The Data Chief: Recent Episodes

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Each day, valuable patient data collected by healthcare systems. When used properly as part of healthcare analytics, this can help drive better outcomes for both patients and providers. However, when data management is not effectively implemented, organizations lose out on these benefits. Terry Myerson, CEO of Truveta, saw the need to unlock data’s potential while still ensuring privacy and security. In this episode, he discusses his company’s unique approach, the urgent need for better data insights for treatment protocols, and how AI is creating both efficiencies and concerns when making sense of data.

Tune in to learn:

• The origin of Truveta [6:28]
• Pulling data from the provider, not the patient [9:47]
• Fragmentation, privacy, and unstructured data [11:58]
• Healthcare data trends [15:50]
• Population-level data [17:49]
• Bringing in data from multiple systems [23:08]
• Why transparency earns trust [26:10]
• Language models and generative AI [28:10]
• Terry’s career journey [35:29]

Mentions:

• Providence Healthcare
• CNN
• Rogaine
• Ozempic
• Boston Scientific
• National Library of Medicine
• Bloomberg
• Microsoft
• World Health Organization
• Common Spirit
• Trinity Health
• The Emperor of All Maladies
• Macklemore

About Terry Myerson: I am CEO and co-founder of Truveta, whose mission is Saving Lives with Data. Truveta delivers the most complete, timely, and clean EHR data on U.S. health from more than 30 leading health systems. Truveta aims to help researchers find cures faster, empower every clinician to be an expert, and help families make the most informed decision about their care. Truveta’s platform is not licensed for targeting advertising to patients or physicians.

Previously, I enjoyed a 21-year career at Microsoft. As Executive Vice President, I led the development of Windows, Surface, Xbox, and the early days of Office 365, while serving on the Senior Leadership Team of the company. Prior to Microsoft, I cofounded Intersé, one of the earliest Internet companies, which Microsoft acquired in 1997.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Terry on The Data Chief.

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It’s one thing for a company to invest in new technology. It’s another for a company to become invested in technology. In this episode, Yao Morin, CTO of JLL explains how she isn’t just adding data to the company workflow, but is instead fostering a culture of innovation and data-driven mindsets across the 240-year-old company through education, and by demonstrating data’s business value across departments.

Key Moments:

• Yao’s rapid rise at JLL [4:01]
• Energy efficiency data in commercial real estate [13:26]
• Fostering creativity and imagination in data teams [16:29]
• Better understanding of B2B customer pain points [21:24]
• Yao’s approach to startup investment [23:45]
• Generative AI and the data/analytics workflow [28:58]
• Delegating to better manage large data teams [32:27]
• The underrepresentation of women in data and tech leadership roles [36:02]

Mentions:

• Intuit
• StubHub
• Jira / Confluence
• Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
• Tom Davenport
• Diablo IV (video game)
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

About Yao Morin: A technical executive in the fields of application engineering, platform engineering, data engineering, data platform, ML platform, data science, data analytics, machine learning, and BI reporting. Has designed and championed multiple platform modernization and data migration journeys and data-driven transformations, and is an expert at building modern data-driven product development organizations and cultures in Fortune 500 companies from the ground up.

Currently leading JLL’s Data Strategy. With a team of 700+, developing and implementing enterprise data solutions, and advanced analytics; creating new, state of the art data products; leveraging data science and machine learning to discover new business opportunities; bringing new, innovative technology within JLL and to the commercial real estate industry. Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Yao on The Data Chief.

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The role of data teams continues to evolve across industries. But in mission-driven fields such as healthcare, data creates efficiencies that could potentially save lives. In this episode of The Data Chief, Cindi is joined by Jeremy Forman of Seagen to discuss the pivotal role his data team plays in driving insights-informed decision-making, and how they successfully collaborate with other departments to improve patient outcomes.

Key Moments:

• The key challenges for data leaders in healthcare [3:50]
• How Jeremy’s team supports company-wide initiatives [9:16]
• Fostering cross-team communication and collaboration [12:08]
• An ideal data organizational structure [14:39]
• Driving organizational change [17:09]
• Building an entrepreneurial environment [20:59]
• Setting competing priorities [29:01]
• FAIR data principles [36:34]
• Jeremy’s career path [41:19]

Key Quotes:

• “Never let progress and delivery be at the cost of culture.”
• “Know your business as well as the business knows the business.”
• “I don't think we're going to be talking about chat GPT in 10 years because I think it's going to be so embedded in everything we do and all of our applications and things like this video conferencing software that we won't even chat GPT will be a thing of the past. It'll be more integrated and more seamless in everyday life.”

Mentions:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Geronimo Restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• ChatGPT
• Bard
• Amazon Titan
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Oracle

About Jeremy Forman: Global executive with extensive experience designing and implementing data strategies, building outcomes-focused inclusive teams, and leading organizations through digital and data transformations. An expert at aligning data and digital transformation outcomes with business goals by balancing innovation with risk and creating a data culture that responsibly scales the value of data across the enterprise. Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Jeremy on The Data Chief.

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When it comes to investing, it’s been said that the biggest risk of all is not taking one. But for many of us, the prospect of figuring out how and where to smartly invest our money is overwhelming if not flat out confusing. TIFIN is a FinTech company focused on democratizing this process by matching investors to potential investments with AI. In this episode Raja Musunuru, the Chief Product Officer of financial tech leader TIFIN, covers a wide range of topics, from the importance of understanding customer needs, to promoting data fluency across an organization.

Tune in to learn:

• About TIFIN [00:55]
• Raja’s unique perspective on technology, data, and products [12:01]
• The costs of cloud computing [16:04]
• Cloud governance and oversight [20:02]
• Views on FinOps [21:22]
• Optimizing the costs of multi-cloud operations [29:23]
• Promoting data fluency [36:19]

Mentions:

• TIFIN
• Amicus.io
• Dr. Vinay Nair
• KPMG
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Google Cloud
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
• The Mindset

About Raja Musunuru: A Business leader who believes that Technology is a means to add value to Customers, the Company, its Employees and Shareholders.

Empathetic and Compassionate Leader with the motto - Be More Human than the Day Before. Builds Collaborative and Empowering Cultures.

Passionate in building business savvy technology teams that deliver innovative solutions to drive growth & profits, optimize performance, improve service quality and reduce operating expense.

Develops exceptional relationships with peers, customers and providers with an exemplary ability to partner and develop winning alliances.

Proven change agent with a healthy distaste for maintaining status quo and a relentless focus on continuous improvement.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Raja on The Data Chief.

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Using data to gain customer insights can be difficult. Using data to gain customer insights from an ever-growing, ever-changing entertainment audience presents a much steeper challenge. In this episode, Elizabeth Stone, VP, Data & Insights at Netflix, explains how her dedicated team reflects the larger Netflix culture, balancing hard data with a mindset of learning and experimentation to make decisions that resonate with viewers.

