There’s Both Wild Enthusiasm and Fear Around AI — Data and AI Leadership Exchange Founder and CEO

(US and Canada) Randy Bean, Founder and CEO of Data and AI Leadership Exchange, speaks with Derek Strauss, Chairman, Gavroshe, in a video interview about his professional trajectory and key insights from his book, Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Lessons in Data-Driven Leadership in an Age of Disruption, Big Data, and AI.

At the very outset, Bean reflects on his historical trajectory, from having a background in the humanities and liberal arts to commencing his career with the Bank of Boston. He shares how he chose to be pragmatic and got trained on COBOL and assembling a program.

Although Bean was good at COBOL, he soon realized that his interests lay not in the code but in the data that moved around.

Eventually, Bean pivoted to the business side of the organization and strategic planning group, wherein he did data-driven decision-making. Then, he moved on to the new area of database marketing and was an early pioneer at that.

Given his banking background, Bean also headed their North American financial services practices, collaborating with major banks and insurance companies for close to a decade.

Next, he went on to Silicon Valley and built two venture-backed startups as a Co-founder before launching his company, New Vantage Partners, in 2001. The idea behind the company was to advise Fortune 1000 companies on how they could leverage data, analytics, and later AI in their businesses.

Delving further, Bean notes that it encompassed everything from data strategy and governance to data architecture and change management to ensure organizations were benefiting from investments in data and analytics. Further, he mentions writing in the Wall Street Journal for two years and has been contributing to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and the MIT Sloan Review for over a decade.

Shedding light on his association with the CDO role, Bean reveals that when major banks were mandated to hire a Chief Data Officer post the financial crisis of 2008-09, the first CDO for Citigroup was hired from his firm.

Thereafter, major Fortune 1000 companies would seek counsel from his firm regarding the establishment of the CDO role, says Bean. He also mentions providing a number of interim CDOs for such companies.

Summing up, Bean states that he has been intricately involved with the CDO role and its many evolutions over the years.

When asked to highlight key takeaways from his book “Fail Fast, Learn Faster,” Bean states that the book encapsulates his over three decades of experience in the industry. He says that the book talks about the evolution of how organizations use data, the evolution of the CDO role, and the arrival of AI.

From Bean’s perspective, the key nuggets would be:

• The need for experimentation

• Looking at things from a different perspective

He maintains that the title of the book resonates with the need for experimentation. The idea is to try and learn from experience instead of waiting for everything to be perfect. Secondly, he emphasizes the notion of creating one’s own path rather than following the tried path by trying out a different perspective.

Furthermore, Bean states that the book is relevant now, more than ever because with AI and the current cycle, there is both wild enthusiasm and wild fear. The book provides a perspective on the cycles that the companies have gone through.

In conclusion, Bean asserts the importance of having a long-term plan focused on delivering business value. Also, he recommends putting a plan in place so that the organization can adopt new capabilities while keeping the guardrails in place.

CDO Magazine appreciates Randy Bean for sharing his insights with our global community.