.alation.com/podcast/episodes/delegate-innovate-todd-james
*Satyen’s narration was created using AI
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“ I think we should go into every project, every initiative, saying, ‘I own an outcome around bringing people along and convincing them.’ If you're doing that right, you're probably spending more than half of the project or half the initiative on managing those organizational dynamics. Working with people and how they think and how they feel to be able to drive them to an outcome to listen. I think that's more than half the work that needs to happen in the space. We talk about data and analytics and how hard the math is and how cool the outcomes are, but this is transformation. This is about people.” – Todd James
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Time Stamps
*(01:46): Todd’s career journey: From the Coast Guard to Fidelity
*(10:03): Great leaders delegate: Advice for aspiring executives
*(12:53): AI retail use cases: Quicker routes and personalization at scale
*(26:12): Reapplying data-science processes across distinct problems
*(40:21): Is the CDO role transitional?
*(48:27): Satyen’s takeaways
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Sponsor
This podcast is presented by Alation.
Learn more:
* Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alation.com/podcast/
* Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/
* Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/
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Links