The Data Chief – Details, episodes & analysis

Key Moments: 

Jeremy Kahn

• The history of AI: the Turing Test and the Eliza Effect with Jeremy Khan (1:50)
• Jeremy’s view on how we can learn from lessons of the past (9:00)
• It starts with data and people: leveraging AI to increase productivity (16:00)

Sol Rashidi

• Sol Rashidi on failing to succeed in AI (31:00)
• The need for rogue executives (37:00)
• Sol’s view on prioritizing GenAI use cases and measuring ROI (42:50)

Bernard Marr

• Bernard Marr on demystifying AI (60:02)
• Is society ready for AI’s impact on augmenting jobs? (66:00)
• AI’s impact on personalization of medicine, treatment and drug discovery (72:00)

Key Quotes: 

Jeremy Kahn

• “We're in a position where we can take action while this technology is still being shaped, to try to set some sensible guardrails. If we do that, we will see a lot of benefit from this technology. If we wait, we’re going to be in a situation like with social media. We will have a deskilling of essential human cognitive abilities.”
• We don’t talk enough about how to train people to use AI software. The organizations that think hardest about that are going to be very successful.”

Sol Rashidi 

• “Usually I start the conversations of how ROI shouldn't just be a financial measure. There's three ROI's in my opinion. There's a financial ROI, there's a cultural ROI, and there's a relevancy ROI.”
• “I am adamant that business value is not the number one marker. Everything needs to be scored and graded by criticality and complexity. And your criticality is a measure of ‘what is the impact if we don't do this?’”

Bernard Marr

• “What we are seeing is we will see an augmentation of pretty much every single job. I can't think of many jobs that will not be augmented by GenAI. We need to really expect change as individuals.”
• “We must create a world where education is seen as something that never stops, that carries on. I believe that we are currently entering a hyper evolution cycle, with artificial intelligence right at the center of it.”

Mentions: 

'Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future' by Jeremy Kahn 

'Your AI Survival Guide: Scraped Knees, Bruised Elbows, and Lessons Learned from Real-World AI Deployments' by Sol Rashidi

'Generative AI in Practice: 100+ Amazing Ways Generative Artificial Intelligence is Changing Business and Society' by Bernard Marr

Bios: 

About Jeremy Kahn 

• Jeremy Kahn is an award-winning journalist for Fortune magazine, where he covers AI and other emerging technologies. Previously, he wrote about technology, including AI, for Bloomberg. His writing on a range of subjects has also appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek,The Atlantic, Smithsonian magazine, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, and Slate. An Ohio native, he now lives with his family in Oxford, England.

About Sol Rashidi

• With 10 patents granted and winning numerous awards that include: 'Forbes AI Maverick & Visionary of the 21st Century', 'Top 100 People in AI', 'Global 100 Power List', 'Top 75 Innovators', 'CAO of the Year', 'Top 5 CDO's', 'Top 65 Most Influential Women', Sol Rashidi is an seasoned executive, leader, and influencer within the AI, data, and technology space. Sol’s experience comes from real-world deployments where she has had to roll up her sleeves and do the work, while keeping the strategic intent in mind. Sol is currently Head of Technology for Startups, North America, at AWS.

About Bernard Marr

• Bernard Marr is a multi-award-winning and internationally best-selling author of over 20 books, who writes a regular column for Forbes and advises and works with many of the world’s best-known organizations. He has a combined following of 4 million people across his social media channels and newsletters and was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top 5 business influencers in the world.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Key Moments:

• The road to entrepreneurship (1:00) 
• Bringing transparency to the prescription drugs industry (4:30) 
• Analyzing in-game sports data to shoot for new heights (20:00) 
• Changing the world by making data and AI accessible to everyone (25:00) 
• How LLMs can build curiosity for the next generation of tech talent (33:00)

Key Quotes:

• “As with all things technology, everybody has access to the information, but few people take the time. But those who do tend to have an edge. If you're curious, if you love to learn, you're going to do pretty well. But how do you find those people when they're kids and how do you try to just capture their imagination and get them excited about the technology? That's why we started the bootcamp.”
• “I wanted to make technology accessible to people who otherwise couldn't get it. It doesn't matter what you look like, who you are, what your ethnicity is, what your background is. There are just going to be people who don't have access. I wanted to open that door for them. I'm a big believer in diversity, and that when you look at places where other people aren't, that's when you find brilliance that can change the world.”
• “The path to least resistance to learning AI is simple. All you’ve got to do is use it. You can use it in ways that you can’t possibly imagine. You can learn how to use large language models to start your own programming and teach yourself how to do it. The sky's the limit. Better way to put it, there is literally next to nothing you can't teach yourself using a large language model. You can even train and educate the model. It’s a virtuous cycle. It can surge curiosity with kids.”

