Clearly, there is no prescribed set of skills, experiences, attitudes, or behaviors that when consistently exhibited will guarantee a data leader any measure of success. Ask a group of high-functioning data leaders what it takes to engender success in their role.

Although they may appear to disagree on the surface, their insights — forged in battle, refined in loss, and verified in victory — gravitate around common themes.

Depth of field

For a CDO, vision is not merely an attribute or an exercise, but an essential function. CDOs train their sights on business outcomes being pursued today while squinting farther afield to glimpse the outcomes to be sought tomorrow. 

Sachin Sharma, an engineering and analytics leader at CVS Health, acknowledges the importance of vision in the traditional sense — long-term envisioning, strategic thinking — but he notes that strategic plans are achieved through operational excellence, which is built from the bottom up. “It is operational excellence that gets you to the mountaintop, the everyday firefights which either inspire the grit that the team needs to have, or they shine a light on what’s attainable and what’s not.”

An impactful CDO must possess not just vision but depth of field, the continual racking of focus from the horizon to the right now, from the possibilities to the actualities, and from the finishing line to the firing line.

Discernment and resiliency

Depth of field does not assure victory. One must choose one’s battles carefully. Maria Villar, former CDO at SAP and IBM and current VC and startup advisor, believes that “there are some fights not worth fighting, and you may have to accept a smaller win.” Jennifer Mezzio, Global HR Data Officer, First Citizens Bank, adds, “You must have the patience to understand where an organization is, then navigate through its preconceptions and current state.”

Mezzio advises that “your expectations must be flexible, and you may have to narrow focus on your heavy hitters while you get stakeholders on board.”

Villar admits, “I don’t take no for an answer easily. I’m pretty resilient. No can just mean not now, so my responsibility is to convince you why it’s a yes. I’m not going to feel defeated; I’ve just got homework to do.”

Manufacturing satisfaction

For Glenn Hofmann, Chief Data Analytics Officer at MetLife, and formerly with New York Life, the impact is less about the “I’m” than it is the “pact” you make with your team. Glenn is all about valuing his team members, it’s his gift.

“It’s really about fostering the careers of high-potential employees and making people feel they’re in the right place. What people want isn’t that complicated: Opportunities to learn new skills, interesting projects to work on, and career paths. I focus on that a lot.” Several team members have followed him from place to place, and as Hofmann puts it, “feels good that they were happy in the atmosphere we created.” 

Likability

Villar doesn’t pull punches. In fact, she’s a CDO who enjoys the fight. Paradoxically, she firmly believes that as a data leader, “you have to be likable in any business environment. People want to work with those people that they like, that don’t take themselves too seriously. One of the best compliments I ever got was ‘We understand you’re going to be reasonable in what you ask for.’ That increases both your credibility and your ability to influence others.”

Villar’s insight resonated with me because several team members in my career have informed me that my expectations of them were higher than those of any other leader. Occasionally, my high expectations were deemed unreasonable and led to attrition. Still, more frequently I would be told that my expectations brought the best out of an individual and made them aware of what they were capable of. It hit me that my humor and my (seemingly) easy-going nature were important components of my own effectiveness. 

Value creation

“Passionate data leadership is about creating value out of data and creating a sustainable data culture where senior leaders take accountability for that transformational journey,” states Ram Kumar, Chief Data and Analytics Officer for International Health at Cigna.

Kumar is a data governance expert and a longtime practitioner of AI. Acknowledging that AI plays a critical role in driving value creation, he reminds us that getting the right balance between value creation, innovation, and acceptable use of data and AI through a strong data and AI risk governance process is critical.

In her Business Data Leadership Master Class, Villar highlights that “a data strategy must be business outcomes-focused,” with business outcomes as the priority. “Having a business outcomes data strategy also helps you communicate the value, because you use those business outcomes as a basis.”

Collaboration is key

At the end of the day, everyone isn’t likely to become a CDO, but if you play a role in business where data is involved – which is most people these days – you should look out for ways to become an impactful data leader. At Cloudera, we believe collaboration is key to unlocking the full potential of data. By working across teams, sharing insights, and aligning on goals, you can drive more effective data strategies.

Additionally, leveraging modern tools for data management also plays a crucial role, enabling teams to streamline processes, gain deeper insights, and manage data more efficiently across complex environments.

Increase the value you create by growing your depth of field, collaborating across functions, discerning when to back away and when to reemerge resiliently, and by leveraging your likeability to inspire a loyal team.

About the Author:

Shayde Christian is Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Cloudera. He guides data-driven cultural change for Cloudera to generate maximum value from data. Christian enables customers to get the absolute best from their Cloudera products such that they can generate high-value use cases for competitive advantage.

Previously a principal consultant, Christian formulated data strategy for Fortune 500 clients and designed, constructed, or turned around failing enterprise information management organizations. He enjoys laughter and is often the cause of it.