Data analytics is a vast field with multiple specific domains within it. This makes it particularly difficult for young professionals and students to navigate their career pathways. Manik Gupta, Chief Analytics and Insights Officer, Bayer Consumer Health, North America speaks with Baz Khuti, President US, Modak, about the ideal approach to change management in a company and how young professionals can shape their data analytics career

When asked about examples of good change management behaviors, Gupta states that there is no secret formula for change management. But from his observation over the years, he says that the conversation has to shift from ‘what I have solved’ to ‘I understand what you’re going through and I can help you be better at what you do and be more successful.’

Gupta asserts that  people being willing to listen and give a chance attracts a lot more attention. Adding, “And obviously, at the end of the day, if your solution is not up to snuff, you lose that opportunity. But if you have a great product, you do tend to see significant adoption.”

On the monetization side, he suggests that it is necessary to invest money to make money.

“Data and analytics professionals sometimes don’t pay enough attention to what we are actually solving for and whether it’s actually getting solved or not. In essence, why you need to invest money to make money. You then, as a function, have to be accountable and responsible for returning the investment that was made at some profitable clip. The more you do that, it creates this self-fulfilling prophecy for more investment and you keep throwing and building it off the next set of products and solutions,” Gupta elaborates.

He then shifts the conversation to how young professionals and students can navigate their careers in data analytics. There are many career tracks available to data and analytics professionals today.

Gupta first advises that young professionals start a plan that touches several areas within data and analytics for the next five to seven years. It could be solution architecture, privacy and security, scale data science, advanced business analytics, for example.

They need to be able to dabble with these varying levels of effort to fully experience data and analytics, according to Gupta. “That will then create clarity in terms of your purpose. Once you do understand that purpose, you can go very deep into one or two core areas and become an expert. If your purpose is to stay broad, you can keep building your career to have full sight of all of these different areas without the need to go deep into one or two of these skills,” he explains.

Gupta’s second piece of advice is that data professionals need to commit to the idea of lifelong learning. “Data and analytics change every 24. So, if you have a good day, a good week, a good month or quarter, you don’t rest on that. There are many ways you can make that commitment come to life. It’s the mix of work you take on in an academic or a professional setting,” he adds.

Gupta stresses that professionals must leverage the open online learning platforms and keep learning in areas that they might end up having a passion for.

Lastly, he says that the responsibility of one’s career cannot be outsourced to anyone else. He urges professionals to approach their careers as a company with themselves as the CEO and go through a process of self-reflection with scheduled growth and progress targets.

“You have been CEO of this company, you need to invest the time to figure out what you need to do to operationalize that purpose. And then, you know, like every good CEO, you must have a small board of directors. Enlist the help of a family member, someone in your academic circle or any professional circle, or in a community. The only criteria for someone to sit on this board for your career company are that they’re in a position to give you objective advice and that you are in a position to accept that advice,” Gupta signs off.