#232: Getting buy in and investment from senior execs for your data & AI projects, with Brian Ferris, Chief Data, Analytics and Technology Officer at Loyalty New Zealand

Data Futurology - Leadership And Strategy in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science

This special episode was recorded LIVE and in-person with Brian Ferris, Chief Data, Analytics and Technology Officer at Loyalty New Zealand. He shares on how to get value from your AI investment and how to look at the interplay and relationship between data leaders and the senior executive team.

Brian stresses the importance of aligning with execs on the business strategy first, then working backwards to your AI strategy. According to Brian, the first step is for the data leaders themselves to shift their mindset from being an expert in their field, to instead become an enterprise leader. This means developing the capacity to have a conversation with other stakeholders within the organisation on their terms and understand what keeps them up at night. It also means looking at decisions through the lens of what is good for the overall business.

Brian and Felipe also share key steps in nurturing talent to take on leadership roles. It’s imperative to create a culture of psychological safety within the organisation and identify when an individual is ready to start taking on a leadership role and equipping them with enterprise skills. It also means helping them transition beyond looking at the data to their broader role within the organisation.

Finally, Felipe and Brian discuss why data leaders need to leave their egos at the door, and not become emotionally invested in or defensive of projects. The data leader should be one of the leading voices within the organisation, but to get there, a collaborative spirit and a goal to take actions that are beneficial to the organisation are key.

In this interview, Ferris dives deep into all these topics. He offers insights according to his own approach to the subject, and challenges some of the conventions we take for granted. Tune in to learn more!

Thank you to our sponsor Talent Insights Group!

Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-ferris-a053532/

Join us at one of our next events!

Data Engineering Summit Sydney:https://www.datafuturology.com/data-engineering-summit-sydney-2023

Advancing AI Sydney: https://www.datafuturology.com/advancing-ai-sydney-2023

Join our Slack Community: https://join.slack.com/t/datafuturologycircle/shared_invite/zt-z19cq4eq-ET6O49o2uySgvQWjM6a5ng

WHAT WE DISCUSSED

00:00: Introduction.

2:05: Felipe introduces Brian Ferris.

2:34: How to get value from your AI investment.

8:29: The value of collaborative approaches within organisations – how can the data team drive this?

13:09: If the data team needs to both support the organisation and lead it, how does it balance those priorities?

18:14: How can a data professional bridge the gap between being a subject matter expert to having a broader understanding of the business?

22:56: Talking about soft influence – what can people do on a peer-to-peer level to build influence within an organisation?

28:47: Why it’s critical to shift thinking away from “being right” and “winning”.

33:15: What are some of the most effective techniques for creating psychological safety between peers?

36:07: What can data leaders do to incentivise adoption across the organisation?

38:58: Why proof-of-concepts are not always the appropriate way to go (and the limited circumstances under which they should be tried).