Driven by Data: The Podcast

Orbition Group is delighted to bring you this podcast series, which is designed for Data Enthusiasts, to hear from some of the most high-profile Data, Analytics and AI thought leaders from around the globe. Each episode will detail the guests journey to the top while bringing unique insights, drawn from first-hand experience on the industry’s most trending topics. This podcast was created as a way for our industry's most respected leadership figures from across the world to give back to the Data & Analytics community, by sharing; knowledge, experiences and ideas, to inspire, innovate and provide real-life use cases on the industries most pressing topics/challenges.

Driven by Data: The Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Driven by Data: The Podcast, a business show with 0 episodes published.

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  Episode #20

  S7 | Ep 20 | Your Data & AI Investment Portfolio: How to Decide What Gets Funded with Nick Zervoudis, Founder at Value from Data & AI

  Aug 18, 202659 minS7

  In Episode 20 of Season 7 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Nick Zervoudis, Founder at Value from Data & AI, where they discuss why so many data and AI teams struggle to demonstrate measurable business value — and why the real failure almost always happens upstream, long before anyone tries to articulate it. Nick makes the case that "we can't prove our value" is usually a symptom, not the disease: teams solve the wrong problem, skip the value case, or hand off value realisation to no one. Along the way they get into his five-point diagnostic framework, how to build a credible back-of-the-envelope ROI estimate before a line of code is written, how to prioritise a portfolio of opportunities, and where AI productivity savings are real versus imaginary. They also discuss: Why the inability to demonstrate value is usually an upstream failure, not a communication problem. What Nick's five-point framework reveals: wrong problem, wrong solution, poor execution, no measurement, weak communication. Why data teams keep solving the wrong problem by starting from technology instead of the problem itself. How to separate the "problem space" from the "solution space" before reaching for a tool. Why 70–80% of data teams operate as order takers rather than true collaborators. Why being ROI-positive is only the entry ticket, not a reason to do a project. What criteria actually decide prioritisation: return, payback speed, implementation readiness, and strategic relevance. Why nothing a data team builds has inherent value without an owner on the business side to realise it. How to build a credible back-of-the-envelope value case before anything gets built. Why estimating value is far easier to learn than the technical craft most data people already have. How to get stakeholders to correct a rough estimate rather than hand them a blank sheet. Why "how will we measure success?" is the most useful question you can ask when scoping work. What the bystander effect has to do with data teams quietly failing to create value. How framing work around outcomes turns engineers from code-writers into problem-solvers. Why hours saved rarely become money on the balance sheet. What the five-to-six buckets of productivity value are, and why you must never double-count them. Why some AI investment should deliberately have no business case at all. How Monday.com turned a five-week experimentation window into a $100M ARR product. Why blanket self-serve analytics or company-wide AI licences often set you up for failure. What first steps a CDO should take to re-prioritise a roadmap around measurable value. Thanks to our sponsor, Data & AI Literacy Academy. Data & AI Literacy Academy is leading the way in transforming enterprise workforces with data literacy across the organisation, through a combination of change management and education. In today's data-centric world, being data literate is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. If you want successful data product adoption, and to keep driving innovation within your business, you need to start with data & AI literacy first. At Data & AI Literacy Academy, they don't just teach data skills. They empower individuals and teams to think critically, analyse effectively, and make decisions confidently based on data. They're bridging the gap between business and data teams, so they can all work towards aligned outcomes. From those taking their first steps in data & AI literacy to seasoned experts looking to fine-tune their skills, our data experts provide tailored classes for every stage. But it's not just learning tracks that they offer. They embed a deep data culture shift through a transformative change management programme. They take a people-first approach, working closely with your executive team to win the hearts and minds. We know this will drive the company-wide impact that data teams want to achieve. Get in touch and find out how you can unlock the full potential of data in your organisation. Learn more at www.dl-academy.com /driven

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  Episode #19

  Data Debrief: Wildfires, New things at Orbition, and teases of things to come!