Tune in to learn:

• Elizabeth’s role as head of Netflix’s data and insights team (2:46)
• How Netflix is leveraging machine learning (11:13)
• The continued culture of innovation at Netflix (13:44)
• Using data to inform intuition and choice (18:00)
• How the data and insights team engages with other stakeholders (22:30)
• How Elizabeth obtains the resources she needs (25:37)
• The importance of cross-functional understanding and collaboration (32:13)

Mentions:

• Gartner Data and Analytics Conference
• Lyft
• Randy Bean, author of Fail Fast, Learn Faster
• ChatGPT/OpenAI
• Daft Punk / Hot Chip / LCD Soundsystem

About Elizabeth: Elizabeth Stone leads Netflix’s Data & Insights org. Data & Insights is a centralized and globally distributed team that includes: data engineering, metrics development, analytic insights and tooling, research and development of machine learning algorithms, optimization and automation, experimentation and causal inference, and consumer research. The Data & Insights team applies this functional expertise to improve and evolve all parts of Netflix's business including the member-facing product, streaming delivery, content, studio production, games, ads, business operations, and growth. Elizabeth previously worked in finance, both as a trader and as an economic consultant, before transitioning to the tech industry, where she led teams at Nuna and Lyft. She is a graduate of MIT and Stanford University.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Elizabeth on The Data Chief.

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Most data professionals aspire to be leaders within a single industry. It’s rare to see professionals establish and re-establish themselves as powerful influencers across multiple verticals. But this is precisely what Dr. Alexander Borek has done, helping some of the world’s most recognizable brands scale tangible value from data, analytics, and AI. In this episode, he covers a wide range of topics, including his personal career journey, creating cultures of innovation, centralized vs. decentralized data products, and the imminent impact of generative AI.

Tune in to learn:

• Background on Zalando [2:15]
• Dr. Borek’s The Ultimate Data and AI Guide [5:32]
• Becoming a data leader in multiple industries [7:02]
• Germany’s growing data culture [14:30]
• The need for a greater sense of urgency in data understanding [17:07]
• The origins of the data bash [19:33]
• The benefits of cross-team collaboration [24:44]
• Data mash vs. data fabric [31:30]
• Using data for insight and action [37:28]
• The rapid expansion of generative technologies [40:10]

Mentions:

• Bernard Marr
• The Ultimate Data and AI Guide
• Netflix
• Volkswagen Manufacturing
• Celonis
• Data Warehousing Institute
• The Wall Street Journal
• Kubernetes
• Gartner
• IBM Advanced Analytics Center
• ChatGPT

About Dr. Alexander Borek

Dr. Alexander Borek is a data leader, author and keynoter and supports tech and established companies on their data and AI journeys, in particular, with regards to strategy, roadmap, product management, architecture and scaling tech and talent. He brings a lot of experience in successfully establishing global platforms and scaling software products. As the co-leader of the Zalando Data Foundation, he manages the central data analytics teams for business intelligence, data engineering, machine learning, curated sales/customer/product/partner data, master data management and business process mining and automation. He is driving the data mesh transformation across all business units in the Zalando Group.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Dr. Borek on The Data Chief.

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The role of the CDO is changing, and with these changes come new opportunities to prove business value. On this episode of The Data Chief, Ido Biger, EVP of Data and Technology for Delek US, explains how he’s breaking down data silos and turning insights to actionHe also takes listeners through several analytics use cases including creating operational efficiencies for frontline workers and reducing customer churn. Tune in to learn:* Ido’s role at Delek and confronting his biggest challenge (04:23) * How Ido breaks down data silos (11:53) * Using data-driven insights to increase operational efficiency - Telco case study (15:15) * Using data-driven insights to reduce customer churn - Airline case study (20:01) * Why COVID was a huge opportunity for the airline industry (26:20) * Turning insights to action - Oil and gas case study (29:08) * The importance of finding a sponsor for your data project (32:19) * How to prove value as a CDO (33:04) * Ido’s work as a professor (35:12) * The skills data professionals need to succeed (37:32)

Mentions:* Roman Empire on Netflix * Doug Laney * Simon Sinek * Mashina * The Data Chief Guest’s Pump-Up Songs Playlist

About Ido BigerIdo Biger has served as Executive Vice President since July of 2022.Prior to joining Delek, Ido led the IT division of El Al Airlines, an Israeli airline, alongside the cyber security team, and the data and analytics field (over 200 people), as well as served as the Chairman of the Board for Cockpit Innovation. Ido held two successful Chief Data Officer roles at Telco and Aviation. He led big data teams, BI departments, advanced analytics units (data science), and data literacy programs. Ido was the international speaker and adjunct lecturer at Tel-Aviv University and the Technion for Big Data Technologies, Data Science, and Data Visualization. Ido also represented the state of Israel at MIT’s CDOIQ forum.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Ido on The Data Chief.

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What is the true value of data? Whether you’ve been collecting data for years or are just getting started, the reality is that data holds zero value on its own. In fact, it’s a huge cost. In this episode of The Data Chief, industry veteran Bill Schmarzo, currently in Customer Data Innovation at Dell Technologies, shares why modern data leaders must let go of the notion of being data-driven and focus on business outcomes. He also discusses how having more data isn’t always the right move, especially when considering larger business goals.Tune in to learn:* Demonstrating data’s value in an uncertain economy (7:36) * Defining data KPIs (16:54) * The importance of data-driven decision-making (22:43) * Moving from “data-driven” to “value-driven” (33:24) * Modern data culture (42:08)

Mentions:* Data Analytics Recession Playbook * The top 10 books every data and analytics leader must read

About Bill: Bill Schmarzo has extensive hands-on experience in the areas of big data, data science, design thinking, data monetization, and data economics. Bill is currently part of Dell Technology’s core data management leadership team, where he is responsible for spearheading customer co-creation engagement to identify and prioritize the customers' key data management, data science, and data monetization requirements. Bill also has served as CTO at Dell EMC where he formulated the company’s Big Data Practice strategy, identified target markets, developed solution frameworks, and led Analytics client engagements with his Vision Workshop, a methodology that links an organization’s strategic business initiatives with supporting data and analytics.Bill is the author of four books including: “Big Data: Understanding How Data Powers Big Business”“Big Data MBA: Driving Business Strategies with Data Science”“The Art of Thinking Like a Data Scientist”“The Economics of Data, Analytics, and Digital Transformation”Bill is currently an Adjunct Professor at Menlo College, an Honorary Professor at the University of Ireland – Galway, and an Executive Fellow at the University of San Francisco, School of Management. He holds a Master of Business Administration from University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, Computer Science and Business Administration from Coe College.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Bill on The Data Chief.

