Episoder
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Description:
Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera, joins host, Cindi Howson, and dives into the impact of Generative AI on skills, diversity in tech, and the future of upskilling.
Key Moments:
The impact GenAI and the surge of learning demand (05:45)Why employers must prioritize AI literacy (10.32)The gender gap in AI learning and why it matters (19:40)Leveraging data to drive personalization and learner success (24:00)Predictions for the future of AI in the labor market (29.53)Key Quotes:
“Generative AI is going to require us to all be a lot more emotionally intelligent because it's going to create such disruption and change. And we're all going to have to navigate the complexities of this change. We're going to have to bring our organizations through this change. That's going to take emotional intelligence as the one thing this technology isn't, is human. Understanding and human empathy is going to remain paramount.”“In terms of data and AI skills, what is extraordinary is that the demand for these skills in the last year has grown over a thousand percent. We now have seven individuals a minute enroll in GenAI content.”“Millions of people globally are deciding that it's time to upskill and reskill in these AI, regardless of whether their employer is telling them to or not. People see it happening. They're reading about it. They're hearing about it. And they're actively going out and chasing down those skills.”Mentions:
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel WilkersonFrom Academia to EdTech: The Path to an Equitable Education in the Digital Age Girls Who CodeMarni Baker Stein Bio:
Marni Baker Stein is Coursera’s Chief Content Officer, where she oversees the company’s content and credential strategy and partner relationships. Marni has more than 25 years of experience in producing and scaling online and hybrid education programs. Prior to joining Coursera, she was Chief Academic Officer and Provost at Western Governors University, where she led its four colleges serving more than 135,000 students with programs that improved access and affordability without compromising academic quality. Before that, Marni held several leadership positions focused on access, student success, and program design at institutions such as the University of Texas, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments
From Engineer to Data Leader (03:05)A Mindset Shift: Business Problem First, Data Second (9:31)Learning From Missteps (11:00)The Gazelle and the Lion Analogy (14:53) The Role of AI: Do Things, Do Things Better, and Do Better Things (25:58)Built to Last versus Built to Adapt (40:01)Key Quotes
"Instead of a data-first mindset, you need to have a business problem-first and data-second mindset. That has helped me transform myself as a leader quite a bit.""It’s more important to define the problem right than solving the problem. How can we understand what you’re trying to solve, and how it impacts the stakeholder?"“The head of data analytics functions need to be business problem driven, empathy driven, and not technology-first minded or AI-first minded. Our objective is to solve the business problems of the organization. Data, AI, and tech are the enablers.”"In the past, we built capabilities to last. Now, the mindset has to be to build capabilities to adapt."Mentions
Is Data Quality the Biggest Threat to Humanity? With Barr Moses and Olga MaydanchikResponsible AI InstituteTwo-Pizza RuleGirl Scouts STEM ClassesFrom Cancerman to Ironman: A Police Officer's Journey of Arresting IllnessHans ZimmerDeepak Jose Biography
Deepak Jose is Vice President, Head of Data Sciences & Business Intelligence at Niagara Bottling. He is a member of the Forbes Tech Council, AWS Retail and CPG Executive Advisory Forum, industry standards associations, Editorial Board for CDO Magazine, and an advisor for startups and AI analytics service companies.