Mentions:

• Cost Plus Drugs
• The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine will Remake our World 
• Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football 
• Mark Cuban AI Bootcamps

Mark Cuban Bio: 

Mark Cuban has been a natural businessman since age 12, when he sold garbage bags door to door.  He went on to found MicroSolutions right out of college, selling it to H&R Block.

From there he became an active stock trader, building a track record, starting a hedge fund and selling it a year later. In 1995, he and Todd Wagner started the first commercial streaming company, AudioNet, which became Broadcast.com. They later sold the company in 2000 for 5.7B dollars.

Mark acquired the Dallas Mavericks in 2000.  The Mavs competed in their first NBA Finals in 2006, won their first League title in 2011.  Mark sold majority ownership in 2023, but still retains a significant stake. During his time as majority owner, the Mavs had the second best record in the NBA.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

In developed nations, corporations often rollup and eat independent mom and pop shops into big box retail or big .coms that centralize supply chains and logistics. Meanwhile, independent sellers are the backbone of emerging markets. But a collision is starting to occur and it’s happening fast. Big corporations want to bring the same strategy to these emerging markets, so how can the independent seller maintain their independence? To do that, they need technology partners like RedCloud. In this conversation, we learn how RedCloud sits at the forefront of the 3 key disruptions inside of emerging markets: employment, technology, and sustainability. Learn how Soumaya Hamzaoui, Co-Founder and COO and JD de Jong, SVP of Product combine data, technology and deep knowledge of emerging economies to help independent sellers.

Key Moments: 

• A personal mission: Born in Algeria, Africa, Soumaya discusses how her childhood shaped her understanding of emerging markets.
• Unlike Amazon: Commerce has existed in emerging markets since the beginning of civilization. Yet independent sellers face existential challenges if big corporations are allowed to enter their markets and gobble up all of the opportunities. Learn how RedCloud hopes to not be like Amazon, and would rather focus on keeping independent sellers independent.
• Data for emerging market independent sellers: discover how the team developed the right products for these markets and how they overcame challenges unique to their customers.
• Challenges in emerging markets: Gain unique perspectives into how international marketplaces work. 

Key Quotes: 

• “We are not only here to develop the technology, but we are also here to educate these businesses on the value of digitization, on the value of data. [According to a World Bank Report] 90% of these businesses need training and upskilling to keep up with the pace of the evolution of how the economical world and technological world is evolving. 88% need support in digitization on how to take their business from traditional businesses to fully digital business. And another 80% need mentorship and support on how to transform their business. - Soumaya
• “It is one thing to give a user access to create their own visualization. It's an entirely different thing to create not just the visualization, but an interpretation of what that visualization means. - JD
• “When companies look at emerging markets and the lack of digitization, they think there's a reluctance to digitize and there really isn't. It's not about the adoption of technology, but the simplification of and the cost of that technology.” - JD

Mentions: 

• World Bank Reports
• M-Pesa in Kenya
• Large Language Models (LLMS) with Dialects
• Marketplace Counterfeit Challenges
• Book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Bios: 

Soumaya Hamzaoui describes herself as an Entrepreneur and Product Strategist. She has a strong track record of developing products across Enterprises focused on the fintech and commerce global industries. She has deep sector expertise built over the last 15 years across Africa, Asia, and EMEA in mobile money, digital financial services, and FinTech launches. She attended prestigious universities in France and Algeria.

Juandre (JD) de Jong is a seasoned Product professional and Chartered Management Accountant, currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Product at RedCloud. Juandre combines his financial acumen with a deep understanding of customer needs to drive product strategy and innovation. He has a proven track record of successfully launching and scaling innovative products that meet market demands. He was born in South Africa and currently resides in the UK. 

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Cindi Howson is the Chief Data Strategy Officer at ThoughtSpot and our host of The Data Chief. To kick off this new podcast, we wanted to switch the roles… today, Cindi is our guest!

Tune in for a discussion between Cindi and Ian Faison, Executive Producer of The Data Chief, about culture, leadership, innovation, data for good, and what you can expect from future episodes of The Data Chief.

Key Takeaways:

• How being an aspiring writer – but a lousy typist – got Cindi into technology.
• The biggest changes Cindi has witnessed over the last 20 years.
• Where the new role of CDO (Chief Data Officer) fits into the hierarchy among the CIO and CAO, the barriers someone in this position can expect to face, and the ways we can expect this role to evolve in the months and years to come.