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Modern data leaders know creating a data-informed culture requires cross-functional partnership and collaboration across the entire business. IT by themselves can’t do it. Nor can individual business departments. Both the IT and business strategy must be in lock step to achieve results. On this episode of The Data Chief, Dora Boussias, Senior Director of Data Strategy and Architecture at Stryker, discusses the role of modern data executives, three keys to creating a data-informed culture, and her approach to breaking down silos based on her own 28 years of experience building effective data strategies across industries.Tune in to learn:* How Dora’s diverse experiences have helped her approach to data strategy (6:53) * How data leaders should be connecting data strategies to business value (10:37) * How technical strategy and data strategy differ (13:57) * Dora’s investment in continued learning about business challenges (14:59) * Why there are no “dumb questions” when working toward a goal (18:51) * Emphasizing change management to create a bigger impact (23:36) * The importance of a collaborative culture across all business divisions (28:25) * Can data-fluent cultures be driven from a grassroots approach? (30:32) * Why data alone is not enough to make good decisions (34:00) * The state of female leadership in the data industry (36:55) * The lighting round (45:36)

Mentions: * The Goal * 9 Data and Analytics Trends for 2023 * Randy Bean Survey * Avgolemono Soup Recipe (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)

About Dora BoussiasBusiness data and technology leader with deep domain expertise in data, analytics, enterprise architecture and digital transformation; accustomed to walking the line between Business & IT, comfortable with driving change at global organizations, focused on making meaningful impact to the organization and its ultimate beneficiary, be it patient or customer.Leading with authenticity, empathy, inclusiveness and resilience, strives to drive trusted partnerships to define, design, and implement cross-functional solutions that balance strategic direction with pragmatic needs, simplify processes, boost operational efficacy, and bring timely, relevant, high quality data for the right business decisions.Currently and throughout most her career in leadership roles of enterprise-wide reach, Dora has had the opportunity to make an impact with her work at global organizations such as Stryker, GE, and Prudential. Her 25+ year career includes exposure to Financial Services, Healthcare/Medical Technology, and Retail.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Dora on The Data Chief.

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Everywhere you look, change is redefining the data landscape. From the rise of the analytics engineer to data leaders clamoring to make self service analytics real, it’s clear organizations are looking for new opportunities to put their data to work.But which changes matter? In this episode, we break down some of the data and analytics trends for 2023 that will help you identify key ways to rise above your competitors. Tom Davenport is back for another episode and this time he’s here to talk about AI and the relationship that the workforce should start building with it. Tony Baer weighs in on the great data framework debate. And Sonny Rivera points out the need for better education in the analytics industry, particularly when it comes to data modeling techniques. Tune in to learn:* The biggest surprise in the survey findings around the role of the CDO (03:13) * Data governance or data enablement? (05:14) * CDO’s making a play for CEO in 2023 and beyond (07:27) * Legacy companies and AI adoption (08:30) * 2023 prediction from Tom (13:50) * Could we have predicted that data mesh would be such a hot topic in 2022? (23:45) * Tony’s prediction for data mesh, data lakes, data warehouse, data fabric? (30:28) * Tony’s prediction and hopes for CDOs in 2023 (35:00) * ThoughtSpot's new evangelist, Sonny Rivera (35:55) * Sonny’s work in the DBT community (41:30) * Sonny’s prediction for the analytics engineer in 2023 (44:10) * The need for more modeling education in analytics boot camps (45:02) * What should your 2023 resolution be as an analytics engineer? (48:06)

Mentions:* + CDO Agenda 2023: Prioritizing business value creation + Tom Davenport Books + Zhamak Deghani on The Data Chief + Tony’s reaction to an article article about the best Data Mesh + 9 data and analytics trends for 2023 - eBook + Cindi’s 2023 Predictions

About TomTom Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, the co-founder of the International Institute for Analytics, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative for the Digital Economy, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics. He has written or edited twenty books and over 250 print or digital articles for Harvard Business Review (HBR), Sloan Management Review, the Financial Times, and many other publications. He earned his Ph.D from Harvard University and has taught at the Harvard Business School, the University of Chicago, the Tuck School of Business, Boston University, and the University of Texas at Austin.One of HBR’s most frequently published authors, Tom has been at the forefront of the Process Innovation, Knowledge Management, and Analytics and Big Data movements. He pioneered the concept of “competing on analytics” with his 2006 Harvard Business Review article and his 2007 book by the same name. Since then, he has continued to provide cutting-edge insights on how companies can use analytics and big data to their advantage, and then on artificial intelligence. Tom’s book, co-authored with Julia Kirby, Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines offers tangible tools for individuals who need to work with cognitive technologies and in his latest book, The AI Advantage: How to Put the Artificial Intelligence Revolution to Work, he provides a guide to using artificial technologies in business. You can read a review of The AI Advantage on MIT Press.Harvard Business Review editors highlighted his latest ideas in the 10 Must Reads 2017: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year and again in the 2019 issue. One of his articles is also in the new 10 Must Reads on AI, Analytics, and the New Machine Age. Tom was also named one of ten “Top Voices” by LinkedIn–in 2016 for Education, and in 2018 for Technology. He has also been named one of the top three business/technology analysts in the world, one of the 100 most influential people in the IT industry, and one of the world’s top fifty business school professors by Fortune magazine.About Tony|Tony Baer is the founding principal of dbInsight LLC, which you can find at https://dbinsight.io. The goal of dbInsight is to provide independent counsel to data and analytics technology providers navigating a changing world where cloud deployment, artificial intelligence, and data are upending their client's expectations. Baer is an authority on how cloud-native architecture can transform traditional on-premise data platforms, and how it can be used to break down data and application silos. dbInsight delivers counsel to vendors and publishes independent research that is available through partners.Baer is capitalizing on a decade of thought leadership at Ovum where he created two new research practices, and was one of Ovum's most visible analysts. He reaches tens of thousands of followers as part of the Big on Data blogging team at ZDNet, along with his Twitter and LinkedIn blogging feeds.Among his accomplishments, Baer created and defined the emerging "Fast Data" market segment, focusing on real-time analytics on data at scale. He pioneered research calling for emergent approaches to data governance and data quality that are now being embraced by data integration tool vendors.About SonnySonny Rivera is a Senior Analytics Evangelist at ThoughtSpot. Sonny is a modern data stack thought leader and expert. He brings with him over 25 years of experience in delivering data solutions that drive business value and increase the speed to insights. He also has a long history of bridging the gap between business needs and technical capabilities.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Tom, Tony and Sonny on The Data Chief.

