Leaders of Analytics Jonas Christensen

This episode of Leaders of Analytics features Dhiraj Rajaram, the Founder of global decision sciences company Mu Sigma. Mu Sigma serves more than 140 of the Fortune 500 and the company’s mission is to simplify complex problems through the science of decisions.
Dhiraj shares his views on problem-solving in business, and how Mu Sigma's three core beliefs have been instrumental in the company's success.
At Mu Sigma, they believe in "Learning over Knowing", "Extreme Experimentation", and "The New IP". Their data-driven decision-making approach has helped solve some of the toughest business challenges and has set them apart from the competition.
As an entrepreneur or business leader, you'll gain valuable insights into using data to solve complex issues, as well as an insider's perspective on Dhiraj's entrepreneurial journey.
In this episode we discuss:
Dhiraj’s entrepreneurial journey from a one-man band to leading thousands of employees
The critical moments that led Dhiraj to become a founder and the key elements of entrepreneurial success
Mu Sigma’s unique recruitment and training strategy
What you can learn from Mu Sigma’s three core beliefs
How to make better decisions for your organisation, and much more.
Mu Sigma's website
Connect with Dhiraj on Linkedin.

In this episode of Leaders of Analytics, I am joined by Ada Guan who is one of the most innovative minds in the field of credit decisioning.
Ada is CEO and co-founder of Rich Data Co, a company that helps lenders make informed and accurate credit decisions by leveraging AI and machine learning.
Listen in as Ada sheds light on the role that AI and machine learning can play in transforming the lending industry and what the future may hold for credit decisioning.
In this episode, we'll discuss:
Ada’s entrepreneurial journey
The typical pain points lenders face and how RDC’s unique AI solution solves these problems
What makes RDC’s solution unique and why banks should buy rather than build themselves
How to find product-market fit or an AI product
The additional benefits an AI solution brings over traditional credit scorecards or rules-based decisioning engines, and much more.
Learn more about Rich Data Co here: https://www.richdataco.com/
Connect with Ada Guan on LinkedIn.

Data is revolutionising our world, yet many companies fail to harness its value. What needs to be done for CEOs to see the value of having analytics as part of the executive inner circle?
Unfortunately, many analytics teams struggle to move past the common challenges of fostering analytics literacy, getting executive buy-in for more investment in data and analytics and showcasing the value delivered into the business.
How can analytics leaders make their discipline an indispensable superpower in their organisation? In this episode of Leaders of Analytics, long-time analytics C-suite executive Murli Buluswar gives us the formula for success.
Murli is Head of Analytics, US Consumer Bank at Citi, and leads a team of almost 600 analytics professionals. He reports directly to the CEO and his team is responsible for supplying the rest of the organisation with insights and data-driven solutions that lead to better customer experience and engagement.
In this episode of Leaders of Analytics, Murli explains:
How to position an analytics function as a key strategic enabler
How Citi’s analytics department picks and validates the most valuable use cases to work on
How to foster the skills and organisational discipline to push analytics into the rest of the organisation
How to measure and communicate an analytics team’s impact on the company and its customers
What’s required of analytics leaders to elevate their function to the C-suite, and much more.
Murli Buluswar on LinkedIn
Previous episode: Why Sport is Leading the Analytics Revolution with Ari Kaplan

“Being an entrepreneur is basically like going from one crisis to the next”. Those are the words of Michael Kingston, co-founder and CEO of Seeda.
At a point in his career when Michael was thriving, he took the daunting plunge from successful executive to entrepreneur and start-up founder. Most people would be too scared to take such an enormous risk; however, this step has been Michael's key toward work-life satisfaction.
Three years later, Michael and his co-founders have built Seeda, an AI-assisted marketing analytics product, purpose-built for Shopify-based eCommerce platforms. Seeda helps marketers make sense of the enormous amount of data coming at them from numerous sources and use it to optimise their marketing activities.
Whether it’s SEO, email marketing or digital advertising, marketers are often stuck with a heavy burden of technical9 implementation and optimisation. Seeda’s product is the “AI analyst” that helps the world’s 5 million Shopify stores figure it all out, without needing to be a technology or analytics expert.
If you’re curious about start-up life or are thinking about starting your own business, then this episode is for you!
In this episode we discuss:
How Michael gradually but surely made the shift from employee to entrepreneur
How Michael figured out what he wanted to work on as an entrepreneur
How Seeda’s “AI analyst” is a potential game-changer for Shopify-based businesses wanting more out of their marketing efforts
The scaled data architecture that allows small businesses to take advantage of data practices normally reserved for large corporates
Michael’s advice for anyone wanting to start their own business, and much more.
Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kingston-35707217/
Check out Seeda: https://www.seeda.io/
 

Digital transformation is rapidly changing the way we live and work, and governments should be leading the way forward, according to Victor Dominello MP.
As the Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service in the State Government of New South Wales in Australia, Victor believes government should be playing a central role in fostering a digitally-enabled economy across government, private enterprise and individual consumers.
Victor is a true servant leader and an inspirational figure in Australian politics, having served almost 15 years in the State Parliament of New South Wales, and 12 of those as a Minister. He has spent this time turning his vision for data and digital enablement into reality across a large number of ministries and government agencies.
In this episode we discuss:
How Victor went from reluctant politician to long-serving minister and the sign from above that made him enter politics
What the Digital Government is and how it will help change our lives for the better
Government’s role in digitising small businesses
Imminent initiatives to protect consumers against identity theft and cyber attacks
What true servant leadership and customer service looks like
How to provide leadership and collaboration across a complex web of government entities
The biggest leadership lessons Victor has learned as a top politician and executive leader, and much more.
Victor Dominello on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victordominello/

As the digital landscape evolves, privacy concerns and regulations are becoming increasingly important for advertisers. With the decline of third-party cookies and the rise of individual data usage consent, measuring advertising attention is more crucial than ever.
One of the biggest challenges for advertisers in a cookie-less world is being able to accurately measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Without cookies, it's harder to track user behaviour and understand how their ads are performing.
However, measuring advertising attention through alternative methods such as viewability, brand lift studies, and surveys can be helpful, but they provide vague and delayed signals about advertising effectiveness.
How can advertisers measure the attention and effectiveness of their advertising in real-time?
To answer this question, I recently spoke to John Hawkins, Chief Scientist at Playground XYZ. Playground XYZ provides a machine learning-based platform for measuring and maximising attention on digital ads.
The company’s Attention Intelligence Platform is a unique technology that uses over 40 different signals to track user attention as it happens.
In this episode of Leaders of Analytics, we discuss:
How Playground’s attention measurement platform works in practice
The importance of attention time in a world without cookies, where privacy and consent are increasingly of mandated importance
Dealing with the complexities of multi-layered machine learning pipelines and convincing stakeholders of their value
How data science professionals can foster the right non-data science skills that will make them true unicorns, and much more.
John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hawkinsjohnc/
John's book, Getting Data Science Done.