Data Faces Podcast

TinyTechMedia
  • 5.0 (1)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY

Data Faces is a podcast that brings the human stories behind data, analytics, and AI to the forefront. Join us for engaging interviews and discussions with the industry’s leading voices—the leaders, practitioners, and tech innovators who are shaping the future of data-driven decision-making. In each episode, we explore the culture, challenges, and real-life experiences of the people behind the numbers. Whether you're a tech executive, data professional, or just curious about the impact of data on our world, Data Faces offers a refreshing look at the individuals and ideas driving the next wave

  1. Culture Eats AI for Breakfast | Randy Bean

    JAN 27

    Culture Eats AI for Breakfast | Randy Bean

    📢 Most companies invest heavily in data and AI—yet few see real business impact. Why?In this episode of Data Faces, David Sweenor sits down with Randy Bean to unpack four decades of lessons from the front lines of data, analytics, and AI leadership. Randy shares insights from his long-running Fortune 1000 benchmark surveys, explains why culture—not technology—remains the biggest blocker, and outlines what separates effective data leaders from those who struggle to deliver value. This conversation is practical, candid, and aimed squarely at executives responsible for turning AI ambition into operational results. 🔍 Key Takeaways:1- Why the Chief Data Officer role has expanded—but still struggles2- How AI has reshaped executive attention on data foundations3- The difference between defensive and offensive data leadership4- Why culture and organizational readiness matter more than tools5- What a value-first data and AI strategy actually looks like ⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation:00:00 – Welcome to Data Faces & guest introduction00:53 – Randy Bean’s career path into data and analytics03:24 – The origin and impact of the Data & AI Leadership Survey05:08 – What’s advanced—and what’s stalled—in CDO roles10:51 – Why culture, not technology, blocks AI adoption14:08 – GenAI adoption: hype vs. real progress17:23 – AI’s renewed focus on data quality and foundations21:43 – What separates effective data leaders from the rest27:59 – Business vs. technical leadership in data roles30:27 – What a value-first data strategy looks like33:51 – Where to find Randy’s research and writing 📩 More insights & resources:👉 Blog & episode recap: https://tinytechguides.com/blog/culture-eats-ai-for-breakfast/ 🔗 Connect with Randy Bean:💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randybeannvp/🌎 Website & research: https://randybeandata.com 💬 What resonated most with you from this conversation? Share your take in the comments.👍 If this was useful, like the video, subscribe, and follow Data Faces for more leadership conversations. #DataLeadership #AILeadership #ChiefDataOfficer

    35 min
  2. AI Predictions for 2026 That Actually Matter | Tom Davenport

    JAN 13

    AI Predictions for 2026 That Actually Matter | Tom Davenport

    📢 AI is everywhere—but what’s real, what’s hype, and where is the business value actually coming from?In this episode of the Data Faces Podcast, David Sweenor sits down with Tom Davenport, Distinguished Professor at Babson College and one of the most trusted voices in analytics and AI. They unpack where AI is delivering durable value today, why generative AI may be overvalued, and what leaders should realistically expect as we move through 2025 and into 2026.This is a grounded conversation for executives and practitioners who want clarity—not speculation—on how AI is reshaping work, decision-making, and enterprise strategy.🔍 Key Takeaways:1- Why generative AI is overhyped—and where real value still exists2- What most organizations misunderstand about agentic AI today3- The shift from individual AI use to enterprise-level impact4- Why disciplined experimentation matters more than pilots5- How AI is quietly changing workflows, not just tools⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation:00:00 – Welcome & introduction to Tom Davenport02:10 – What’s real vs hype in AI today04:20 – Are we in an AI bubble?05:50 – Agentic AI: real use cases vs experimentation07:00 – Is generative AI analytics “on steroids”?08:55 – One underestimated AI shift coming by 202610:59 – Where enterprise AI value will show up first13:20 – Why generative AI requires new disciplines17:15 – Jobs, education, and the limits of AI predictions28:10 – Governance vs enablement in AI30:55 – The positive case: AI, workflows, and business change32:35 – Final thoughts📩 More insights & resources:👉 Blog & episode write-up: https://tinytechguides.com/blog/why-boring-ai-use-cases-will-win-in-2026/🔗 Connect with Tom Davenport:💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davenporttom/💬 What’s your take—where do you see real AI value today? Drop your thoughts in the comments.👍 If this conversation was useful, like, share, and subscribe for more practical insights on AI, data, and analytics leadership.#AILeadership #Analytics #BusinessValue