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On this episode of The Data Chief, we look back at some of the key themes from season one, including the rise of the CDO, the intricacies of aligning your department’s goals with that of the businesses, and how you coped with accelerated timelines. While we relive these important conversations, we also discuss why culture and data fluency continue to be the biggest hurdles to becoming a truly data-driven business.

Tune in to learn: * The Rise of the Data Chief (02:54) * Aligning with Your Business Values (08:32) * Rapid Technical Innovation and the Shift to Cloud (15:52) * Technology Reflects Culture (23:30) * Assessing your Data Fluency (31:52)

About Cindi

Cindi Howson is an analytics and BI expert with 20-plus years’ experience and a flair for bridging business needs with technology. Cindi was previously a Gartner Vice President in data and analytics, lead author of the Analytics and BI Magic Quadrant, data and analytics maturity model, as well as research in data and AI for good, NLP/BI Search, and augmented analytics. She introduced the BI bake-offs and innovation panels at Gartner events globally and is a popular keynote speaker. Prior to this, she was the founder of BI Scorecard, a resource for in-depth product reviews based on exclusive hands-on testing, a contributor to Information Week, and the author of several books including Successful Business Intelligence: Unlock the Value of BI & Big Data and SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0: The Complete Reference. She served as The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) faculty member for more than a decade. Prior to founding BI Scorecard, Howson was a manager at Deloitte & Touche and a BI standards leader for Dow Chemical. She has an MBA from Rice University and a BA from the University of Maryland.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders on The Data Chief. https://www.thoughtspot.com/data-chief

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Treating data as a treasure is a foundational principle for Jan Sheppard, the Chief Data and Analytics officer at New Zealand’s Crown Research Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR.) This agency leads ongoing research in public health, environmental health, and forensics for the country of New Zealand. Like many other CDAOs, her role is relatively new. But the unique values she applies to data can be traced back many hundreds of years to the indigenous Maori people of her country. Through her work, Jan recognizes the profound impact data can have on people and their environments for generations to come. Learn more about the important climate and health policy challenges that ESR is working to solve with data in this episode, plus her take on data literacy vs. business savviness, and why her data strategy is just two pages long.

Tune in to learn: * How do you make vastly different data work together at ESR? (07:12) * Data’s role as a treasure (11:43) * How do government and private companies look at data differently (13:50) * How do you guard against the misuse of data? (18:39) * Dangers of misinterpreting the models and the need for data-savvy (21:16) * Jan’s data North Star - recognizing the value of the data (25:10) * Goal to create digital twins to help address climate change (30:13) * Working around the difficulty of unstandardized ESG reporting (34:05) * Maori values and data at ESR - the life force of data (40:35)

Mentions * The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution book by Walter Isaacson

About Jan

Jan Sheppard is the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research where she is responsible for leading the data practice including data science and computational science. Her work includes building new worlds through data to gain insights into how changes in the environment impact on human health, which is critical to understand as we face the reality of climate change.

Jan is a pioneer in pushing boundaries of how data can create value beyond what is imaginable. Jan has built a start up in the middle of an established organisation to create the culture and way of working around data needed to take the organisation forward into the future. And is always building out an ecosystem through data that goes beyond the organisation she works for to enable informed system level thinking.

Jan was acknowledged as one of the top 100 innovators in data and analytics in the world in 2020, and has enjoyed many opportunities to share her vision for data and achievements internationally.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Jan on The Data Chief. https://www.thoughtspot.com/data-chief

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It is once again that time of year when our host, Cindi Howson shares her favorite data and analytics book recommendations. In this special annual episode, we feature three of the industry’s top data writers, thinkers, and fellow podcasters. Tim Harford comes to the conversation with his new book, The Data Detective, and big-picture ideas about how traits like curiosity serve data scientists so well. Zhamak Dehghani shares her concept of The Data Mesh, especially as it relates to sharing data across business verticals. Finally, in his book, Effective Data Storytelling, Brent Dykes compels readers to think carefully about the way they craft the message or narrative around the data they’re interpreting.

Tune in to learn: * Making sense of the world through a data lens with Tim Harford (05:18) * Tim’s favorite of the ten data commandments (07:11) * Guard against using data as a control mechanism (15:14) * How does curiosity create a healthier relationship with data? (19:57) * Data Mesh with Zhamak Dehghani (32:31) * Blending centralized and decentralized schools of thought (36:39) * Data Mesh isn’t for everyone (48:11) * How do you begin your data mesh transformation? (53:28) * Brent Dykes and the importance of data storytelling (1:02:17) * Why do data scientists need to be better communicators? (1:11:13) * The Venn diagram of data storytelling (1:15:14)

Mentions: * The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics by Tim Harford * Data Mesh: Delivering Data-Driven Value at Scale by Zhamak Dehghani * Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative, and Visuals by Brent Dykes

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Tim, Zhamak, and Brent on The Data Chief.

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

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Who’s hungry? Thanks to delivery apps like DoorDash, it’s never been easier for modern consumers to satisfy almost any craving in just a few taps. At the helm of DoorDash’s data organization is VP of Analytics & Data Science, Jessica Lachs. With metrics guiding every decision at the company, a key part of her decision-making comes down to properly quantifying the value of each possible tradeoff. Learn more about her decision-making framework, plus how her career in finance evolved into entrepreneurship and ultimately led her to create the data and analytics organization at DoorDash.

Tune in to learn: * Using data to move levers that balance tradeoffs (09:28) * Managing an unpredictable and complicated supply chain (12:26) * The confluence of personalization and consumer privacy (15:08) * Strategy for data architecting by the DoorDash team (21:00 * Cultivating a creative team that also communicates effectively (26:59) * Unlikely career journey: Lehman Brothers to entrepreneurship (33:00) * Cultivating a positive response to failure (35:51) * Lightning Round (40:15)

Mentions: * DoorDash Restaurant Online Ordering Trends * Building a Source for Truth for a Digital Inventory with Disparate Data Sources * How To Drive Effective Data Science Communications * The Rose Code: A Novel by Kate Quinn * The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Jessica on The Data Chief.

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

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“I often get asked, ‘Well, when will we be done with this data migration?’ And I'm like, ‘We're never really done… and we shouldn't look at it as a failure or anything like that. It's just an evolving system that will keep growing and changing and transforming.’” What keeps a data pro at one company for almost thirty years? On this episode of The Data Chief, Pascale Hutz, the Chief Data Officer and EVP of Enterprise Digital & Data Solutions at American Express, shares how her career at American Express has transformed over the years and what she’s learned along the way. Tune in to hear more about her latest cloud migration journey, why she’s on a “mission to decommission,” and how she fights imposter syndrome even as a C-level executive in one of the largest, most impactful financial services firms in the world. Key Insights What does Pascale mean by considering data as alive? (11:58) “... Data has to be a living, breathing kind of organism. And when you have that mindset, you don't really think of data as done. Data's never finished. Platforms are never POA. They're never point of arrival because there's always something else coming. And as long as you have that data mindset and… data as a product, we're keeping pace with the evolving technology and making sure that we're headed in that direction wherever that may go. Today, it's cloud, but five years from now, I bet you it's going to be something else and we just have to get ready — be ready for it.