  Aug 13, 202634 minS7

  Welcome to another episode of the Data Debrief, the companion show to Driven by Data: The Podcast, where hosts Catherine Dowden-King and Kyle Winterbottom unpack Tuesday's episode, share what's been on their minds, and explore the realities of leadership, culture, and capability across the data and AI landscape. This week, Catherine and Kyle reflect on the conversation with Marion Shaw, Senior Director of Data, Analytics and Data Management at Cencora, and her new book on data culture, before digging into why the "data culture" debate keeps circling the same questions, and why the answer almost always comes back to people rather than technology. They cover: The wildfires spreading across South Wales and Europe, and how AI and drones are being deployed in France to spot smoke earlier, distinguish dust from smoke, and cut down the false positives that waste emergency resource The bigger climate paradox facing the industry, from record-wet winters followed by hosepipe bans and water mismanagement, to the uncomfortable reality that the data centres powering AI advances are themselves enormous consumers of water Why absolutism helps no one, and how the healthiest position on AI, sustainability, and change sits somewhere in the messy middle rather than all-in or all-out How incentives quietly shape behaviour, illustrated by the fact that three flights across Europe can cost less than a single train from Manchester to London, and why people ultimately do what they're incentivised to do Catherine's latest build for the Orbition community: a NED Opportunity Finder, a live, daily-updating table of listed non-executive director roles showing remuneration, location, and whether the board is public or private, free to access for registered community members, and why she's so keen to see more data leaders move into board positions Why Marion's candour hit home, especially the reminder that you simply cannot force people to be interested in or care about data, and why that truth is uncomfortable but essential How technology becomes a distraction, the "shiny thing syndrome" that pulls focus away from the outcomes that actually matter, and why that's the real answer to "why now" The endlessly debated question of whether "data culture" even exists, why the industry loves arguing over semantics no one outside it cares about, and why every organisation already has a data culture, somewhere on the spectrum from barely-there to full tilt Why culture and outcomes feed each other rather than being an either/or, and how influencing behaviours and showing results almost always happen in tandem Why every business claims to be "data-driven," how the reality usually differs, and why a new CDO's first 90 to 100 days is really about working out where the organisation actually sits versus where leadership thinks it does The "slippery shoulders" problem, and why nothing improves or gets maintained unless someone genuinely owns it Why you can't see your own culture from the inside, and how stepping out to network, attend events, and compare notes with peers is often the only way to know whether you're ahead, behind, or better off than you thought A look ahead to the Orbition magazine landing in October, featuring a data leader who hasn't spoken publicly in over two years, alongside mentor and mentee stories and perspectives from beyond the CDO community The Director of Police AI role at the College of Policing, and how its rigid entry criteria expose the same old problem seen across data leadership: job descriptions that bear little resemblance to what organisations actually want from the role Kyle's thought of the week: most job descriptions are disconnected from what the business actually needs. Organisations have learned to use the right language, asking for leaders who'll work with the board and use data to drive commercial performance, then listing purely technical requirements underneath. Until that gap closes, the mismatch between what's advertised and what's wanted will keep repeating itself. Fundamentally, every organisation already has a data culture; it simply sits somewhere on a spectrum, and the job is to understand where before trying to move it. Catherine's thought of the week: you rarely recognise your own culture until you step outside it. Whether it's trust versus micromanagement, or how your data leaders are really perceived, the comparison only becomes clear when you go out, meet people, and see how others operate. And the honesty applies inward too, because no organisation describes itself as not caring about data, so the real work is uncovering where it genuinely stands. This episode is a candid, wide-ranging conversation on data culture, ownership, and incentives, and a reminder that the hardest problems in data and AI leadership remain stubbornly human, no matter how much the technology moves on. Housekeeping: The podcast is now broadcasting on LinkedIn Live. To watch along in real time, head to the Driven by Data Productions page on LinkedIn and follow it. We go live with each episode every Tuesday at 1pm BST, and our guest often joins the comments to answer your questions. Keep an eye out for upcoming events towards the end of the year, including Driven by Data Live, where Catherine will be handing out physical copies of the new magazine.