    33 min

  3. 12/30/2025

    Enterprise AI in Practice: What 2025 Taught Leaders

    📢 2025 was the year AI met the real world. No demos. No hype. Just results—and hard lessons.In this special Data Faces year-in-review episode, we synthesize insights from 27 conversations with leaders across data, analytics, and AI to surface what actually mattered in enterprise adoption. Rather than new models or bigger tools, the story of 2025 centered on strategy, operational maturity, agent management, and the human realities behind AI at scale. This episode distills a full year of dialogue into one clear narrative for data leaders who need signal, not noise. 🔍 Key Takeaways:1- Why most GenAI projects failed—and it wasn’t the technology2- How AI agents shifted from novelty to core infrastructure3- What governance looks like when speed still matters4- Where AI delivered value: narrow, unglamorous, high-impact work5- Why culture, alignment, and ethics became the real constraints ⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation:00:00 – Opening & scope of the 2025 review01:10 – Strategy over technology: where projects broke down03:05 – AI agents move from tools to infrastructure04:35 – Real enterprise value in narrow workflows05:19 – Culture, alignment, and human failure modes06:09 – Ethics, fairness tradeoffs, and real-world consequences07:58 – Adoption shifts and governance as a value driver09:06 – Managing agents at scale10:02 – Automation that makes people better, not obsolete11:09 – What 2025 teaches us going forward 📩 More insights & resources:👉 https://tinytechguides.com/data-faces-podcast/ 🔗 Connect with Data Faces:🌎 Website: https://tinytechguides.com/data-faces-podcast/🎧 Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube 💬 What resonated most from 2025—strategy, agents, or people?👍 If this was useful, like, share, and subscribe for future episodes. #DataFaces #EnterpriseAI #DataLeadership

    14 min
  4. Open Source Meets AI Innovation | Bruno Trimouille

    12/16/2025

    Open Source Meets AI Innovation | Bruno Trimouille

    📢 Can open source, AI, and enterprise analytics really coexist? Absolutely—and Bruno Trimouille from Posit is here to explain how.   How are open source tools reshaping enterprise data science? What role does AI play in bridging business and technical teams? In this episode, Posit CMO Bruno Trimouille breaks down how his team supports millions of users—while staying true to an open source mission. 🎯 Whether you’re a data leader, marketer, or innovator, you’ll learn practical approaches to balancing innovation with governance, productizing models into apps, and using AI for both technical and marketing acceleration. 🔍 Key Takeaways: 1- Why a code-first approach delivers trust, transparency, and reproducibility 2- How AI bridges the gap between business users and data scientists 3- What Posit’s B2B open source flywheel model looks like behind the scenes 4- Why governance doesn’t have to kill speed—in fact, it can enable scale 5- How marketing teams can harness Gen AI for content, segmentation & insights ⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation: 00:00 – Intro & guest welcome 00:52 – What is Posit? (formerly RStudio) 02:06 – Bruno’s journey: Engineer to CMO 04:53 – Open source, code-first, and the future of data science 07:32 – AI’s impact on productivity and risk in analytics 09:13 – Solving the governance vs. speed tension 11:29 – Using models & apps to make insights business-ready 13:13 – Building a business on open source: Posit’s flywheel 15:31 – Why organizations bet on open data tools 18:09 – Community-building as a growth engine 21:31 – How Posit marketing uses Gen AI every day 24:04 – AI for personalization, segmentation & ABM 27:51 – Multimedia & interactive learning with Gen AI 30:31 – Using AI for data insights & campaign analysis 33:14 – How AI is reshaping the marketing org chart 34:04 – Future of data-driven marketing leaders 35:49 – Final thoughts from Bruno 📩 More insights & resources:   👉 https://tinytechguides.com/blog/category/data-faces-podcast/   🔗 Connect with Bruno Trimouille:   💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunotrimouille   🌎 Website: https://posit.co 💬 What do you think? Drop your thoughts in the comments!   👍 Enjoyed this video? Like, share & subscribe for more AI insights! #OpenSourceAI #DataScienceLeadership #ResponsibleAI