Pascale brings up the notion of “managing data as a product.” She also explains that data has to be thought of as ever-evolving and, therefore, suggests that innovation is born from an ever-ready adaptive posture. Does your institution think of data as being alive? How can a culture be created that views data this way? Why should leaders stay tranquil during business transformation? (16:25) “In my career, I've always been at the forefront of large infrastructure changes. And to me… you just can't be too wound up about it. Things will go wrong. It's okay. So to me, it's more healthy [and] more Zen to view it as a lazy river, even though sometimes it does feel like white water rafting.”

Transformation comes with imperfection, partly because everything created is imperfect despite best efforts. It seems that Pascale suggests that accepting this reality can give a leader a sense of calm. Does your organization allow for imperfection? Even more importantly, perhaps, do you? Why is it important to let some old tech go? (21:21) “We have to get into that mindset of — decommissioning the past makes way for the future. It makes room because… when you leave these legacy systems lying around, somebody's maintaining them or worse yet somebody's not maintaining them and then… bad things are happening.”

This concept of letting go of old things to make space for new ones works well philosophically and practically. By letting go of ideas or structures that have outlived their usefulness, we can come to different conclusions and foster new creations.

Mentions: "Data Mesh: Delivering Data-Driven Value at Scale" (written by Zhamak Dehghani) World50 “Enterprise Data Platforms, American Express, VP: The Data Landscape is Evolving Continuously” “Not Impossible” (written by Mick Ebeling)

About Pascale Pascale Voldman Hutz is currently serving as Chief Data Officer at American Express and Executive Vice President (EVP) of the Enterprise Digital and Data Solutions (EDDS) group. Pascale and her team play a critical role in accelerating American Express’ digital engagement and revenue growth momentum by leveraging technology, design and data to develop digital products, platforms and personalization that allow our company to deliver the world's best customer experience every day. EDDS’ remit cuts across the entire customer lifecycle, starting from digital acquisition and marketing through digital membership, and Pascale’s team owns the enterprise platforms on which these digital customer experiences are built. As Chief Data Officer of the Company, she also leads the team that is responsible for the products and platforms that create, manage, govern, and share our common data frameworks and data assets.

Prior to this role, Pascale held the position of EVP of the Global Strategy & Support, and led 3,600 global employees in operational strategy development, process design & engineering, capacity management, governance, analytics, training, and infrastructure enablement for the Global Services Group. In addition to her operations experience, Pascale has honed her skills in compliance and operational excellence management. Under Pascale’s remit she oversaw extensive monitoring across the Global Servicing Group to ensure all regulatory commitments are being upheld. She also had responsibility for the Enterprise Complaint Center of Excellence which is chartered with ensuring AmEx has a robust complaints management program. Pascale joined American Express in 1995 in Risk & Information Management where she held various roles focused on collections risk mitigation as well as transaction authorizations policies. Pascale has a strong background in credit treatments, analytics and product implementation.

Pascale holds a master’s degree in statistics from Cornell University and graduated with honors from Binghamton University with bachelors' degrees in economics and mathematics. She is fluent in English and French. She currently resides in Putnam County, NY, with her husband and three children.

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“One of the things that I think is really evolving is the consideration of healthcare and the data around it as an ecosystem.”

How can data be activated to create better healthcare outcomes? Dr. Victoria Gamerman, the Global Head of Data Governance and Insights at Boehringer Ingelheim, offers that part of the answer is that data is changing to be thought of as part of the broader healthcare “ecosystem.” Listen in for more of Victoria’s takes on how data can improve healthcare. Key Insights

Patients need the power (13:25) Access to data in healthcare has long been fraught with difficulty. In part, this is due to privacy concerns. Victoria contends that patients must have their health information centrally located and then have the ability to provide access to only those who need it. Additionally, she mentions that patients must be assured that the data in this setting will be used solely for their benefit. Telling data stories: (23:26) Victoria describes a connection between “science and data” and “data storytelling.” For her, telling the story of the data is part of developing a strategy. She makes the point that these elements alongside “medicine and clinical research domain expertise” creates better care for patients. Design thinking in healthcare: (25:30) Focusing on the consumer is what design thinking is all about. Victoria sees design thinking as “knowing the needs of our stakeholders.” She draws attention to the importance of empathy to really understand the needs of “stakeholders.” At the end of the day, empathy and care for others are the guiding light when striving for innovations.

Mentions: * HBS Professor Linda Hill Says Leaders Must Engage with Emotions as Never Before * Clayton Christensen - "Jobs to be Done" theory * “Coded Bias” (movie)

About Victoria

“I am a curious thought and people leader focused on improving healthcare by connecting the dots among patient-centricity, digital health, and real-world evidence to evolve clinical research through innovation and digital transformation.

As Global Head of Data Governance and Insights, I am accountable for shaping the data strategy and data governance for Clinical Development and Operations. Previously, I was the Head of Health Informatics and Analytics where I established the strategic priorities based on needs from Medical and Commercial stakeholders. As a team of data scientists, we executed use cases to generate evidence from external clinical data and real-world health care data in support of drug development.

I have formal training with a PhD and MS in Biostatistics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and MA/BA in Mathematics from Boston University. I am also trained in Scrum/Agile methodologies (Product Owner and Scrum Master) as well as Design Thinking. I currently teach in the Applied Analytics program as an Adjunct Scholar-Professional Lecturer at Columbia University.

I enjoy connecting with others who support the use of data to generate insights, especially with innovative applications to advance the health of patients!”

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“I've always been personally very interested in the intersection of people, of business, and technology, which I think naturally leads one to a data career.”