Before Niagara, Jose was part of global brands like Coca-Cola, Mars, ABB Group, Asurion and Mu Sigma in strategic roles driving business growth. He was named to the 2023 Consumer Good Visionaries by Consumer Goods Technology and Retail Info Systems News, the 2023 40 under 40 by CDO Magazine, the 2022 and 2023 Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics by Corinium Global Intelligence, the 2023 100 Most Influential AI Leaders in USA by AIM Research, the 2023 Direct 60 List by The Lead, and the 2023 DataIQ 100 lists.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments:
Disappointment With Today’s AI Systems (4:00) Congressional Inaction And The Need for AI Regulation (9:00)The Seduction of AI Propaganda (15:00)The Misguided Hypothesis of "Scale is All You Need" (23:00)Don’t Be Fooled by the Masters of AI Hype (27:00) The Global AI Race and the Need for International Cooperation (33:00)Key Quotes:
“This matters. It matters as much as immigration policy or financial policy. The tech policy that we set right now is going to really affect the rest of our lives.”“We should want to have AI that can be like an oracle that can answer any question. There is value in trying to build such a technology. But, we don't actually have that technology. A lot of people are seduced into thinking that we do. But it may be decades away.”“Nobody can look you in the eye and say, ‘I understand how human intelligence works’. If they say that, they're lying to you. It's still an unexplored domain.”Mentions:
Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure AI Works for All Of Us Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human MindThe Algebraic Mind: Integrating Connectionism and Cognitive Science (Learning, Development, and Conceptual Change)The EU AI ActAI Generates Covertly Racist Decisions About People Based On Their DialectDr. Gary Marcus Bio:
Gary Marcus is a leading voice in artificial intelligence. He is a scientist, best-selling author, and serial entrepreneur (Founder of Robust.AI and Geometric.AI, acquired by Uber). He is well-known for his challenges to contemporary AI, anticipating many of the current limitations decades in advance, and for his research in human language development and cognitive neuroscience.
An Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at NYU, he is the author of six books, including, The Algebraic Mind, Kluge, The Birth of the Mind, the New York Times Bestseller Guitar Zero, and most recently Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure AI Works for All of Us. He has often contributed to The New Yorker, Wired, and The New York Times.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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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.
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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 DrugsThe 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 BootcampsMark 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.
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Key Moments:
Why is the data wrong? (6:00)Our products are our data (11:00)The true size of the data quality problem (14:00)Clean your data before you prioritize shiny new tools (26:00)The next frontier: GenAI and unstructured data (31:00)Key Quotes:
“The data estate has changed significantly. But the way in which we manage data and data quality specifically has not adapted.” – Barr Moses“I tracked every single change in the data that I made, and could calculate how much money a company saved after a data cleanup. For a mid-size company, the difference was approximately a quarter of a billion dollars. For a large company, it could be several billion dollars. 45% of the data I cleaned had errors.” – Olga Maydanchik“The competitive advantage is really the access to your proprietary data that you have as an enterprise. So you need to make sure that that data is accurate, reliable, and on time. Now, how do you do that? That's something that people are still figuring out.” – Barr MosesMentions:
Information Quality Applied: Best Practices for Improving Business Information, Outcomes and Systems: Book by Larry EnglishThe Rest is History PodcastFreakonomics PodcastThe Matrix Film SeriesThe Play That Goes WrongBio:
Barr Moses:
Barr Moses is the CEO and Co-Founder of Monte Carlo, the data reliability company. Monte Carlo is the creator of the industry's first end-to-end Data Observability platform. She is also co-author of O'Reilly's Data Quality Fundamentals: Building Reliable Data Pipelines. Previously, she was VP Customer Operations at Gainsight, a management consultant at Bain & Company and served in the Israeli Air Force as a commander of an intelligence data analyst unit.
