Description:
In this episode, Cindi Howson is joined by Valerie A. Logan, CEO and founder of the DataLodge and Chief Strategy Officer at DATA SOCIETY GROUP, and Jason Beyer, Vice President of Data and Analytics at Bridgestone Americas. They delve into the vital concepts of data literacy and AI literacy, sharing their insights and experiences in fostering a data-driven culture within organizations. Valerie, widely regarded as the "godmother of data literacy," sheds light on the three key pillars of her approach: mindset, language, and skills. Jason provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Bridgestone is cultivating data literacy, including partnerships with HR, creating a data marketplace, and fostering a community of data enthusiasts.

Key Moments:

Valerie Logan explains the three pillars of data literacy: mindset, language, and skills (06:16)
Jason Beyer shares Bridgestone's approach to scaling data literacy, including partnering with HR and creating a data marketplace (22:10)
Valerie highlights the importance of leadership in modeling the right mindset for data literacy (29:28)
Cindi, Valerie, and Jason discuss the evolution of data literacy to AI literacy (33:48)
Lightning round with fun questions for Valerie and Jason (38:26)

Key Quotes:

ISL (Information as a second language) is really a foundational methodology for how we look at the enablement of people, the empowerment of people with this capability. And when I talk about data literacy in ISL, I look at it really as three things, mindset, language, and skills. - Valerie A. Logan
Terms, Techniques, then Tools. If you're trying to drive a different behavior, a tool is part of that. But how somebody thinks, how someone engages is also part of it. - Valerie A. Logan
Leaders need to think about data fluency different from those that may be using data in their role or may have data as a role and recognize that there's different levels of fluency, proficiency, and the core literacy that go along with that. - Jason Beyer
Even before we called it a data literacy program, we had this mindset and approach as a COE team and our value contribution to the organization is we need to raise the water for the entire organization in how we use and make the most of our data assets. - Jason Beyer

Mentions:

Bios

Valerie A. Logan
Founding The Data Lodge in 2019, Valerie is as committed to data literacy as it gets. With train-the-trainer bootcamps, and a peer community, she’s certifying the world’s first Data Literacy Program Leads. In 2023, The Data Lodge was acquired as the basis of a newly formed venture, Data Society Group (DSG), aimed at fostering data and AI literacy and cultural change at scale. Valerie is excited to also serve as the Chief Strategy Officer of DSG. Previously, Valerie was a Gartner Research VP in the CDO team where she pioneered the Data Literacy research and was awarded Gartner’s Top Thought Leadership Award (2018). Valerie has more than 30 years of experience in consulting leadership and telecommunications. Valerie holds a B.S. in Math (SUNY College, Buffalo) and an M.S. in Applied Math (New Mexico State). She lives between the Adirondacks in Upstate NY, and Sarasota, FL with her husband Brian, and their yellow lab, Cooper, the Lodge mascot.

Jason Beyer
A Data, Analytics, & Technology pioneer with a proven ability to lead transformational change through highly complex programs across diverse teams. Jason brings global experiences from automotive, retail, industrial manufacturing, construction, medical, and government industries to fuel competitive differentiation through trusted data and profit generating analytic solutions. He has a proven ability to deliver results at an Executive level across all domains of information technology. Jason believes what’s good for society is good for business. His passion is to make a positive impact for the organization where he works, the people he works with, and the community where he lives. Jason serves on multiple boards for his community of Nashville, and for the data industry

How to Create a Data and AI Literate Com...