The New Skills of Data and Analytics Leaders

The last 12 years has been a fun ride for data leaders.? 12 years ago, the chief data officer role was pretty much non existent and a few companies had chief analytics officer roles.? Now they are very common in the Fortune 500’s and even beyond.? The problem we now face is that the roles are not well defined for the new age.? Most roles came about during the time of easy money and a focus on technical skills which are quickly obsolete.? Many companies hired someone who was good at models or code, thinking that was what they needed.? And they quickly found that did not really work.? There is a role for a chief data engineer or a chief data scientist but as the top dog running the show, no.? That’s a different set of skills.? Now with the world going into a recognized recession, the role of the data leader is about to change.?

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Tech focus and easy money gave us a certain data leader with a certain focus.? A lot of focus on technical skills meant someone who was very weak at the business was often in charge.? Lets face it, most data scientist, while good at certain math, are horrible at running a P&L and many companies learned that when their data science projects were over budge by millions and not complete.? Data scientists are also horrible at soft skills, I have had to talk to data science people more than any other group about how to tactfully talk with others.? This all makes sense; these are not taught these skills in data science programs yet are critical for leadership roles.

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Over time there are two types of leaders that emerged during this period, the operational and transformational.? The operational focused on more tactical work: code refinement, model development and tech debt.? I consider this the lesser of the two roles.? The transformational leader is more about changing the company and using data tools and teams to improve the business and get it to the next stage of growth.? The down side of this role is the short tenure of which is 1-3 years.? Although more business savvy, they tend to fall victim of fear of change by others.? Where as operational leaders have a nice title but tend to be a small c instead of a big C in terms of c suite leaders.?

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Both type of leaders left something to be desired and now with new economic constraints coming in, a new leader is really needed.? When I do a search about what are the skills a data and analytics leader needs, I see things like:

1.?????? ?Data governance:? Yes that’s good but often vague.

2.?????? A good storyteller:? That’s basically any job.

3.?????? Good at communications:? Again, that’s basically any job.

4.?????? Problem solver:? Again, what job doesn’t solve problems?? And in the C suite, that is basically your job.

5.?????? Understand data:? Very vague, how are you understanding it really matters?

6.?????? Create a data strategy:? I could write another article on how most orgs don’t know how a strategy works but lets just say, this often isn’t what is created, a strategy.

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For the next 10 years, if you want to be successful in the data and analytics leadership space, here’s what I believe you’ll need:

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1.?????? ?Economics acumen:? Your data doesn’t exist in a vacuum and the ability to take economic data and show how those economic trends are impacting the business and helping the business navigate those economic waves, are vital.? Making reports that sales went up is nothing.? Show sales went up because of certain forces in the market and how long that wave will last, has much more impact.? That’s why knowing how to read economic and market signals is vital for a data and analytics leader.? Without that, when bad new arrives, it becomes an internal finger pointing competition.

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2.?????? ?P&L management:? So many data leaders are good at math yet can’t run a P&L to save their life.? Running your P&L means you must know what are the going rates for roles in the market, what are vendors really charging for certain tools and if those price increase, they are asking for really make any sense.? It also means looking out the future for how expenses will impact your overall profitability of your organization and if your organization is contributing enough.?

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You have to demand ownership of this because so many org don’t do this.? If you don’t own your P&L you down own your seat at the table.? I know some leaders who keep that from their data leaders, demand the P&L.? Every C suite is essentially the CEO of their own area of the business and what CEO would run a company without a P&L.

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3.?????? Futurist and Forecaster:? My first job, I was an analyst.? And in that job, you had to predict the future and if you couldn’t achieve a certain level, you were out as an analyst.? I liked that.? How can you be in analytics if you can’t read all the data and predict the future.? I don’t mean you can win the lottery, but you should be able, with strong confident, predict the renewal or churn of a customer.? Not 100% but 70% plus.? I don’t need someone to tell me what happened, I need someone to tell me what will happen.? That ability to predict is going to be far more important as we head into more unpredictable times.

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4.?????? Career builders:? Something I learned about working with 20 somethings the last 3 years, they are different than they were 10 or 20 years ago.? They are demanding different things and they do want help in learning how to grow.? Many companies in the US have stopped really investing in career growth.? Being a leader who takes time to invest in their team is critical.? I would do 1 hour 1-1’s with my team each week, not for fun but for growth.? The ability to cultivate talent is going to be critical because those 20 somethings are loyal if you take the time to invest in them personally.? They will leave if you don’t.? So, leaders who can invest in people are going to be crucial to attracting and retaining the best talent.

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5.?????? Social Science and UX Strong:? I have built billion-dollar data products.? Want to know the secret?? It wasn’t really the tech or code; it was the user centric approach we took.? ??We always started with a pain point by a specific persona and worked out their journey and then solution.? Using social science and UX to craft the solution, we were able to do much better than our tech focused counterparts.? Why?? The job isn’t about data, it is about people.? People buy, code does not.? If I want a sale, I focus on the people.? That is something more data and analytic leaders need to understand.? We are not in the business of coding we are in the business of problem solving.?

If you can read the intent of a person in the code, that is golden.? That’s where the money is made.? So many people can’t do that.? They look at the data and look for signals based on their own behavior.? If you understand social sciences, you can better understand the patterns based on the person’s own behavior, not your own.? That’s a key difference.? In one job, this different meant going from a 2% conversion rate to a 5% which mean millions in sales.?

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For me, these are the areas data leaders need to start focusing on if they wish to be data leaders over the next decade.? AI will change things but just he basic needs of businesses will drive massive changes for all and these five skills will add a lot of value to any business.