Olga Maydanchik:
Olga Maydanchik is a data governance, data quality, and data architecture thought leader and practitioner. She is an expert in design and implementation of enterprise-wide data management programs, who has led data quality efforts at Deutsche Bank, AIG, and at Citi.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments:
Leveraging data for good (2:00) Every leader is responsible for data management (13:00) New metrics to validate AI’s sustainability (21:00) Mitigating AI’s risks to society (23:00) The current shape of global AI regulation (28:00) The importance of diversity in mitigating data bias (37:00)Key Quotes:
“Every leader must understand that they have a responsibility for data management. It’s an underlying skill that we really have to harness in all of our college, university, and high school programs. It's fundamental. We seem to teach people how to problem solve, but this is table stakes. In order to ever get AI right, we've got to solve the data challenges.”“There's no question on whether business value and how to measure AI’s return on investment (ROI) is always top of mind in my discussions with executives. But what they really want to know is if their existing ROI methods are sufficient or not. What are the new metrics that they need to put in place to validate AI and its sustainability?”“We’re not at the high-growth stage of AI innovation. We’re in the early experimentation stage. We don’t have international guardrails. All of these systems are going to take around 20-years to put in place. It takes six years to put a new university curriculum in place. People have to take responsibility to learn. This is a fundamental shift and it's one that's happening at break lightning speed.”Mentions:
Mood InsightsGallup Research: 1 in 5 Employees Feel Lonely Worldwide KFF Loneliness and Support Networks Survey United States Artificial Intelligence Institute Dr. Cindy Gordon’s AI Insights NewsletterHispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement and SalesChoice Whitepaper: Why Diversity Equity and Inclusion Leaders Must Lead in AIBio:
Dr. Cindy Gordon ICD.D. is the CEO of SalesChoice, a SaaS AI company focused on Ending Growth Uncertainty for Human Advantage, and has been recognized by Onalytica as one of the top AI global influencers. Prior, she has held senior executive and partner roles at Accenture, Xerox, and Citicorp. She has also been a venture capitalist and angel advancing B2B technology software companies. Internationally, she is recognized for her innovative thought leadership with over 14 books in the market. Cindy is also a board advisor, thought leader in SaaS, AI and AI education, market research companies at: The AI Forum, Corent Technology, Forbes, Kaji.AI, USAII. Her AI community track record is extensive, University of Arizona – Business and Technology AI Board Advisor, Adjunct Professor, George Brown College, Applied AI. She regularly speaks at international conferences to advance AI Ethics and AI Education to board directors and C-suite executives. Academically, Dr. Gordon has an honorary Applied AI Doctorate Certification from George Brown College, an MIT AI Strategy Certification, and a doctorate in Complexity Science and Social Networks. She is also a certified Board Director with an ICD.D. designation. Under Dr. Gordon’s leadership, the company has won over twenty international awards, most recently she was recognized as the CEO of the Year Award for Women in Digital Transformation. She has also received the Governor General Award for her Innovation and Community Leadership.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments:
A journey from intern to CEO (05:10)Encouraging a harmonized relationship between humans and AI (09:58)Why embracing stress can drive urgency and effective change (17:18)Generative AI’s impact on the skills landscape (30:39)Fostering a data-driven company culture (36:41)Embrace change, and quickly (40:25)Key Quotes:
“AI does amazing things, like summarizations and semantic search. Humans do amazing things like curation of knowledge, making sure it's accurate, connecting the dots, and creating relationships. So bringing the power of humans-in-the loop, especially given a broader trust deficit, felt like the right thing to do at this point in time.”“I think ultimately what guides us is we want to be useful to our users and our customers. That's the guiding light. Because why do we exist as an organization or a community? We should all just go home. If we don't actually have a mission and purpose that adds value, then we don't have a purpose. So the question is, what is that? What is the highest purpose?”“When you think about the future of software development, there’s a lot of doomsdayers about job losses. I think it's going to be the opposite. I think AI reduces the barrier to entry. I think a lot of people will be “developers”, even though they may be doing very different things.”Mentions:
WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2023 OverflowAIOverflow API Stack Overflow for TeamsAmp It Up BookBio:
Prashanth Chandrasekar is Chief Executive Officer of Stack Overflow and is responsible for driving Stack Overflow’s overall strategic direction and results.Prashanth is a proven technology executive with extensive experience leading and scaling high-growth global organizations. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President & General Manager of Rackspace’s Cloud & Infrastructure Services portfolio of businesses, including the Managed Public Clouds, Private Clouds, Colocation and Managed Security businesses. Before that, Prashanth held a range of senior leadership roles at Rackspace including Senior Vice President & General Manager of Rackspace’s high growth, global business focused on the world’s leading Public Clouds including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Alibaba Cloud, which became the fastest growing business in Rackspace’s history. Prior to joining Rackspace, Prashanth was a Vice President at Barclays Investment Bank, focused on providing Strategic and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) advice for clients in the Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) industries.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments:
