Meet the Phantom CDO

Hey there! I'm the Phantom CDO - a real-life Chief Data Officer with 20 years experience working on almost all aspects of data, analytics & AI. I have led several data transformations and have seen my fair share of successes and failures, and have actually managed to deliver real business value using data.

Why am I writing this newsletter?

I have searched long and hard for content that is written for a CDO by a CDO, and I have been disappointed. All data leadership content I found were either written by big 4 partners (in reality, probably by a consultant with 2 years experience) or by academic publications like HBR. While some of this content wasn’t bad at all, I found these merely scratched the surface, and were quite theoretical.

So I am writing the kind of content I would have loved to read. I am writing for myself - an audience of one.

Who is this newsletter for?

If you are an Executive or a senior leader who would like to transform your business by leveraging data, or a data leader wanting to create business value instead of just mucking around with technical initiatives, or if you are an aspiring CDO - this newsletter is for you.

I write from the perspective of a practicing CDO, someone with lived experience (and too many scars to count) dragging enterprise companies into the 21st century by helping them leverage the power of data. I have walked the halls in financial services, utilities, industrials and other traditional companies, have been able to push data transformation initiatives forward and have managed to drag them into the 21st century despite all odds.

Who I am not: I am not a big tech executive with unlimited budgets and armies of engineers (I haven’t worked at big tech for 15 years). My world is one of big corporate complexity - multinational challenges, change resistant executives and employees, limited change budgets and where political savvy and knowing how to navigate the organisation is more important than technical skills.

What will I write about?

Since I am my primary audience, I will foremost write about things I find interesting. I will write about things I wish I’d had access to when I was younger. My aim is to strip away the hype and buzz words, and show you what really moves the needle, all based on my lived real-life experiences, and also based on things I have learnt from observing/speaking to industry leaders. I will provide you frameworks & practical tips you can use in your own journey.

Here are a few themes I will write about -

  • Transforming your business by leveraging the full power of data

  • AI beyond the hype

  • Leadership, management & scalable organisations

  • The human side of Data & AI - culture and change management

  • The future of work due to advancements in AI/data/tech

Transparency on use of AI

Look, I am a data guy and have been at the forefront of using innovations for business benefit. Of course I use AI as part of my writing process.

Before I get to how I use AI, I’ll tell you how I don’t use AI - I never use AI to write an article for me that I can copy-paste as my own. I only use AI as a tool to help me with my writing process.

I use AI to proofread and edit my articles, come up with rough outlines for articles/sections, brainstorm & validate topics, summarise or extract key takeaways, help with framing a concept, refining flows/tone, generating visuals based on my text. But every lesson is backed from my real world experiences, and I personally write everything.

Why hide behind a mask? Am I secretly terrible at my job?

Nah, I think am pretty good at what I do. The real reason - being anonymous lets me be brutally honest and means I can share messy & uncomfortable real life stories. Anonymity also provides protection for all involved - me, my colleagues, my industry peers and the companies I write about.

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Unfiltered leadership insights on Data & AI from the frontlines. Written by a CDO, for CDO's.

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Unfiltered leadership insights on Data, Analytics & AI from the trenches. Written by a CDO, for CDOs and Business Executives.