What sort of person readily accepts a position that has never existed before at a company? Kjersten Moody is the first Chief Data Officer at Prudential Financial and was the initial Chief Data Analytics Officer at a prior career stop at State Farm. Tune in to learn how being a constant learner has consistently allowed her to see challenges as opportunities for growth. Key Insights

What advantages are there in desiring to learn all life long? (04:08) “My family has always been very important and very influential [and] in particular, my father. He was the first person in his family to graduate from high school. And he went on to get a PhD from the University of Chicago in theoretical population genetics. So he was a professional mathematician. He was a professor, and… really from birth onwards, he instilled a sense of curiosity, which inevitably led to being a lifelong learner and – in many ways – challenger [and] believing that there are really no practical limits to the types of questions that could be asked or the opportunities that I could seek.” Perhaps it is accurate to suggest that a “lifelong learner” is likely to become interested in challenges and overcoming them rather than being discouraged upon encountering them. It’s clear to see this characteristic has led to Kjersten’s success and is one for all of us to emulate. What can be gained from an opportunity to work internationally? (15:43) “... People ask me the question, ‘should I think about an international work experience for myself and for my family?’ And without any hesitation, my answer is always ‘yes.’ It is not easy. If you do it right, you will be challenged with preconceived notions that you have.” Kjersten suggests she learned a great deal about the nuances of language and nonverbal communication in different cultures due to her international work experience. Someone else may have found cultural differences confusing and shied away from international work. Kjersten leans into these sorts of challenging experiences. We can all benefit from such an approach, where different cultures are experienced and appreciated, “preconceived notions” are broken down, and stronger, more compassionate character takes their place. How does a cooperative culture help digital transformation? (36:18)) “… The cultural reflex is collaboration and partnership. And so when there are legitimate, very serious questions that need to be worked through, the culture supports that and there's a consistency to how the different roles and the different seats at the table in that conversation are approaching that same conversation together.” Change can be difficult at any institution. When an organization has an established culture that readily allows for change, however, these transformations can be much more achievable. Kjersten clearly describes how the cooperative culture at Prudential has set up the company to change and work together through any challenges that may arise. How can data be used to drive change at a business? (49:33) "We're very careful to make sure that we're part of the business change program because that business change program is really bringing together all the components needed to deliver that business impact from data science, software engineering, risk compliance, [and] the HR dimension to it as well for kind of the people engaged in old processes and how they start to engage in new processes.” Data must be part of a comprehensive, unified strategy, where all relevant parties understand this data as a baseline to drive change. To help a company evolve, all stakeholders need to be at the table and work toward a singular purpose.

Mentions: * “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right” by Atul Gawande

About Kjersten: “Kjersten Moody is the Chief Data Officer of Prudential Financial. Her mission is to deliver leading data and analytics capabilities that will inform business strategy and contribute meaningfully to Prudential’s business results.

Kjersten has over twenty years of experience working with business teams and leaders to effectively use technology, data, and analytics to improve or transform businesses. As a member of Prudential’s Global Technology Senior Leadership Team, she is responsible for Prudential’s enterprise data and analytics function. This includes the enterprise data strategy, data management, and governance, data and modeling platforms, master data management, automation, BI, and data science.

Kjersten holds a BA in Economics with Honors from the University of Chicago.”

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“A lot of companies focus on innovation, but are you willing to take the chance or a calculated risk to change something in your existing models?”

Key Insights Should There Be a Common Mindset Whether in Consulting or Working as an Employee? (08:44) “Just because you were in consulting, that doesn't mean that this is a certain duration of you do things and you forget and you move on and you forget about that. I think if you do it right, you should always be thinking about not just for the impact you’re going to have, but for your clients or for the people that you are doing the work [for]. Even in industry today, you're going to leave a mark.” For Abhi, there’s no real distinction between the mentality of a consultant or an employee. From his perspective, it’s all about striving to make a contribution that will hold up over time. Can A Good Customer Experience Lead To Taking a Job? (13:12) “So, I walked away with a really good experience as an end customer from CarMax. And eventually, CarMax, in 2021, somebody reached out and said, ‘Hey, we are looking. We have an opening for this data leader in CarMax from a technology perspective.’”

Businesses are striving to attract talent. One obvious, if underrated, method to do so is to make sure customers have good experiences. Today’s customer may well become tomorrow’s leader at the company. Who Really Needs To Be Trained Up Regarding Technological Advances? (23:41) Part of being a good leader is being a teacher too and making sure all relevant parties are taught what they need to know to meet their goals. Abhi offers up a helpful reminder that leaders must really think through all the different people who need to be educated on pertinent information for the overall objective of the business to be successful. He sees those that need to be trained up in two different groups. “One is going to be within your own team… As you get into newer technologies or in the cloud, there might be some skill gaps within the existing team members… And then second is then your consumers or the users of your data.” Mentions: * Top Trends for 2022

About Abhi

“A highly strategic, results-oriented and people-first leader with experience in working with big data, cloud, data, and analytics solutions/technologies. Expertise in defining and leading cutting edge transformation programs for cloud data platforms, IoT data solutions, data science & analytics, and building high-performing teams. Recognized thought leader, who advises startups, financial investors/venture capitalist firms on key trends and gaps in technology to build next-generation innovative solutions. Active public speaker at data and analytics events/conferences such as AWS reinvent, and other CDO forums.”

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“One of the biggest roles that a CDO has to advocate for in the C-suite is to be able to explain in plain language what it means for a data policy or a new data platform to actually come to life and make an impact to the organization because otherwise it's just techno-speak and they don't understand it.”

How has the Chief Data Officer role changed? Heidi Lanford, CDO of Fitch Group, shares that “it’s gone from stewarding and protecting data to monetization of data.” She explains how CDOs can be effective by working together with other company leaders and communicating simply. Learn from Heidi why there can be great career value in being willing to be uncomfortable. Key Insights What’s the Best Way To Ensure Data Is Guiding a Business’ Gameplan? (10:03) “Do I want to be sure that the CTO organization understands our data needs and how we need to access data and the timeliness of that, and hand those requirements over and work in concert with the CTO to ensure that we have the best platform for that? Absolutely. And so that's where we're focusing on the data platform and what technology we need for the data platform, but whether it's AWS or Google or Microsoft, I value their knowledge and partnership. And so that's how we've tried to divvy things up in a way, but work in concert.” For Heidi, it all comes down to taking a collaborative approach with other business leaders. Leadership is about building consensus.”

How Should a CDO Communicate With Other Company Leaders? (12:54) "One of the biggest roles that a CDO has to advocate for in the C-suite is to be able to explain in plain language what it means for a data policy or a new data platform to actually come to life and make an impact to the organization because otherwise it's just techno-speak and they don't understand it.” To build consensus and drive change, it makes sense that one has to first make sure that all interested parties appreciate the proposed direction.

In Your Career Journey, Why Is It Good To Be Uncomfortable? (37:48) “I seem to be drawn to positions that maybe offer a little bit of discomfort and I feel that that's a great way to grow. I pick up things. Every time I'm in a different job, there's just something new and there's always something positive that I think you can take from each of your positions and what you've learned, and they have an impact on who you are and what you're able to do.” There’s no doubt that both professional and personal growth requires a willingness to be uncomfortable. Rather than uncomfortably being something painful to avoid, Heidi seems to offer that it can be reframed as “a great way to grow.”

