Harvard Business Review
by Tom Davenport; Randy Bean; Josh King
August 18, 2021
Summary.
- The Chief Data Officer is arguably one of the most important roles at a company.
- It’s also a position that has become notoriously hard to stay in.
- The average tenure of CDOs is just two to two-and-a-half years.
There are a few reasons for this.
- The role is relatively new, so companies are still trying to decide what they want from the person in this position.
- Many companies expect the impossible from their CDO.
- Finally, CDOs often have trouble selling their actual accomplishments to a business audience — they just don’t speak the language.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way. One successful CDO imparted two pieces of advice:
- Start with a clear connection to business strategy with tangible examples of how data analytics can drive business outcomes (topline, bottom line, cash, stewardship), and
- lead with 1–2 forward thinking business partners to demonstrate what is possible.
Those partners become the change agents across the organization.
Originally published at https://hbr.org on August 18, 2021.
