Data Radicals - Emerging from the Data Dark Ages with Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist, Snowflake

Emerging from the Data Dark Ages with Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist, Snowflake

01/19/22 • 34 min

You may not realize it, but data literacy is an issue that affects everyone. From the mom-and-pop shop around the corner to the Fortune 500 C-suite, everyone has skin in the game. Yet, how to teach data literacy is still not widely understood or prioritized by data leaders. That needs to change, and the first step is listening to today’s episode.

We’re talking with Jennifer Belissent, Principal Data Strategist at Snowflake, about tackling data literacy. She shares how data literacy impacts everything from smart cities, to your local grocery store, to your corner office. Tune in to learn how you can use data literacy to build your own data culture, have a lens into your customer's behavior, increase productivity, and much more.

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"Many people are not comfortable with data. We've created the haves and have-nots within an organization. We need to make sure that data literacy programs are inclusive. " - Jennifer Belissent

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Time Stamps

(0:00) What’s happening with data literacy today

(3:28) The inevitability of smart cities

(5:34) Data serves as a lens into people’s behavior

(9:05) How to approach data literacy

(17:04) The CDO’s role in data literacy

(22:55) Creating a data culture

(27:44) Teaching your employees data literacy

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Sponsor

This podcast is presented by Alation.

Learn more:

Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/

Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/

Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/

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Links

Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn

Check out Snowflake

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"Many people are not comfortable with data. We've created the haves and have-nots within an organization. We need to make sure that data literacy programs are inclusive. " - Jennifer Belissent

--------

Time Stamps

(0:00) What’s happening with data literacy today

(3:28) The inevitability of smart cities

(5:34) Data serves as a lens into people’s behavior

(9:05) How to approach data literacy

(17:04) The CDO’s role in data literacy

(22:55) Creating a data culture

(27:44) Teaching your employees data literacy

--------

Sponsor

This podcast is presented by Alation.

Learn more:

Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/

Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/

Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/

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Links

Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn

Check out Snowflake

Previous Episode

The Reign of Specialists is Over with David Epstein, Best-Selling Author of Range and The Sports Gene

Growing up, we’re all asked what we want to be when we’re older. Our answer is normally met with an explanation of the years of education and dedication we’ll have to go through to get there. Whether it’s trade school, medical school, a PhD, or apprenticeship, we start to understand that we’ll need years of specialized training to get to where we want to be. But what if that whole way of thinking is wrong?

Today, we’re learning to completely shift our approach to the understanding of expertise. Our guest is David Epstein, bestselling author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. He shares why you should shift your focus from being a specialist to a generalist, and how that can exponentially increase your odds for success. You won’t want to miss it.

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"The people who are good forecasters sometimes have an area of specialty, sometimes they don't, but more important than what they think, is how they think." - David Epstein

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Time Stamps

(0:00) How Satyen became a generalist

(2:52) Why IQ tests aren’t as helpful as you think

(5:53) What makes an environment kind or wicked

(13:23) Getting comfortable with sporadic success

(18:31) The perks of generalization

(22:57) The shortcomings of specialization

(26:36) What we can learn from Vincent Van Gogh

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Sponsor

This podcast is presented by Alation.

Learn more:

Data Radicals: https://www.alation.com/podcast/

Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/

Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/

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Links

Connect with David on LinkedIn

Check out David's website

Next Episode

Forging a Culture of Data Governance with Bob Seiner, President & Principal, KIK Consulting

Communication—or lack thereof—tends to be at the core of most of life’s issues. Although most of us know this, few of us set out to create systems to address the problem. Today, we’re learning from two people who did: L.L. Zamenhof and Bob Seiner.

L.L. Zamenhof saw the crucial role words played in dividing people, and wanted to create a language that would unify the world. His language, Esperanto, was born, but unfortunately didn’t catch on. Bob Seiner, President & Principal of KIK Consulting, on the other hand, has had more success. He has seen how miscommunication has negatively impacted how organizations handle data and data governance, and has worked to improve their processes and revolutionize their workflows. Today, he shares his insights with us. You won’t want to miss it.

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"Most organizations think that governance has to be top down, but there is an alternative approach. You can look to leverage things that already exist within your environment first and then apply the heavy-handedness wherever you need to." - Bob Seiner

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Time Stamps

(0:00) What’s Esperanto, and why aren’t we speaking it?

(4:05) How to communicate about data

(8:16) Why your organization is struggling to share data

(11:17) Understanding data governance

(14:27) How to improve data governance at your company

(17:56) The three O’s of data

(20:01) Creating a data culture

(22:03) The future of data

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Sponsor