    36 min
  5. Data Lineage for AI: Why Truth Beats Hope | Tina Chace

    12/02/2025

    Data Lineage for AI: Why Truth Beats Hope | Tina Chace

    📢 Most AI failures don’t come from the model—they come from the data feeding it.In this episode of the Data Faces Podcast, Tina Chace, VP of Product Management at Solidatus, explains why incomplete lineage, missing context, and silent upstream changes quietly undermine AI systems long before anyone notices. Tina shares lessons from deploying AI and machine learning in major banks, breaking down how column-level lineage and business context prevent cascading failures across systems, teams, and decisions. 🔍 Key Takeaways:1- Why 90% of AI production issues trace back to data quality problems.2- How technical and business lineage work together to build trust.3- Why column-level tracking exposes the hidden transformations behind every metric.4- How visibility without control increases anxiety across data teams.5- Where organizations should start to get quick wins without “boiling the ocean.” ⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation:00:00 – Intro: David Sweenor introduces Tina Chace00:54 – Tina’s early career and the origins of her data skepticism02:28 – The 90% data problem in AI and ML deployments03:24 – What data lineage actually captures06:47 – The rounding-error problem that compounds at scale07:59 – Bridging the language gap across data, reporting, and business teams09:46 – Who really owns data quality and lineage?12:43 – Technical vs. business lineage, with real examples16:24 – Managing complexity across systems, teams, and tech stacks18:16 – Why documenting “everything” never works23:28 – Data lineage in generative AI and RAG systems30:57 – Why AI makes complete lineage non-negotiable33:26 – The trust paradox: more visibility, more skepticism34:27 – How to get started without boiling the ocean35:35 – Closing remarks 📩 More insights & resources:👉 Blog: https://tinytechguides.com/blog/data-lineage-for-ai-why-truth-beats-hope-in-banking/ 🎧 Listen to the Data Faces Podcast:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrDACjTQ4OBoQ8qM1FMGBwYdxvw9BurRSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6SmGkQGvZQSAT1O7g1l2yFApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-faces-podcast/id1789416487 🔗 Connect with Tina Chace:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-chace-rho-5433133b/Solidatus: https://www.solidatus.com 💬 What’s the biggest data trust challenge in your organization? Tell us in the comments.👍 Like, share, and subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping AI, analytics, and data strategy. #DataLineage #DataQuality #AITrust

    36 min
  6. Culture Meets Code | Gina von Esmarch

    11/18/2025

    Culture Meets Code | Gina von Esmarch

    📢 What happens when culture and technology collide—do they compete, or do they enhance one another? In this episode of Data Faces, Gina von Esmarch, Founder and CEO of Adesso Associates, shares how cultural heritage, storytelling, and emerging technologies work together to shape stronger communities and brands. 🔍 Key Takeaways:1- How AI and cultural identity can evolve together, not apart.2- Why authenticity and values are the foundation of innovation.3- How diversity of thought drives long-term business success. 📩 Watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8-j7nqzsGk 👉 More insights: https://prompts.tinytechguides.com/s/the-data-faces-podcast 💬 How do you see culture influencing technology in your industry? 👍 Like, share & subscribe for more insights. #DataFaces #AI #CultureAndTech #Leadership #Innovation

