S5 | Ep 24 | Benefit Realisation: A Business Focused Approach to Data & Analytics Leadership with Angela Pearce, Chief Data Officer at Pension Insurance Corporation Plc

In Episode 24, of Season 5 of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Angela Pearce, Chief Data Officer at Pension Insurance Corporation Plc, where they discuss how a varied career background and business focused approach allowed her to deliver multi-million pound benefits, which includes;

• Why working in hospitality early in her life shaped her approach.
• Coming from an unconventional background.
• Moving out of Data & Analytics to broaden her skillset.
• Being the first CDO in an entrepreneurial organisation.
• The differences of working in large versus smaller organisations.
• The importance of selling what your team can do for stakeholders.
• Differences in managing expectations and stakeholders in different environments.
• Why you need more buy-in, in smaller organisations.
• Being the top data person in an organisation three times and whether having the title matters.
• Knowing when you’re ready for a CDO role.
• Why sales skills are absolutely essential for success as a CDO.
• Why commercial understanding of business processes is imperative.
• Building strategy and foundations in a greenfield environment.
• Why tackling people and culture should be your first port of call.
• Why imagination and creativity is a super power for data teams.
• Balancing short-term value added wins with long term strategy.  
• Why you have to promote the small stuff.
• The signals that you’re reaching a point of data maturity.
• Navigating resistance challenges to a data strategy.
• Why a good data strategy will be controversial.
• Planting seeds that you grow into addressing difficult conversations.
• Why the ‘lack of value’ narrative is still so prevalent.
• Having a business focused approach to realise benefits.
• Why the CDO shouldn’t be measuring and articulating value.
• Why business readiness is key to substantiating value.   
• Building a data culture that aligns to an organisational culture.
• Why data literacy should be about removing obstacles for people to do what you need them to do.
• Why you need 99% carrot and 1% stick.
• Being a female CDO from outside of London.

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