More About Cindi:

Cindi Howson is the Chief Data Strategy Officer at ThoughtSpot, formerly a Gartner Research Vice President in Data and Analytics, and the Founder of BI Scorecard, an independent analyst firm focused on helping customers select BI tools and manage their BI portfolio and achieve more impact with data. She is also 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.

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The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com. 

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For full show notes and more, go to thedatachief.com.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Data is transforming how we think about life, work, business, healthcare, education, and everything in between. Meet the world’s top data and analytics leaders bringing this data revolution to life.

In each episode of The Data Chief, host Cindi Howson, Chief Data Strategy Officer at ThoughtSpot, sits down with data and analytics leaders to discuss the trends, technologies, and cultures transforming fact-driven companies around the globe.

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The Data Chief is presented by our friends at ThoughtSpot. Searching through your company’s data for insights doesn’t have to be complicated. With ThoughtSpot, anyone in your organization can easily answer their own data questions, find the facts, and make better, faster decisions. Learn more at thoughtspot.com. 

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For full show notes and more, go to thedatachief.com.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Description:
Cindi Howson is joined by Valerie A. Logan, CEO and founder of the DataLodge and Chief Strategy Officer at DATA SOCIETY GROUP, and Jason Beyer, Vice President of Data and Analytics at Bridgestone Americas. They delve into the vital concepts of data literacy and AI literacy, sharing their insights and experiences in fostering a data-driven culture within organizations. Valerie, widely regarded as the "godmother of data literacy," sheds light on the three key pillars of her approach: mindset, language, and skills. Jason provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Bridgestone is cultivating data literacy, including partnerships with HR, creating a data marketplace, and fostering a community of data enthusiasts.

Key Moments: 

• Valerie Logan explains the three pillars of data literacy: mindset, language, and skills (06:16)
• Jason Beyer shares Bridgestone's approach to scaling data literacy, including partnering with HR and creating a data marketplace (22:10)
• Valerie highlights the importance of leadership in modeling the right mindset for data literacy (29:28)
• Cindi, Valerie, and Jason discuss the evolution of data literacy to AI literacy (33:48)
• Lightning round with fun questions for Valerie and Jason (38:26)

Key Quotes: 

• ISL (Information as a second language) is really a foundational methodology for how we look at the enablement of people, the empowerment of people with this capability. And when I talk about data literacy in ISL, I look at it really as three things, mindset, language, and skills. - Valerie A. Logan
• Terms, Techniques, then Tools. If you're trying to drive a different behavior, a tool is part of that. But how somebody thinks, how someone engages is also part of it. - Valerie A. Logan
• Leaders need to think about data fluency different from those that may be using data in their role or may have data as a role and recognize that there's different levels of fluency, proficiency, and the core literacy that go along with that. - Jason Beyer
• Even before we called it a data literacy program, we had this mindset and approach as a COE team and our value contribution to the organization is we need to raise the water for the entire organization in how we use and make the most of our data assets. - Jason Beyer

Mentions: 

• Data Literacy Movement
• Information as a Second Language (ISL) methodology
• The Data Lodge and Bridgestone Data Literacy Webinar
• Generative AI and prompt engineering classes

Bios

Valerie A. Logan 
Founding The Data Lodge in 2019, Valerie is as committed to data literacy as it gets. With train-the-trainer bootcamps, and a peer community, she’s certifying the world’s first Data Literacy Program Leads. Valerie is excited to also serve as the Chief Strategy Officer of DSG. Valerie has more than 30 years of experience in consulting leadership and telecommunications.  She lives between the Adirondacks in Upstate NY, and Sarasota, FL with her husband Brian, and their yellow lab, Cooper, the Lodge mascot.

Jason Beyer
A Data, Analytics, & Technology pioneer with a proven ability to lead transformational change. Jason brings global experiences from automotive, retail, industrial manufacturing, construction, medical, and government industries. He believes what’s good for society is good for business. Jason serves on multiple boards for his community of Nashville, and for the data industry

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Description: 

In this episode, Chris Stephens, Field CTO at Appen, dives into how CDO’s are navigating the world of generative AI. From setting clear expectations to driving adoption within organizations, Chris and Cindi explore the challenges and opportunities in this evolving landscape. Chris shares Appen's innovative approach to integrating humans into deep learning processes and discusses the potential of synthetic data. Plus, he shares how crucial human expertise is, in shaping ethical AI practices and touches on the impact of legislation and industry trends on AI's future.