The emotional temperature for change in analytics (5:06)There’s no playbook for change management (7:53) Why Generative AI success requires a melding of expertise (17:20) Measuring the success of LLMs (18:58) How do you embrace the new when you’re facing technical debt? (33:27)How to fine-tune your career in today’s data and AI landscape (37:30)Key Quotes:
“Business intelligence tends to have this notion of looking backwards. It's not thinking about prescriptive or predictive analytics, or live analytics, powered by the new capabilities that we're seeing. I do think we're going to evolve to a new name.” (03:42) “You’ll find companies that were and are ahead of the curve will be able to take advantage of these new technologies, GenAI, LLMs, et cetera, much more quickly than other companies. So companies that have not invested the time, resources, money, attention, and prioritization into data governance, data use, and data literacy are at a serious disadvantage. And companies that have done the opposite, that have proactively invested, will be able to make significant gains.”“I think there's three pillars of success. One is understanding your data from end to end. What is it used for? What domain is it in? Understand it as much as possible. What is the product? What is the data product that you have in all aspects of it? Then, understand your business, right? How does data relate to your business? These people are going to be the ones that leverage the technology the most efficiently.”“Don't hesitate to take a lateral mobility move. I know people are always interested in going up, up, up, up, and up. However, you know, sometimes consider going sideways.” (40:46)Mentions:
Jamie Dimon Annual Shareholder Letter Data Literacy Data Storytelling Unfrosted Film Hacks TV ShowAbraham LincolnBio:
Scott Stevens is responsible for Intelligent Solutions, which empowers JPMorgan Chase employees through innovative data, Business Intelligence and low-code capabilities.
Scott has been with JPMorgan Chase since 2011 and has worked in Financial Services his entire 32-year career, with prior roles at MBNA, Bank of America and Sallie Mae. Scott has been in data and analytics roles since 1997.
Scott enjoys working with local universities on modernizing data science curriculum, guest lectures and coaching student teams on analytics projects. While at work, Scott enjoys mentoring and likes to help people advance their careers and skills. Scott serves on multiple non-profit boards, and Scott is the executive sponsor for the JPMorgan Chase Delaware Volunteer Leadership Group.
Scott lives in Delaware with his family. Scott’s personal interests include travel, wine-making, photography and rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments:
Leveraging Generative AI for work? Start by asking the right questions (04:13) What’s in store for the future world of work (18:18) How Generative AI can expand humans’ divergent thinking (26:16) Taking people and culture along the Generative AI journey (31:20) The value of diversity in data (42:00)A tale of mentorship (44:20)Key Quotes:
“With Generative AI, now we have a command line interface that’s allowed us to converse, which is so core and essential to who we are as humans. The ability to be able to talk to one another. That's allowed us to survive for thousands and thousands of years and evolve.”“I think that there's a lot of greater potential in terms of expanding our own creativity and strategic thinking. So while humans have flexible and moldable brains and we have neuroplasticity that allows us to learn new things, we have to put ourselves in those environments. AI is really good at divergent thinking. So when we think about creativity, a core aspect of that is divergent thinking. What comes to mind when you think of a tree? Maybe leaves and fruit. Divergent thinking is thinking of all the outside things, like sunshine and soil, that may be associated with the tree or that tree growth. There's a lot more potential that we've yet to unlock in terms of updating our own thinking to expand our own divergent and creative thinking” “We know that when we have more diverse teams where everyone feels that they can speak up, and you get better ideas. You get more collaboration. So having that core vision of what is that culture and environment that you want to have is really key”Mentions:
Women in DataHuman Machine Collaboration Institute Beyond AI Exposure: Which Tasks are Cost-Effective to Automate with Computer Vision?Dialect Prejudice Predicts AI Decisions About People’s Character, Employability, and CriminalityAWS: What Are AI Agents?Women in Data Climate Sustainability Datathon 2023 The Creative Way: A Way of BeingBio:
Sadie St. Lawrence is on a personal mission to create a more compassionate and connected world through technology. Having grown up on a farm in Iowa she witnessed first-hand how advancements in technology rapidly changed how we work and earn a living, which in turn affected the overall success of a community. In addition, Sadie was homeschooled her entire childhood which led to a unique perspective in self-directed learning approaches and out of the box thinking.
