What has been your path to power?
Twenty-eight years ago, almost to the day, I walked out of Federico II Naples University with a Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Engineering, a big achievement for someone with a more scholastic background of Latin, Greek and Philosophy. Sadly, I have never worked as an engineer, but still I managed to collect a few blue chips name for my professional crest: Nissan, Ford, General Electric, Lloyds Banking Group and now Schneider Electric.
For a couple of decades, I have explored all the corners of the IT world from mainframes to business intelligence, from security to IT governance, but the call of data was growing around me stronger and so, one day six years ago, I decide to become a data professional. After a couple of chief data officer roles, firstly in GE and then in Lloyds Banking Group, my current data excellence role in SE is dedicated to designing, implementing and sustaining that data revolution that we all talk about. Under my remit I have metadata management, data quality, data privacy and protection, and data retention. More recently, I have initiated the experiment with knowledge management use cases.
What impact has the pandemic had on the role of data in your company/organisation?
The data function was already in full build up at the time Covid-19 hit and, apart from a higher expectation for speed and agility, the pandemic didn’t substantially change the trajectory of the data organisation. Undoubtedly, it solidified the fact that data is essential for employee and customer experience, and that trust, based on transparency and integrity of data, is essential in the digital world.
Does data now have a seat at the table during strategic discussions? If not, what will it take to get it there?
Data has always had seat, but it was probably an invisible seat and people were reminded it was there mainly when something was going wrong. Over the years, the awareness of the benefits of including data in the strategic bets of the company has been raised and a structured process of interjecting and addressing the “data interdependency” in the major initiatives is in effect.
What are your key areas of focus for data and analytics in 2022?
First to scale up the various data offices in their autonomy, secondly to shore up our data excellence operating model as the backbone of what we do in data consumption and protection. Finally, to establish adequate data risk management in a world that is becoming more data protectionist and less global process-friendly.
Tell us what leadership means to you in the context of your role as a senior data leader.
Leadership for a data leader is all about having a compelling vision coupled with the ancient art of nemawashi, the Japanese word that literally means preparing the soil and roots carefully so a plant can be transplanted in a new location. In business terms, it translates into quietly, but tirelessly laying the sociological foundation for the data revolution to take root and flourish.
What key skills or attributes do you consider have contributed to your success in this role?
Perseverance, empathy and of course philosophy!
How did you develop – and continue to develop – these skills or attributes?
“Act like an owner” is one of the personal values in my company and, if you do act like an owner, then you are part of the solution to any problem that is affecting the company. In doing that, you are continuously throwing yourself into challenges that will hone your ability to interact and to enable business value with data.
Is the data tech you have keeping pace with your goals and requirements? Are your providers leading or lagging behind your demands?
I find that the majority of the providers of data “things” are still thinking they are selling to a CIO, who might be more interested in shiny new toys that are supposedly panaceas to all the ailments of the company. Unfortunately, nowadays data leaders are having very holistic problems to solve and a tool is only a very small portion of the problem that cannot come before the true understanding of the business problem.
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