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  Episode #19

  S7 | Ep 19 | Technology Is Easy, People Are Hard with Marion Shaw, Senior Director, Data Analytics and Data Management at Cencora

  Aug 10, 202651 minS7

  In Episode 19 of Season 7 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is rejoined by Marion Shaw, Senior Director, Data Analytics and Data Management at Cencora, where they discuss why building a genuine data culture is a people and process problem rather than a technology one, and what it actually takes to embed trust, curiosity and business value into how an organisation works with data. The conversation centres on Marion's new book, Why Data Culture Matters, and digs into why trust is the single attribute with the biggest ripple effect on a data culture, plus the "AI paradox" — why people distrust their own data yet blindly trust the same data when an AI hands it back to them. They also discuss: Why so many organisations pour money into technology yet still fail to see the returns. What Why Data Culture Matters covers, and who Marion wrote it for. How data culture should reflect and be built around a company's existing business culture. Why there is no universal blueprint for data culture — every organisation's version looks different. How giving people access to data without teaching them to interpret it undermines self-serve initiatives. How trust is built through recognisability, explainability, transparency and repeatability. Why CDOs should never promise something they can't actually deliver. What the "AI paradox" means for organisations rolling out generative AI tools. How younger generations risk losing critical thinking skills by taking AI output at face value. Why healthy scepticism should be a core attribute of every data culture, regardless of industry. How to measure progress in building a data culture beyond simple adoption metrics. Why dashboard adoption is a flawed proxy for a genuinely data-driven culture. Why data teams need to shift from being "order takers" to acting as business partners. What the biggest mistakes are that organisations make when trying to mandate a data culture from the top down. Why flexibility, not rigid planning, is the mindset shift data leaders need most. Why influence and communication skills are essential to embedding a data culture successfully. Thanks to our sponsor, Data & AI Literacy Academy. Data & AI Literacy Academy is leading the way in transforming enterprise workforces with data literacy across the organisation, through a combination of change management and education. In today's data-centric world, being data literate is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. If you want successful data product adoption, and to keep driving innovation within your business, you need to start with data & AI literacy first. At Data & AI Literacy Academy, they don't just teach data skills. They empower individuals and teams to think critically, analyse effectively, and make decisions confidently based on data. They're bridging the gap between business and data teams, so they can all work towards aligned outcomes. From those taking their first steps in data & AI literacy to seasoned experts looking to fine-tune their skills, our data experts provide tailored classes for every stage. But it's not just learning tracks that they offer. They embed a deep data culture shift through a transformative change management programme. They take a people-first approach, working closely with your executive team to win the hearts and minds. We know this will drive the company-wide impact that data teams want to achieve. Get in touch and find out how you can unlock the full potential of data in your organisation. Learn more at www.dl-academy.com /driven