Sadie holds a diverse education having degrees in piano performance, psychology, and data science, but at her core she has always been a teacher. In 2014 she transitioned from working in a neuroscience lab studying emotional learning and memory, to working in data science. During her time as a data scientist, she went on to lead data science teams and consult for Fortune 500 companies in AI. Through her work, she noticed that while many organizations and individuals have good intentions when it comes to D&I in data careers, there was a lack of progress.
Today, Sadie’s work is focused on educating individuals in technology, increasing access and pathways for all people and creating a more equal future for all.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Key Moments:
The voyage to a data-driven US Coast Guard (5:21)Navigating data-driven approaches to US Coast Guard operations (20:28) Balancing experience-based decision making with data-informed decision making (25:34)In whose data do you trust? (30:10) Measuring the value of data (33:80)Should an AI ethicist be part of the team or should everyone really be an ethicist? (45:00)Key Quotes:
“Up until three years ago when we started this, some people – and really our entire organization – just thought data as IT. They didn't think much past that, because no one had ever really challenged them to think about it. So it wasn't really thought of as, ‘this is the data that we have, and this is the commander's business. This is how the business is going to run. It's not just letting IT figure it out.’” “I think that technology has helped us along the way to visualize data that otherwise would be difficult and time consuming to conceptualize and understand. And as we continue to find ways to make humans understand better what it is that they're looking at – especially in extremely dynamic and complex data situations – I think you'll start to see a shift of trust and that's really experience. It's experience in using data informed decision making activities.” “Would an ethics, an AI ethics advisor to the CDAO be a great thing? Absolutely. Are we all just ethicists? Yes, but I would say that there is a lot of understanding needed. There's a huge area where you could be an expert in the ethics of artificial intelligence and provide sound guidance day after day. I would think that this particular type of employee would be extremely valuable.”Mentions:
U.S. Coast Guard 11 Missions AI U.S. Executive Orders White House Orders Federal Agencies to Name Chief AI Officers America’s Cyber Defense AgencyMake Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe the WorldBio:
Captain Brian Erickson currently serves as the United States Coast Guard’s first Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer and is principally responsible for the coordination of data and artificial intelligence activities across the organization. His previous assignments focused primarily on engineering and operations, serving at five operational assignments piloting rotary and fixed wing aircraft performing search and rescue, law enforcement and other military mission profiles. Brian is a licensed Professional Engineer specializing in aerospace and also served in the Office of Budget and Programs working directly for the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In 2020, he was selected as the Coast Guard’s MIT Sloan Fellow following service as Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, GA. Brian is a 1998 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and holds a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University as well as a Master of Business Administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a 2022 DataIQ Top 100 most influential persons in data and the 2023 MachineCon AI Leader of the Year.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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Tune in to learn:
Make your business strategy a data strategy (3:10)‘Cover my back’ approaches (09:00)Straddling risks in data and business (11:28)Learnings from implementing myGPT (16:18) Activating your organization’s collective genius (24:05)Creating the right processes and culture to breed AI success (31:00) The current state of AI regulation (38:35)Key Quotes:
“You can have an AI strategy without a data strategy or without a business strategy, but it will not help you much. So your data strategy is your business strategy and vice versa. (04:42).“I would say we started with the collective genius or activating the collective genius. What we wanted to do is enable everybody to try things out and tell us what has the highest opportunity and possibility” (25:46)“We're now slowly going into a paradigm shift where we go away from more reports, from more dashboards, and into what's important for me to know today. I don't want to go through 200 dashboards in three different technologies. The one thing that I want is an intelligent model that has access to all of my data and tells me, well, there's five KPIs you should have a look at. Maybe it's a data quality problem. