Carolyn E Stebbings, chief operations and inclusion officer, RAPP

What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role? 

Being authentic and having a positive, persuasive style that looks to motivate others and insists on open communication. Trust and a genuine interest in others. Not taking people for granted or assuming how they feel. Finally being a can do person - I love a challenge, it’s important to meet them head on. 

What level of data maturity do you typically encounter across your client base and what tends to hold this back? 

Mixed. While advocates have been agitating for years, C-suite leadership in this area is still relatively new. We are seeing more clients adopt cloud-based technologies which in turn sees their teams become decentralised, increasing the number of users that can access and work with data. 

The success of this democratisation will depend on the speed and depth individuals achieve on their journey from awareness, through learning to mastery. The blockers continue to be what’s not broken doesn’t need fixing – even when its legacy and the pressure to make trading numbers today. Maturity will only come with a focus on data access, literacy and creating a data culture throughout an organisation.