    38 min
  7. AI in Sales Enablement | Matt Magne

    11/04/2025

    AI in Sales Enablement | Matt Magne

    📢 What happens when AI becomes your sales coach? In this episode, we explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping how sales teams learn, ramp, and perform.Join David Sweenor, Founder of TinyTechGuides, as he talks with Matt Magne, Senior Enablement Manager of Revenue Enablement at LaunchDarkly, about the new frontier of AI-driven sales enablement — from AI role plays to digital coaching and the future of human + machine collaboration.🔍 Key Takeaways:-- Why AI is redefining how SEs and AEs practice and master sales conversations-- How LaunchDarkly integrates AI role plays to accelerate ramp time and confidence-- The balance between automation and authentic human coaching-- The data challenges still holding back innovation in enablement-- Why the future of enablement is about augmentation, not replacement⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation:00:00 – Welcome to Data Faces with David Sweenor01:00 – Meet Matt Magne and LaunchDarkly06:10 – What revenue enablement really means08:25 – How AI role plays improve ramp and coaching11:00 – Do reps prefer training with bots or humans?14:00 – Space repetition, practice, and performance17:10 – Building hybrid AI + human onboarding programs21:00 – Overcoming skepticism about AI training26:00 – The “skeptical buyer” prompt and realistic simulations27:15 – Human + machine collaboration: finding the right balance31:20 – Beyond scale: personalization and productivity with AI34:50 – The future of sales enablement: data, integration, and intelligence39:30 – Final takeaway: staying human in an AI-driven world📩 More insights & resources:👉 Read more at: https://open.substack.com/pub/davidsweenor/p/augmented-intelligence-the-future?r=1s6e48&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true🔗 Connect with Matt Magne:💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/exrocker/🌎 LaunchDarkly: https://launchdarkly.com💬 What do you think — can AI make us better sales coaches? Drop your thoughts in the comments!👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, share, and subscribe for more insights from Data Faces.#AIinSales #SalesEnablement #DataFacesPodcast

    42 min
  8. The End Goal of AI: Humans, Not Machines | Eric Kavanagh

    10/22/2025

    The End Goal of AI: Humans, Not Machines | Eric Kavanagh

    📢 What’s the real end game of AI? Is it about smarter machines—or smarter organizations?In this episode of Data Faces, Eric Kavanagh, AI analyst and syndicated radio host of DM Radio, joins David Sweenor, founder of TinyTechGuides, to explore what success in AI truly means for business, technology, and society.Eric has spent decades helping enterprises navigate the data-driven world. He argues that AI isn’t a monolith—it’s a tool that works best when humans stay in control, governance evolves, and organizations learn to use intelligence responsibly.🔍 Key Takeaways:1- Why the “end goal” of AI is human productivity, not machine autonomy2- How corporate hierarchies will evolve as AI becomes embedded in workflows3- Why transparency, audit logs, and explainability will define governance success4- The risks of “big model” complexity and why small, focused models may win5- Why AI will change how we work more than what we do⏳ Timestamps for Easy Navigation:00:00 – Welcome and introduction to Eric Kavanagh01:00 – How Eric built a career at the intersection of data and media05:20 – Defining the “end goal” of AI: business, life, and technology08:45 – Where humans remain central—and why that won’t change12:10 – Transparency, bias, and the challenge of giant AI models19:00 – Real-world AI agents: when automation works and when it doesn’t22:50 – The rise of small language models and the age of execution29:45 – Governance, audit logs, and minimal viable oversight33:00 – The future of jobs, creativity, and collaboration39:00 – Where to find Eric Kavanagh and DM Radio📩 More insights & resources:👉 Blog recap: https://tinytechguides.com/blog/why-80-of-ai-projects-fail-and-the-three-boring-decisions-that-save-the-other-20/🔗 Connect with Eric Kavanagh:💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erickavanagh/🌎 Website: https://dmradio.biz💬 What do you think? What should the end game of AI be? Drop your thoughts below!👍 Enjoyed this conversation? Like, share & subscribe for more real-world AI and data insights.#AI #DataFacesPodcast #EricKavanagh

    40 min
See All (30)

About

Data Faces is a podcast that brings the human stories behind data, analytics, and AI to the forefront. Join us for engaging interviews and discussions with the industry’s leading voices—the leaders, practitioners, and tech innovators who are shaping the future of data-driven decision-making. In each episode, we explore the culture, challenges, and real-life experiences of the people behind the numbers. Whether you're a tech executive, data professional, or just curious about the impact of data on our world, Data Faces offers a refreshing look at the individuals and ideas driving the next wave

Information

  • Creator
    TinyTechMedia
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © TinyTechMedia
  • Show Website
    Data Faces Podcast