Key Moments: 

• The Impact of generative AI on CDOs  [06:19]
• Appen and the excitement of generative AI [10:34]
• The potential of synthetic data and content curation [12:13]
• The importance of CDOs embracing generative AI [17:40]
• The early stage of generative AI and funding innovation [26:39]
• The importance of human in the loop [34:09]
• The role of legislation and industry leadership [38:46]

Key Quotes: 

As a CDO, I think you absolutely have to figure out how to grab onto that, take ownership of it, and provide the leadership that your company needs - if you don't, then of course someone else will.  

All of the challenges come on the non-technical side. Being successful in these programs is about more humanistic type skills than it is being a wizard in the technology space, in my opinion.

The work that Appen does is working in support of all of these global organizations and the key is getting humans involved in these loops. 

Mentions: 

• Deep learning
• Deep fake 
• Synthetic data 
• Gartner 
• Generative AI 

Bio: 

Chris has been leading large-scale data transformations for over a decade, bringing advanced analytics capabilities to the world for 25 years.  Most recently, he served in CDO roles at GEICO, Zendesk, and American Eagle Outfitters.  Prior to that he helped lead the Data Science practice at Pivotal Software helping organizations around the world adopt modern data and software practices.  He is Field CTO and Head of AI Solutions at Appen bringing AI systems to life for organizations around the world.  He is an advisor to Insight Partners and Battery Ventures helping shape a new generation of technology and teams.  He is Adjunct Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University teaching our next generation of data and AI leaders.   He is passionate about the human side of data, transformation, and innovation.  He hails from Pittsburgh with his wife and 5 young adult children.  An avid music fan, he reminds us that, "you who choose to lead must follow."

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Description: 

Michael Jordan once said that players win games, and teams win championships. In this episode, Cindi interviews Alfredo Colas, Senior Vice President of Data and Analytics at Procter & Gamble. Together, they explore the importance of fostering a data-driven culture and digital fluency, while delving into strategies for overcoming challenges in data culture. They also discuss the company's rich history of data innovation and the evolving impact of technology on data access and processing. From key insights on investing in data and AI fluency to discussing the role of the AI factory in accelerating machine learning processes, Alfredo and Cindi cover it all. 

Key Moments: 

• Building a data-driven culture and data fluency [9:48] 
• Overcoming challenges in data culture and adoption [10:16] 
• Investing in data and AI fluency across the organization [19:55] 
• The AI Factory and accelerating machine learning processes [20:16] 
• Addressing fears and human oversight in AI [27:50]

Key Quotes: 

As part of that also, we believe we need everyone in the organization to understand data, to understand analytics. So we are heavily investing in the digital fluency of the full organization and not just the IT function.

Michael Jordan said that players win games and teams win championships, I agree with him. To me, it's not about one trait. It's about having a diverse team where everyone brings something different. 

If we want to be here another 100 years or another 183 years, we need to be training the new generations so that they can be successful in the future.

Mentions: 

• AI Factory 
• chatPG 
• Generative AI

Bio: 

Alfredo Colas is the Senior Vice President of IT for Data & Analytics, and Digital Go-To-Market. He leads an organization of more than 850 P&G IT professionals and over a thousand partner resources.

Data and Algorithmic solutions are a key engine of P&G’s Integrated Growth Strategy. Through a combination of Enterprise Data Lake platform, data pipelines and machine learning workbenches, this team is creating cutting-edge capabilities across all dimensions of the business.

As part of his Digital Go-To-Market role, he is accountable for developing new capabilities to help P&G win by unlocking the full potential of P&G’s Sales organization. He oversees the digitization of the company’s sales processes and powering them with analytics. He also leads P&G’s Salesforce Platform Team.

Alfredo joined Procter & Gamble in 1996 in Spain and, over the years, led various local, regional and global organizations across the U.S. and Europe, including Italy, Russia, Spain and Switzerland. In 2005-2006, Alfredo participated in a Manager-On-Loan program, where he worked in PC business operations at Hewlett-Packard. He has extensive experience in transforming and enabling the sales organization at P&G, and has led commercial and supply chain redesigns, e-commerce initiatives and the integration of multiple acquisitions. Most recently, he led IT & Shared Services for North America, P&G’s largest region.

Alfredo thrives at the intersection of business and technology. He is motivated by applying technology to transform the business and create significant value. He also has long-standing experience working in external forums to identify opportunities and impulse efficiencies that improve the end-to-end value chain and ultimately benefit consumers. He started working with GS1 Spain (AECOC) more than 20 years ago. He has been in the board of GS1 US since 2016 and actively participates in key industry initiatives such as Verified by GS1 and the migration from product barcodes to 2D codes.

Alfredo resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and his two younger children. His eldest is a freshman in engineering at Purdue University.

