Chief Data Officer recruitment. When not to hire a Chief Data Officer.........!? - Wyatt Partners

Chief data officer recruitment in London - Wyatt Partners

Chief Data Officer recruitment. When not to hire a Chief Data Officer………!?

At the Executive Search end of the rapidly changing Data Analytics space a lot of the best work we do doesn’t end up in a hire being made

Sounds Counter Intuitive, but Let me explain…..

Company X have a very smart VP of Data Analytics, the most senior Data person in the business.  They lead a number of Cross Functional Teams.

They are considering hiring a Chief Data Officer, who would sit at board level & the VP would report into them.  The benefits of this would be someone who is potentially more senior & removed from the day to day running of the functions and is therefore more able to focus on long term Data Strategy & Innovation

Our role is twofold:

  1. Identify & research the entire Talent Pool of people qualified to and with relevant experience to do the CDO job
  2. Interview companies current C-Suite on their remit’s & skillsets to understand how best the CDO might work with them, where one’s responsibility might start & end

 

There are a number of major insights that come out of this process:

  • Current members of the C-Suite have just enough experience in the short term to lead effectively on Data Strategy & Innovation
  • We find that the best candidates in the Talent Pool for this specific CDO role are not at a much higher level than the current VP

 

Recommended actions based on these Insights:

  • Current C-Suite to lead on Innovation & Strategy on an Interim basis over next 6-12 months
  • VP of Data to commence hiring there replacement
  • Current VP on fast track development & promotion to prepare to take on CDO Role in 6-12 months

So the result of our work in this scenario gives company X the insights & confidence they need NOT to make a hire.

Benefits:  The significant financial & business cost of a C-Suite hire with no guarantee of success is saved; in favour of a solution with far higher likelihood of long term success

In a world of Data & AI Hype we currently leave in this is type of work is incredibly important, as it is very easy to make a CDO hire that is fuelled by this hype which might not be needed.  We have seem numerous examples of companies hiring Chief Data Officer’s under the wrong circumstances where the right decision may have been to not make the hire.

Wyatt Partners are specialist in Chief Data Officer Executive Search & Consulting Services.  Contact us here.