Introduction

This chapter is mostly aimed at the CDO, to help you understand and appreciate the skills and characteristics that are required to be a CDO. However, it is also a useful chapter for organisations thinking about recruiting a CDO – what sort of skills should they be looking for? To that extent, this chapter is also useful for recruiters when trying to assess potential candidates. The chapter emphasises the necessity for the CDO to have ‘narrative powers’ and lists the seven secret ingredients of the CDO. It introduces for the first time in the book the concept of ‘first-generation CDO’ and ‘second-generation CDO’. The firstgeneration CDOs are those taking up roles in organisations which haven't previously had a senior function responsible for data and a data strategy, whereas the second-generation CDO builds upon the firm foundation created by the first-generation CDO and generates more value for the organisation. In this second edition we also introduce the concept of the ‘first-generation CDO – replayed’.

The CDO's role

Compared to most of the C-Suite colleagues, the CDO is faced with a set of unique problems. There are some similarities: the CDO is a subject specialist, and in that respect is similar to the Chief Finance Officer, Chief Investment Officer or Chief Risk Officer. The CDO also operates across the organisation and so has similarities with the Chief Operating Officer or Chief Accounting Officer. However, the CDO does have a unique set of challenges: primarily, the role is still being defined and, in the absence of certainty, there is an assumption that the role will solve all the problems the organisation is facing. The CDO in many organisations is a new role (the number of people in CDO roles doubled between 2013 to 2014, and probably doubled again in 2015 – Karl Greenberg, MediaPost 2015), while the other C-Suite executives have roles and responsibilities which the organisation recognises and understands.