Mentions: * “Getting to ‘Yes And’: The Art of Business Improv” * Building CDO Influence in the C-Suite

About Heidi Lanford “Heidi Lanford is Chief Data Officer for Fitch Group. She is responsible for transforming the way Fitch leverages data across its businesses to enhance current products and internal applications, as well as exploiting the value of data for new product development. Ms. Lanford joined Fitch in 2020 from Red Hat (an IBM company), where she was the Vice President of Enterprise Data & Analytics, responsible for developing their data and analytics ecosystem, establishing data governance, and building an insights-driven organization. Formerly Ms. Lanford held executive positions with Avaya and WPP. Ms. Lanford is a frequent keynote speaker on topics about building a data culture, data literacy, applied analytics/data science, and women in STEM. She holds a BA in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Virginia, where she sits on the board of their School of Data Science.”

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“Master data is so crucial, for the interoperability and the integration of enterprise data. So we have focused effort on making sure that master data is available so that there's, we eliminate the point to point data sharing and data master data is easily available to create that 360-degree view of healthcare providers as an example.”

The data outlook is evolving in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Murali Vridhachalam, the Head of Enterprise Data and Analytics at Gilead Sciences, and Mahmood Majeed, Managing Partner at ZS Associates, offer their compelling perspectives on digital transformation in life sciences and healthcare and how data can be used in these arenas to make a positive impact. They explain why regulations do not have to inhibit innovation while digging into how this sector can adopt new paradigms such as the data mesh. Plus, Mahmood and Murali share their takes on how to effectively reskill data professionals and much more. Key Insights How do you create a data-driven culture on a legacy technology stack? (13:10) “We are trying to disrupt that culture by enabling self-analytics. And by the way, we position parts part as that strategic tool to enable self analytics.” - Murali Vridhachalam

The democratization of data and rise of self-service analytics in business means that time is ripe for meaningful cultural change. With easier access to insights, every business person on every team has the ability to be more data-driven.

Why must modern IT pro's expertise span cross-disciplinary boundaries? (36:28) “Data scientists have to work in the business units that are central IT teams and gain that experience because having the knowledge of the business process, how the business works, and gaining the domain knowledge is absolutely crucial in developing good machine learning algorithms.” - Murali Vridhachalam

Although Mahmood and Murali each articulate it differently, they both agree data professionals need to have a diverse skillset that spans technical prowess and business acumen. As the world has grown more complex, workers are constantly required to learn more and adapt quickly to new concepts.

How is data and analytics really delivering improved patient outcomes? (25:21) “The ecosystem has been quite sophisticated, talking about the AI use cases, you actually can predict the likelihood of a prescriber writing a script before a script is being written. You can actually prescribe, can actually predict a patient dropping a therapy before it actually drops, or you can actually predict a plan changing their formulary status before it actually happens.” - Mahmood Majeed

The opportunities for greater healthcare system efficiency through the implementation of AI and machine learning are great. Already improved outcomes are seeing patients and providers benefiting from better and more timely care.

What does the convergence of data, AI, and cloud mean for modern data leaders? (08:56) “The convergence of data, AI, and cloud, and we have a lot of enterprise data on the cloud, and we will apply AI and machine learning on top of it. It yields special use cases. There was never before possible because data was always in silos, And the scale of the cloud lets us work on data better by scale data.”

We are in the early days of this data-rich frontier. So much data that has been in existence is finally now converging, and so much more potential lies still untapped. The life sciences and healthcare industries are moving quickly to increasing data and digital acceleration.

Mentions: Zhamak Dehghani Data Mesh

About Mahmood Majeed Mahmood is a managing principal and leads ZS‘s global digital and technology practice area. For the past 22 years, he has partnered with 100-plus global life sciences companies advising clients on delivering measurable business outcomes by realizing and optimizing value of investments in technology, digital and AI that directly contribute to the growth initiatives of the organization.

About Murali Vridhachalam Murali Vridhachalam is the Head of Enterprise Data and Analytics at Gilead Sciences, a research-based pharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Gilead in March of 2021, Murali held several leadership positions at IBM in the areas of Data, Analytics, Supply Chain, Enterprise Services, and Software Development.

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“Every company today is a data and tech company, whether it realizes it or not.”

Your data will never be clean and it will never be perfect. So how do we create meaningful models anyway? As Dr. Katia Walsh puts it, data leaders are facing a “tsunami of data.” But that tsunami shouldn’t stop you from testing, iterating, and moving quickly. Dr. Walsh is the Chief Global Strategy and AI Officer at Levi Strauss & Co. and today she shares how her team has leveraged a mindset of “think big, start small, scale fast” to create cutting-edge data models and digital capabilities quickly. Key Insights What are the 3Cs every business needs to invest in? (4:22) Building out new digital and AI capabilities is about improving the 3 Cs. Modern business can't survive without them:

“We talk about using digital data and AI as a capability to create three smarter Cs: 1.) Smarter connections with our consumers 2.) Smarter commerce and 3.) Smarter creation, which is the essence of a company like Levi & Strauss.”

When it comes to customer data, it's not business, it's personal. (8:21) From the recommendations engine on the website to location-based options in-store, to the loyalty rewards customers have access to, Levi Strauss & Co. is creating personalized experiences at every point of the customer journey.

“No two Levi consumers are the same – why should the rewards that we offer in our loyalty program be the same? We use more data than we have ever had in the past and apply machine learning to that data to ensure that we provide an exclusive, fully individualized benefits for each of our individual loyalty program members. So one loyalty program member who is into music would get access to concert tickets. Another loyalty program member who is into fashion trends would get early access to our collaboration… These are just some examples of how for Levi's consumers, it is not business, it's all personal. And in fact, we turn these consumers into fans around the world.

Why is it important to think big, but start small, and scale fast? (18:43) Building “the perfect” model takes time, resources, and buy-in from leadership. But what if your model didn’t need to be perfect and you could demonstrate ROI quickly on a small scale? Katia tells us how they do just that at Levi Strauss & Co..

“There's a model that I found tremendously helpful in my career… and that is think big, start small and scale fast… We want to make sure we focus on both transformative capabilities that may take a little bit longer to materialize, and at the same time also quick wins so that we show that value and gain momentum. Once you gain momentum, you gain champions. And once you gain champions, you gain a following. It becomes a movement throughout the enterprise and you no longer have to do it yourself. You do it together as a whole company.”

Is there no such thing as perfect data? (19:43)

Data is a reflection of the world and the world is messy. Your data will never be clean and it will never be perfect - but that’s okay.