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just a deferred invoice or whatever. But maybe it's something that needs your attention and you should now get active on it.” (30:26)“I think AI is a wonderful technology. I think it has a lot of potential upside. It has the high risk of being misunderstood and overestimated. But honestly, you can't blame it on technology. Often, that's part of the history of large organizations. It's not always the technology, it's the adoption of the technology. And this has a lot to do with maturity of the workforce, maturity of the organization, processes, culture. So you can bring the best technology in the world, but if you don't have fertile ground, if you don't have the right people on the ground that make sure that your workforce understands it and also that your processes are adjusted accordingly, then the technology will fail” (34:05)“My dream is that you don't need me anymore because I'm a transformational leader. And when everybody in this organization breathes data, breathes AI and applies it every single day, then my task is done, then you don't need me anymore. I still have a few days.” (38:00)Mentions:
Bring Your Own DocumentsLangdockSnowflake Gary MarcusKoshari RecipeBio:
Walid is Chief Data & AI Officer at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, where he leads the company’s Data & AI organization, delivering value, governance, architecture, engineering, and operations across the company globally. With many years experience in startups, IT, and consulting major corporations, Walid encompasses a strong understanding of the intersection between business and technology. Born in Egypt and raised in three different states in Germany, Walid celebrates his multicultural background and leverages it to inform his commitment to DE&I. As a father of two amazing daughters, he advocates for a more equal workplace to ensure a better future for the next generation. Walid strives to be the best ally he can be, making these values the cornerstone of his leadership approach.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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People are only as healthy as the communities they live in. In this episode, discover how Elevance Health is reimagining the healthcare system, and strengthening our communities in the process with a data-driven strategy. Learn how Elevance Health leverages community data to paint a more complete picture of an individual’s health, making healthcare journeys more personalized and equitable. You’ll also hear why analytics must have a seat at the business table, the importance of extending data democratization beyond the organization, and the need for change management along the journey.
Tune in to learn:
How Elevance Health forms holistic views of patients’ heath by connecting community data (03.55)Why analytics should sit at the business table (13:08)How to understand your customers as individuals, learn their business problems, and meet them where they are (19:10)Why data democratization should go beyond the organization (21:16)How to engage in a new relationship with data with natural language (35:35)Key Quotes:
“Once you're sitting across from a community-based organization and you're helping them with where to focus efforts, having data in that conversation and being able to show, well, here are where our members are located and here are the members that have a chronic need for food or for transportation. Using data in that conversation is a game changer.”“Analytics should be at the table, not a takeaway from the table. So I think analytics, when they’re sitting around the table with the business when they're making decisions or they're working through a problem, is a very different construct than traditional models where the business convenes, works through a problem, then decides well we need more data, or we need data to drive a decision here, go ahead and put in a ticket or seek additional data and bring it back."“I think training is critical. I've seen far too many dashboard wastelands where you have dashboards sitting out there that are accessed very little, but have really, really good information. What that tells me is there wasn't a good amount of training. There is not a strong communication plan. There's not a robustness of really ensuring that the solution is oriented to the problem that it was created to solve.”Mentions:
The Data Chief: How Healthcare Data Can Save Lives with Truveta CEO, Terry MyersonDoula Care Found to Improve Maternal Health Outcomes StudyAdvancing Health Together 2023 ReportRadical Candor by Kim Scott Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Graham McCownMultipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz WisemanBio:
Robert Garnett serves as Vice President for Government Analytics and Health Benefits Cost of Care at Elevance Health. In this role, he leads a data-driven organization supporting analytics and insights for Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial and enterprise customers in the areas of population health, cost of care, performance management, operational excellence, and quality improvement.
