Curiosity can lead you to unlikely places. For Malcolm Hawker, a simple curiosity about enterprise data led to a lasting career as an expert in the field and a thought leadership figure in the data and analytics space.

Malcolm is interviewed by Anthony Algmin on the Data Leadership Lessons podcast to discuss his personal journey to becoming a thought leader in the data field. In this lively conversation, he shares insights on his career progression starting as a phone-based Technical Support agent for AOL in the mid ‘90s making $7 an hour to where he is today. Along the way, Malcolm shares several valuable insights on the current state of data leadership with practical advice on how CDOs can leverage critical data to become a more data-driven organization.

Malcolm dives into why he chose to leave his position as a Gartner Analyst and use podcasts, LinkedIn and other channels to share best practices with CDOs as a part of his mission to “raise the bar” on data leadership. A common thread across Malcolm’s interview is the idea that many of the best practices consistently shared with CDOs and other data leaders are not being implemented today. He attributes much of this as a failure to align business incentives with IT incentives, as well as a failure by CDOs with more of an IT background being unwilling to defer to other experts to help solve difficult problems — at least those who aren’t high-priced consultants.

Through this 45-minute conversation, Malcolm’s passion for helping CDOs consistently sits at the core with the support of his deep experience as a consultant, a software vendor, a CIO and a Gartner analyst. He explores the importance of CDOs having the right combination of business, technical and sales skills — and the importance of using the right messaging and mediums to ensure data organizations place business first, not technology.

CDOs looking for new — and perhaps a bit irreverent — views on the state of data leadership today should find this episode of CDO Matters a breath of fresh air.

Key Moments

[1:00] Malcolm’s Career Overview in the Data Space
[6:30] The Early Internet Days with AOL
[9:20] Pursuing Data Management
[14:40] Adding Value as a Data Thought Leader
[15:43] The Appeal of Data Evangelism
[25:20] Practicing Humility as a Modern CDO
[31:50] Making Data Literacy Actionable
[36:15] The Buzz Behind Data Fabric and Data Mesh
[39:10] Learning from Data Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Wearing Multiple Hats in the Data Space (5:02)

“In many ways, I learned the wrong way in some instances. Or the less effective way, I should say, of doing MDM and data management and implementing a governance program. But those lessons really carried forward and through the rest of my career…I’m in a unique position of having seen what works both as a practitioner and an analyst and a consultant and a software vendor. So, I’ve worn every hat. — Malcolm Hawker

Malcolm’s Endgame for Data Thought Leadership (10:42)

“After 30 years of having been in this space, I feel like I know what works, and I know what doesn’t work. I’ve seen it work, and I have seen it fail. I’ve been on the end of the failures, so I really want to help people avoid that stuff. I want to help CDOs succeed. I want to help VPs of Data and Analytics succeed. I want to extend the tenures of CDOs. I’m in the right place. I feel like it is the right time.” — Malcolm Hawker

The Makings of an Effective CDO (28:25)

“It’s a bit of a unicorn skillset. The right CDO is certainly a bit of a unicorn. It’s half sales, half business and half technology — and yes, that’s three halves. So, it’s tough, but there are people out there that do it.” — Malcolm Hawker

The Truth about Data Literacy (32:08)

“I was at a presentation…and they were talking about data literacy and I asked him a question that I thought just was a mic drop. I said, ‘If data leaders were more business literate, would we be asking business leaders to be more data literate?’…I tend to have a little bit of a problem with the phrase ‘data literacy’ because I think it’s condescending because the flipside of that is illiteracy.” — Malcolm Hawker

About Anthony Algmin

Anthony is the host and founder of Algmin Data Leadership and the Data Leadership Lessons podcast. He also serves as the Convergence Platform Program Lead at AbbVie, a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm based in Chicago. Anthony is also the author of the book, Data Leadership: Stop Talking About Data and Start Making an Impact!, published with DATAVERSITY. He has made over a hundred speaking appearances to deliver data leadership insights to the masses.

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