S3 | Ep 8 | Modern Day Data Leadership; Business, People & Culture with Vijay Yadav, Director, Quantitative Sciences; Data, Digital & Analytics, at Merck

In Episode 8 of Season 3, of Driven By Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Vijay Yadav, Director, Quantitative Sciences; Data, Digital & Analytics, at Merck, where they discuss what modern-day data leadership should consist of, which includes;

• The reality of why most data initiatives don’t start from the business objective, despite everyone knowing that should be the starting point
• Why many Data Leaders don’t really understand what the business wants
• Why ‘the business' should be in the driver’s seat, at least in the passenger seat, but not in the trunk/boot (where it often is)
• Why Data Leaders are often guilty of mystifying data for business leaders/consumers
• How he learnt the hard way by delivering many technical projects that failed
• Why your success as a Data Leader is directly linked to the ability of the people you can attract and retain
• Why ‘People’ trumps both ‘Process’ and ‘Technology’
• The tangible benefits of putting people first
• The fundamentals of retaining great people
• What Data Culture really means
• Why culture can’t be “changed”
• The relationship between culture and literacy
• The role of internal data communities in building a great data culture
• Practical tips on how to build one effectively