What are your key areas of focus for the business in 2022?
Here’s our top three! Our brilliant WPP Open Data & AI Community will continue to unite our data folks globally. We had a big push with our APAC colleagues in 2021 and 2022 will see more markets running sessions to share their work. Look out for our dataverse event later this year, which will be open to non-WPP folks!
Our award winning (thank you DataIQ!) Demystify AI content will continue to evolve as we work with our partners such as Synthesia and Territory Studios. Finally, our “connect, not collect” data philosophy will continue as we source interesting and useful data sets, share access to them with our agencies via our data catalogue and watch in wonder at what creative solutions they build with them for our clients.
How do you apply your leadership skills a) within your own business and b) on behalf of your clients?
It may not be what the textbooks advise, but my leadership style internally and externally is pretty consistent. I want everyone to be excited about the possibilities of data, to see that it is a powerful ally to creativity, to know that data has such an important role to play in making a fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable world. I love how people are embracing this and supporting this belief and I’m lucky that WPP supports me in creating a platform for our data people so they feel valued and heard.
What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role?
I possibly should be embarrassed about this but whilst my maths and tech skills are pretty good, I’m not a data scientist. I often hear from people that my success, despite the lack of data science skills, has encouraged them to consider a data career for the first time which is great to hear. I also think there’s plenty of room for us all to be awesome, so I’ll champion anyone who deserves it, and I love finding undiscovered talent in the dataverse, ensuring their work and thinking get shared. The WPP Open Data & AI Community all know I care about them. I’m happy to have a job that rewards and requires EQ.
How did you develop – and continue to develop – these skills or attributes?
I read all the time, and on a huge range of data related subjects. These vary from data science blogs to legal cases, to industry specific advancements such as the role of AI in agriculture and health, to the brilliant work that WPP agencies are doing. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of hearing new insights or new applications of data and all they do is remind me how much I still have to learn.
How do you ensure that your proposition keeps pace with your clients’ goals and requirements so that you are leading rather than lagging behind their demands?
Flexibility is key for our data offer to clients; we don’t operate a one-size-fits-all approach and will curate the most appropriate data, skills, technology and product to be appropriate for the client’s goals, both now and in the future. It’s important to us that in five years’ time our clients look at what we built together and feel proud of the good decisions that we all made, and that the people, processes and technology all adapt and evolve.
