Don't Try to Win Them Over
Data and AI professionals have to navigate the treacherous politics of the work environment on a daily basis. My new book, Data, Strategy, Culture & Power, was written to help you see those forces around you so you can respond more effectively. But there are times I wish I’d known what I know now, and could apply it to working with business execs – like in this personal story where Greg Satell’s wisdom from Cascades could have saved me two months, a lot of agony, and about $150K.
Several years ago, I was working with the VP of E-Commerce at a multi-billion dollar Consumer Goods company… an org solidly in the Fortune 500. Like most companies of that size, their data was a mess, but there was a major new product release coming up and the executive team really needed some solid KPIs to guide their decision making.
My job was to help them figure out how to get there.
After a 6-week deep dive with a team of 5 people, we figured out the quickest...