“You cannot stop data by definition. If you're trying to make it clean, you have to stop it. That's just not possible. It's a tsunami of data… [For example, in 2020], when we gathered data and created price elasticity models and applied machine learning, we realized that consumers in most cases would pay full price because of the strength of the brand… and because we did that, we were able to not discount, to charge full price, and also get to consumers what they needed when they needed that. So it was truly a win-win and it helped us emerge from the crisis that we all faced even healthy as a company than we have been before. Did we wait for the perfect data? No. Did we wait for even the perfect models? No. Did we make sure that we solve the problem right when we needed it? Yes, absolutely. And we do this all the time across the company.”

Data literacy is a mindset. (30:36)

Your organization’s next data champion or data leader may not come from the background you’d expect. Katia tells us how journalists, stylists, and store managers are all making for great data scientists with the right training and right mindset.

“People in this field can come from all walks of life and backgrounds… It's really about the mindset of problem solving, curiosity and lifelong learning. Once we had this revelation, we actually applied that at Levi & Strauss to train employees around the world in machine learning… We have people who come from design, people who manage stores, stylists, people in finance, and in HR that are now trained in Python and machine learning and agile ways of working. And they are the biggest champions of digital transformation throughout the world of Levi’s.”

Mentions: * Levis.com

About Dr. Katia Walsh

Dr. Katia Walsh leads strategy, data, analytics and artificial intelligence at LS&Co. She focuses on setting the company's holistic digital and corporate strategy and infusing it with data, analytic, and artificial intelligence capabilities to drive business value across LS&Co. globally. The impact ranges from innovation incubation to strategic growth initiatives, new business models and new ways of working.

Katia has more than 20 years of cross-industry experience combining strategy, data, analytics and machine learning, and a track record of making global brands indispensable to their customers through these capabilities.

Katia holds a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in Strategic Communication with a specialization in quantitative methodology.

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With every passing year, a new batch of data tools comes available, and a new crop of data professionals enters the job market. The Chief Data Officer has evolved into a position that acts both on the offensive and defensive sides of these changes. Our guest today, Cara Dailey, the EVP, and CDO at LPL Financial has helped shape and define the role of data leaders in the C-suite as she’s moved through her career. Her experiences at companies like Nike, Bank of the West, and Silicon Valley Bank have led her to embody a spirit of data enablement – rather than governance. She also begs the question, “Is all data created equal?” Tune in to find out on this episode of The Data Chief.

Key Takeaways * Great CDOs balance offense and defense. Primarily, the role of the CDO started with the idea that organizations needed someone focused on protecting the data, keeping it safe and secure. Now, as the world has evolved, so has the role. Modern data leaders need to also be able to impact their organization by bringing value through performance data analytics for clients, customers, and employees. Cara posits that it’s not enough to simply protect; you must also ask yourself what are you actively contributing? * Focus on data enablement. The best data executives can think of themselves as part of a data enablement forum, inviting a collaborative attitude in the increasingly important world of data governance. Make it such an integral part of the program you’re creating as the data leader. Think of yourself and your team as the data glue that holds the organization together. * Not all data is created equal. While data is a powerful tool for decision-making, it’s important to remember not all data needs to or even should be valued the same. In highly regulated environments, absolute accuracy may be required. But for internal use cases like improving a product or process, directional indicators are just as good.

Mentions * + InvestInData + Tom Davenport + Randy Bean - Fail Fast, Learn Faster + Simon Sinek - Start with Why + Monte Carlo + Barr Moses + Harvard Business Review

Bio

Cara Dailey is executive vice president and chief data officer, Business Development. In this role, Ms. Dailey is responsible for the firm’s enterprise data and analytics capabilities. This will include an enterprise data & analytics strategy, a robust data governance and data product management function focused on delivering data internally and externally to fuel growth objectives and continue to bring advanced analytics capabilities to our advisors and employees in a scalable way.

Most recently, Ms. Dailey served as chief data officer at Silicon Valley Bank. In that role, she was responsible for the enterprise’s data strategy and the implementation of data and analytics capabilities. Prior to that, Ms. Dailey was head of Nike’s enterprise data management where she was responsible for driving company-wide enterprise data strategy. She has also held high-level positions at BNP Paribas (Bank of the West and First Hawaiian Bank), GE Capital, and Oracle, giving her a broad perspective into foundational data and analytics capabilities, the business outcomes it drives and modern toolsets, as well as the people who use them.

Ms. Dailey earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a focus on Computer Science at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. She is also an advisory board member to the Women’s Business Collaborative (WBC), which is focused on the advancement of female leaders and achieving gender and diversity parity.Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Cara on The Data Chief.

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Whether you’ve passed your cursor over their logo on a streaming service, spotted it on the front of a Golden State Warriors jersey, or use their cash-back rebate system, the Rakuten brand is everywhere and actively expanding.

Today’s guest, Takuya Kitagawa is the Managing Executive Officer & CDO at Rakuten. On this episode, Takuya joins Cindi to discuss how the company has found massive, international success across multiple industries by integrating data across lines of business to deliver better customer experiences. He also dives into the importance of data fluency at every level, and elaborates on how Rakuten is leveraging the concept of “digital twins” to better connect with customers. Stick around to hear all of this, plus exciting details regarding Rakuten latest moonshot projects.

Key Takeaways * Integrated data delivers better customer experiences: Rakuten has seen major success in offering enhanced services and experiences to customers around the world. Their secret? Integrating data across multiple lines of business, starting with customer login credentials. This approach makes using multiple services a seamless experience and builds customer loyalty. * You don’t have to reinvent the wheel: Before building a new technology from the ground up, see if anyone else has already done it. There’s so much you can learn, borrow, or buy from others. If you can learn to leverage the innovation that’s already happening around you, you’ll be in a better position to accelerate your own digital transformation. * Invest in data fluency at every level: It’s important that executives be just as data fluent as anyone else in your organization. For Rakuten, investing in data fluency at the highest levels of leadership manifests as quarterly AI bootcamps and mandatory data trainings.

Mentions * Dr. Hisataka Kobayashi’s Discovery of photo immunotherapy * Harvard University Partnership * FC Barcelona and Golden State Warriors

About Takuya

Takuya Kitagawa is managing executive officer and Chief Data Officer of Rakuten Inc, and serves as the director for Well-being for Planet Earth(WPE). As Chief Data Officer of Rakuten group, he is responsible for the end to end value creation and execution of AI & data strategy, and manages a global organization located across the world including Japan, U.S., India, France and Singapore. He also leads Rakuten institute of technology, R&D function of the group, as the global head. Vision of his group is the fundamental understanding of customers and their behaviors with AI and data; how business and service can empower customers to spend their money and time better. As a board of director for well-being for Planet Earth, he further extends and applies the understanding of human beings and society to contribute to more general domains of well-being across the world. Prior to working on AI, he worked as a theoretical physicist and published more than 20 papers in journals including “Science” and “Nature Physics.” Dr. Kitagawa obtained his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University and A.B. in physics and mathematics from Harvard College.

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