For July’s Book of the Month, we’re challenging our perspective on data leadership with “The Data Hero Playbook” by Malcolm Hawker. The subtitle is “Developing Your Career and Data SUPERPOWERS,” which gives a sense of the journey the reader is about to engage in.
The book ultimately challenges a lot of long-held beliefs and practices in data management and encourages the reader to understand both the positive and negative mindsets, as Hawker portrays them, related to data leadership. The book goes to great lengths to dissuade the reader from blaming a lack of data literacy, as one example used in the book, for the reason why a data initiative may have failed at their organization. To take the reader through that journey, Malcolm first shares how he got to this particular epiphany from his humble beginnings as a minimum wage earner at AOL, just trying to keep his H1B visa, all the way to being an analyst at Gartner, and now the CDO for Profisee software. Hawker has seen it all, and he shares the revelations he’s had through his storied career.
Of particular note in the book is the discussion on limiting mindsets. Hawker describes activities, beliefs, and operating behaviours seen at many organizations that are fundamentally detrimental to the nature of succeeding with a data initiative. Malcolm’s experience with master data management (MDM) shines brightly here, as he’s able to show how so many of these behaviors have caused potentially successful and lucrative initiatives to fail. Sometimes that failure is attributed to the lack of communication relating to the alignment to business goals and objectives. One particular bugbear expressed by Hawker is the overuse in data circles of the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” While this is a cliché that’s often born true, Malcolm reminds the reader that by using the phrase, they are accepting culpability in their lack of ability, or willingness, to affect real change for the better. Worse yet, Hawker also asserts that the utterer of said phrase is accepting that all the organization’s expensive software solutions and implementations are “dumb conduits” that move data.
On the flip side of limiting mindsets, Hawker promotes positive activity. Chiefly, putting the customer’s needs first. While this might seem obvious to the reader, sometimes obvious common sense behaviors are the hardest to emulate in real-life situations. Malcolm does an excellent job reminding data leaders that the reason they are there is to serve the organization in its quest to leverage data to achieve business goals. While not in the chapter itself, it echoes some of the teachings of Stephan Covey of 7-Habits of Highly Effective People fame. In the fourth and fifth habits, “Think Win/Win” and “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood,” Covey teaches about putting the customer first, and having a service mentality. In talks and course materials, Covey often relays a story of a Ritz Carlton employee’s interaction with guests seeking a drink in the hotel lounge, which was closed. While not the employee’s main job function, they took it upon themselves to open the lounge and serve the customers. This is an excellent example of fulfilling a customer requirement, and Hawker exposes this type of customer-centric thinking to data leadership roles excellently in this book.
To conclude, Hawkers book is a must-read for data leaders, especially those who feel like they are struggling against the demands placed upon them in their organization. Or those who feel like they are unable to effect change and effectively communicate the benefits of data within their organization. Lastly, the wrappings of a positive, customer-centric mindset (and an eye to the future) as being “SUPERPOWERS” keeps this a fresh and interesting read throughout.
More About the Author
Malcolm Hawker is the CDO of Profisee and is a thought leader in the fields of data strategy, master data management (MDM), and data governance. As a former Gartner analyst, Malcolm has authored industry-defining research and has consulted some of the largest businesses in the world on their enterprise data and analytics strategies. Having served as a chief product officer, head of IT, and strategic business consultant, Malcolm is an industry leader with over 25 years’ experience at the forefront of data-enabled business transformations. Malcolm is a frequent public speaker on data and analytics best practices, and he cherishes the opportunity to share practical and actionable insights on how companies can achieve their strategic imperatives by improving their approach to data management. He is the author of the Wiley book “The Data Hero Playbook,” which details the critical role that a growth mindset plays in helping companies to realize the transformative value of data. When not sharing his passion for data or recording episodes of the CDO Matters podcast, Malcolm is an avid hobbyist landscape photographer and lives with his wife and two dogs in a small beach town in Florida.
