In a world where data is omnipresent yet often misunderstood, Roberto Maranca’s book “Data Excellence” offers a human-centered, actionable framework for transforming how organizations approach data leadership.

Maranca, an executive with a career spanning top data roles at GE, Lloyds Banking Group, and now as Data Officer for Schneider Electric’s Energy Management Business Unit in London, challenges the traditional perception of data as a technical function. Instead, he reframes data leadership as a coaching discipline — one that requires cultural rewiring, continuous effort, and collaboration between business leaders (“data athletes”) and data practitioners (“data personal trainers”).

Speaking with CDO Magazine, Maranca shares how his book is designed for everyone who deals with data — from business managers to CDOs — who recognizes that thriving in the digital age requires more than analytics dashboards; it demands a strategic and cultural shift.

Edited Excerpts:

Q: What gap in the data leadership landscape motivated you to write Data Excellence now, and why is a coaching-based approach so timely? 

The book addresses the gap in data leadership where organizations struggle to achieve true data excellence due to cultural challenges, fragmented ownership, and difficulty quantifying data value. It highlights that data is not just a technical issue but a team sport requiring sustained effort, mindset change, and collaboration between business leaders (data athletes) and data practitioners (data personal trainers).

The coaching-based approach is timely because it frames data leadership as a continuous, disciplined practice akin to athletic training, emphasizing culture, communication, and adaptive change management rather than quick technological fixes. 

This approach helps overcome tribalism, embeds new habits, and aligns data initiatives with business strategy, making it essential for navigating today’s complex, rapidly evolving digital and ethical landscape.

Q: Who is the ideal reader for Data Excellence, and what three transformational insights will they gain after reading the first chapter? 

The ideal reader for Data Excellence is anyone convinced that thriving in today’s world requires making decisions and taking actions based on good data — this includes business professionals at all levels, not just data officers or heads of data. After reading the first chapter, they will gain three transformational insights: 

• Data is fundamentally a team sport requiring collaboration between data athletes (business leaders) and data personal trainers (data practitioners), not merely an IT or AI issue.
• The modern world is “pandedomenistic,” meaning data pervades every domain, making human-centered change efforts crucial.
• There are three core challenges to overcome for data success — data is tribal, often treated as an afterthought, and its value is hard to quantify — setting the stage for why data excellence is necessary.

Q: With so many data‐leadership titles on the market, what makes Data Excellence stand out, and how does it reshape CDOs’ perspectives on their role? 

Data Excellence stands out from other data-leadership titles by framing data leadership as a holistic, ongoing discipline akin to athletic training rather than a one-off technical or governance project. It emphasizes the partnership between business leaders (data athletes) and data practitioners (data personal trainers), focusing on culture change, methodical embedding of data practices into organizational change, and measurable value creation.

This coaching-based approach reshapes CDOs’ perspectives by shifting their role from being mere overseers of data governance or technology to becoming essential change agents who foster collaboration, embed new habits across the organization, and guide sustained performance improvement aligned with strategic ambitions — transforming them into true enablers of business success through data.

Q: You’ve included self-assessments throughout the book; how do these checkpoints help readers personalize the lessons?

These serve as practical checkpoints that help readers reflect on their current data capabilities, organizational culture, and readiness for change. 

By engaging with these assessments, readers can personalize the lessons to their specific context — identifying strengths to build on and gaps to address — much like a personal trainer tailoring a fitness regime to an athlete’s condition. This ongoing self-evaluation fosters deeper understanding, motivates targeted action, and ensures that the guidance is relevant and actionable for each reader’s unique data leadership journey.

Q: After closing the book, what’s the very first step you hope every reader takes to kick-start their journey toward organizational data excellence? 

Write a communication and engagement plan and gather their first data consumer story!

Q: What’s one widespread misconception about the CDO role that Data Excellence debunks immediately?

The book immediately debunks the misconception that the Chief Data Officer (CDO) role is primarily a technical or IT position focused on data governance or technology solutions.

Instead, it clarifies that the CDO is fundamentally a change agent and a “data personal trainer” whose role centers on fostering cultural transformation, embedding disciplined data practices across the organization, and driving measurable business value through data — not just managing systems or compliance.

Q: If someone skimmed the book, which chart, table, or template would you want them to bookmark and use right away?

It has to be the Data Excellence Operating Model four-part structure; it is the core engine of change, when every single “customer engagement” is transformed into stronger data fitness.