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

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Giving ABC’s more meaning, in this episode of The Data Chief host Cindi Howson, engages in a captivating conversation with Nisha Paliwal, the managing VP of Enterprise Data Technology at Capital One. Nisha dives into her multifaceted role as a tech leader, visionary, and advocate for STEM education. The discussion traverses topics ranging from the impact of technology on younger generations to the future of work in the era of AI. With insights into Nisha's unique ABC leadership framework and Capital One's innovative culture, this episode offers a rich exploration of data leadership and human-centered tech strategy.

Key Moments:

The impact of technology on younger generations [3:05]

Nisha’s leadership style: The ABC Framework [5:02]

The future of work and AI’s impact [15:56]

Mitigating risks and building trust in AI [20:20]

The importance of data in AI [25:22]

Capital One’s culture of innovation [31:18]

Key Quotes:

“Let's just be who we are and bring the best in others too. So all the people who I work with, bring their best self to work and are comfortable with whoever they want to be.”

“I think AI might not be for everybody to start with. I think it's okay to wait and watch. I think it's okay to let it bake because again, these things are not cheap either, right? These require a lot of investment upfront.”

“Data is the king these days, we have a lot of investment in data, we have about 1000 plus people and I'm here to serve them, to serve the organization, serve our product – I care about what we build.”

Mentions:

• Databricks 
• IBM
• Hyperautomation
• Generative AI
• The Secrets of AI Value Creation

Bio:

Nisha Paliwal is Managing Vice President of Enterprise Data Technology at Capital One, where she has held a variety of leadership roles over more than eight years. An accomplished leader, visionary technologist, and passionate change agent, she has been a relentless advocate for leveraging technology and data insights to create true business value for more than 20 years.

At Capital One, she also actively contributes to and holds leadership roles in the Women in Tech and Origins business resource groups (BRGs). Nisha has a big heart for her associates and desires for them to feel valued, engaged and psychologically safe.

With a passion for introducing young girls to technology, she also mentors others and supports several STEM-focused non profits, with a long-term vision of bringing more women into the ranks of technology leadership. Nisha volunteers her personal time with three non-profits - Boolean Girls, CodeVa, and WingsForGrowth, which focus on STEM education for K-12 and education for women in leadership-related topics.

Nisha is an avid learner who made the jump from microbiology to the tech world after teaching herself C# programming. She continues her life-long pursuit of learning by reading, listening to podcasts, and participating in internal and external speaking engagements.

Nisha has recently co-authored a book “The Secrets of AI Value Creation,” published by Wiley, in her pursuit of learning and sharing those learnings with the community in the form of this book.

Order Nisha’s new book, The Secrets of AI Value Creation now.
 

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
 

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

On this episode of The Data Chief, Katie Russell, Data Director at OVO Energy shares OVO’s transformative journey to become a sustainable energy leader, emphasizing the shift to Google Cloud Platform and a data mesh strategy. The discussion covers OVO's innovative use of generative AI, measuring success through customer savings, and the ongoing challenge of fostering a data-driven culture.

Key Moments: 

• OVO’s mission and data support [1:05]
• Data transformation [7:37]
• Technology modernization [11:17]
• Data discoverability and data mesh [17:28]
• Measuring business contribution [22:03]
• Generative AI and data privacy [27:56]
• Data-driven culture and trust [30:51]

Key Quotes: 

"We chose Google Cloud Platform as our underlying data platform with BigQuery then as the data warehouse. The thesis being that they practically invented the technology and so should be good at it." 

“My job is to represent my team, make sure that we're working on the right things, and then, build  trust with the leadership community that we're doing the right things with data for the business.”

"I'm thinking that there might actually be a bit of a full circle on data privacy and sharing. I think with ChatGPT being so easy to use with its really human-centered design and with social media ups and downs over the last few years, I'm wondering if there's going to be a revolution in data privacy and data sharing and personal data." 

Mentions: 

• SQL buddies program
• Python program
• Google Cloud
• BigQuery
• Monte Carlo
• Generative AI
• ChatGPT

Bio: 

Katie Russell is the Data Director at OVO Energy, leading teams of Data Scientists, Data Engineers and Analysts who are transforming OVO’s data capability. As part of a technology led business, leveraging data using artificial intelligence keeps OVO truly innovative, delivering the best possible service for our customers. 

Katie joined OVO in October 2017 having spent 5 years at ONZO - an energy analytics startup  - as Head of Data Science. During that time she was chuffed to be awarded Big Data Hero by techUK in June 2016 and helped ONZO win multiple awards for their innovative solutions for utilities. Prior to that Katie worked for another analytics start up in the water industry, got a PhD in Mathematical Physics and holds a BA and MMath from the University of Cambridge. 

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.