Prior to his current role, Robert served as President and CEO, Amerigroup Tennessee, where he was responsible for the strategic, fiscal, regulatory, and operational leadership of the health plan. In his role, he was also responsible for building and managing state and local relationships and fostering new growth and strategic opportunities within Tennessee’s TennCare Medicaid program.
Prior to his promotion to President in 2018, Robert served as the Chief Operating Officer and previously the Director of Medicaid State Operations, leading all day-to-day health plan operations and execution, customer service, quality management, and regulatory oversight from 2014 to 2018. He served in a similar operational leadership capacity for Amerigroup Georgia from 2011 to 2014. In addition to these roles, Robert supported South Region Medicaid with business development & implementation, and strategic operations.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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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.” - JDMentions:
World Bank ReportsM-Pesa in KenyaLarge Language Models (LLMS) with DialectsMarketplace Counterfeit ChallengesBook: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good LifeBios:
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.
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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. LoganTerms, 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. LoganLeaders 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 BeyerEven 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 BeyerMentions:
Data Literacy MovementInformation as a Second Language (ISL) methodologyThe Data Lodge and Bridgestone Data Literacy WebinarGenerative AI and prompt engineering classes
BiosValerie 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 industryHear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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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 learningDeep fake Synthetic data Gartner Generative AIBio:
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.
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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 AIBio:
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.
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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 IBMHyperautomationGenerative AIThe Secrets of AI Value CreationBio:
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.
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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 programPython programGoogle CloudBigQueryMonte CarloGenerative AIChatGPTBio:
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.
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You’ve heard the term data science, but have you heard about decision science? Juergen Kallinger, VP of Data and Insights at HP, shares valuable insights and reflections from his 22-year journey at HP. In this episode, Juergen dives into HP’s pivotal shift from solely reporting, to the dynamic realm of decision science and how it’s aligned their data team.
Key Moments:
Balancing technical skills and business acumen [7:16]The analogy of being a great cook [9:24]Maintaining proximity to business stakeholders [16:55]Adjusting the language for different audiences [22:35]The evolution of data science and decision science [32:48]The excitement and potential of AI [37:19]Key Quotes:
“I talk a lot about extreme ownership. We're in the data world and we're at the end of a very long chain of things that have to work for us to be able to deliver high-quality data analytics and insights to our business users. We cannot assume that everything upstream always works and is always perfect and we just rely on the very last mile.”
“Data is like water. It's vital for our survival in the modern business world."
"The more tech buzzwords there are, the less I would use them with the business teams. I would more focus on the business outcomes and what we enable. It's important to talk about the implications of strong data governance, aligning to the same metrics, enabling specific insights, and guaranteeing higher data quality to build trust in the data."
Mentions:
Data warehouseData migrationData quality improvementDecision scienceGenerative AIBio: Together with his team, Juergen is currently responsible for HPs Data, Business Insights & Analytics globally. His team of consultants, project managers, solution architects & developers is responsible for the design & delivery of data products, business intelligence and analytics solutions to HPs Commercial (Sales, Category, Operations), Finance, Supply Chain, Services, Customer Support & Digital Transformation teams globally. He joined HP in November 2001 as Project Analyst in Vienna, Austria and has held several regional and worldwide management positions since then. During his career at HP Juergen worked in a wide range of international roles where he gained deep insight into HP’s core processes and systems globally covering Marketing, Sales, Pricing, Category, Configuration & Quote as well as Finance and Sales Compensation. In 2022, Juergen has been appointed to lead the HP-wide Data, Business Insights & Analytics organization to introduce a more modern, consistent, and efficient Business Intelligence operating model, data & platform strategy. Before joining HP, Juergen has worked for BASF and a local tax advisory company in Vienna. Juergen graduated with a master’s degree in economics from the Vienna University of Economics & Business and completed an executive education program for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Stanford University. Together with his wife, Juergen moved to Houston, Texas in January 2014.
Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.
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