PODCAST | Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Chief Data Officer: Data Exists To Serve Our Businesses

While the technical side of implementing data strategies is important, data leaders also have to figure the cultural side of the business into the equation. This means that  today’s CDO has to approach the job with an open mind. Cathy Doss, Chief Data Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, speaks with Susan Wilson, VP Global Data Governance and Privacy Segment Leader, Informatica, about the cultural side of a CDO’s role and the need to understand business needs.

Doss’ everyday job is to make sure that the businesses have the data they need, and that it's easy to find and ready to use. She says that the most important part of being a CDO is being a business leader. “Data exists to serve our businesses. And I believe it is our responsibility as CDOs to learn the business and help them measure what's working and what's not working, and most importantly, what they should do next. And I think that's where data plays such a huge and relevant role with regard to supporting the business.”

A fair part of the role is also about culture and social influence, she explains. Regarding her approach to cultural change in the context of individuals, teams, businesses, and the entire organization, she says that CDOs need to watch the organization closely.

She cites an article stating that most CDOs don't stick around organizations for more than two years, and she notes that it's because of the different and unique cultures within organizations.

“You have to approach the job of CDO with an open mind, watch the organization, and learn how others create change before you try to create changes yourself,” she emphasizes.

Doss offers a three-part process to approach an organization’s cultural aspect. First is listening through data ears. “When I sit down and talk to my business partners, I am always listening to data, whether or not they're talking about data; I'm always listening as they share with me what they're trying to accomplish,” she says.

Listening is followed by learning. “After listening to them through our data ears, it's learning to speak their language,” Doss says. “I often find that people tend to lead with data versus trying to take what they know about data and speak to their business partners in their own language, meeting them where they're at versus talking to them about master data management when they have no idea what that is. Wouldn't you want to standardize things so that they're common?’”

Next is showing value. “The only way to show the value of what you do as a CDO is through results, and those results earn credibility. And then I think it just builds from there,” she says. “The culture change to me is super important. I encourage anybody that's out there to learn about your organization before you try to create change,” she notes.” A cookie-cutter approach to creating change has not proved particularly successful.

Listening and learning about the business, Doss advises, is critical for CDOs beginning to build a data practice.

“It's not about data for data's sake. It really, truly is all about making sure that we're showing results and we're showing value through our data leadership,” Doss concludes.

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