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  Episode #18

  Data Debrief: The AI Rollback & Regrets

  Aug 6, 202640 minS7

  Welcome to another episode of The Data Debrief , the companion show to Driven by Data: The Podcast , where hosts Catherine Dowden-King and Kyle Winterbottom unpack Tuesday's episode, share what's been on their minds, and explore the realities of leadership, culture, and capability across the data and AI landscape. This week, Catherine and Kyle reflect on Kyle's conversation with Laura Fiacco , Founder of Adaptive Assets, exploring why communication, influence and commerciality remain some of the most overlooked skills in data leadership. Alongside the episode discussion, they dive into LinkedIn's apparent AI U-turn, the growing challenge of AI-generated content, and why the future of data leadership may be less about technology and more about transformation. They cover: Why LinkedIn, Snapchat and Substack are all taking steps to tackle AI-generated content, and what it says about organisations pushing AI adoption before understanding its long-term consequences Whether we're heading towards a world where overusing AI becomes just as much of a performance concern as not using it at all The ethical grey areas surrounding AI-generated communication, from political statements to funeral tributes, and why context matters far more than blanket rules Laura's perspective on communication as a skill that compounds over time, and why nobody starts by presenting to a thousand people Why communication isn't synonymous with public speaking, but instead about translating technical concepts into language that business leaders understand and care about The importance of influencing without authority, building relationships, and developing the commercial mindset needed to turn technical work into business value How organisations continue to undervalue communication, relationship building and commerciality because they're harder to measure than technical capability Practical ways data professionals can develop these skills themselves, including writing, voice conversations with AI, and using large language models as personalised coaching tools Why curiosity, listening and asking better questions are just as important as being able to communicate confidently Kyle's reflections on why transformation is becoming the next major destination for senior data leaders as technology becomes less of the challenge and organisational change becomes the real differentiator Catherine's comparison between today's AI leadership roles and the "e-business" and "Chief Internet Officer" titles of the dot-com era, and why AI leadership may ultimately become absorbed into every business function as the technology matures Programming note: If you've been following Catherine's recent LinkedIn series on the evolution of executive technology roles, this episode expands on that conversation, exploring why today's AI job titles may eventually follow the same path as digital and internet leadership before them. This episode is a reminder that while AI continues to dominate headlines, long-term success still depends on the fundamentals: communicating clearly, influencing effectively, building relationships, and helping organisations change, not just implement new technology.

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  Episode #17

  S7 | Ep 18 | Influence without Authority by Communicating like an Executive with Laura Fiacco, Founder at Adaptive Assets

  Aug 4, 202651 minS7

  In Episode 18 of Season 7 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Laura Fiacco, Founder of Adaptive Assets, where they discuss why communication, influence and commercial thinking have become the competitive advantage for modern data professionals, and how learning to communicate like an executive is now just as important as technical expertise. They also discuss: Why influence without authority is the defining skill for modern data leaders. The 4 quadrant brain framework for tailoring communication to different thinking styles. Why successful influence starts by understanding other people's goals before presenting your own ideas. Why relationship building happens outside the meeting room, not inside it. How to communicate technical work in a way executives immediately care about. Why every presentation should start with the business outcome, not the analysis. Why data professionals often answer questions that were never asked. What data leaders can learn from sales discovery. The questions every data professional should ask before proposing a solution. Why understanding failed attempts and hidden assumptions leads to better stakeholder conversations. How to influence when different executives have conflicting priorities. Why peer success stories influence behaviour more effectively than data alone. Why communication, influence and leadership should become measurable career progression criteria. Practical habits that help build influence, trust and credibility every day. Why AI will make communication, influence and judgement more valuable than technical expertise. Why every person needs to understand their specific role in delivering the wider business objective. Why every business strategy is built on assumptions that data should validate or challenge. How to align stakeholders when everyone interprets the same strategy differently. Thanks to our sponsor, Data & AI Literacy Academy. Data & AI Literacy Academy is leading the way in transforming enterprise workforces with data literacy across the organisation, through a combination of change management and education. In today's data-centric world, being data literate is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. If you want successful data product adoption, and to keep driving innovation within your business, you need to start with data & AI literacy first. At Data & AI Literacy Academy, they don't just teach data skills. They empower individuals and teams to think critically, analyse effectively, and make decisions confidently based on data. They're bridging the gap between business and data teams, so they can all work towards aligned outcomes. From those taking their first steps in data & AI literacy to seasoned experts looking to fine-tune their skills, our data experts provide tailored classes for every stage. But it's not just learning tracks that they offer. They embed a deep data culture shift through a transformative change management programme. They take a people-first approach, working closely with your executive team to win the hearts and minds. We know this will drive the company-wide impact that data teams want to achieve. Get in touch and find out how you can unlock the full potential of data in your organisation. Learn more at www.dl-academy.com .

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