Randy Bean - Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Lessons in Data-Driven Leadership in an Age of Disruption, Big Data, and AI

1. Chapter 4

Big Data is indeed crossing the chasm that separates early adopters from the mainstream of enterprise customers. As Randy Bean makes abundantly clear in Fail Fast, Learn Faster, this crossing is by no means smooth. Through a wonderful hoard of business anecdotes, he shows over and over again that the challenge of becoming a data-driven business has little to do with the Big Data itself, and is only marginally about mastering the technology needed to harness it. Rather, it is primarily about leadership teams finding forcing functions that can drive massive change in the roles, processes, and systems that make up their enterprise. For some the forcing function will be regulatory demands, for others a global market demanding draconian cost reductions, for others an emerging competitive threat from digital disrupters, and for still others, a mission to solve customer problems that cannot be addressed by conventional means. As a reader of Randy's book, it is your job to determine the forcing function that will drive change through your organization and to draw upon his wealth of examples to navigate your way forward.

Geoffrey Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and Zone to Win

In a whirlwind tour of real-world business cases, Randy Bean gives us an ironclad set of lessons: to benefit from the increasing deluge of data now available, businesses must first have a rational strategy for what they are trying to do along with a practical plan for architecting the data management function, as well as a set of standards and practices for how they deal with the data. But most important, they must also be prepared to steer an often-resistant enterprise in what can be an entirely new direction, and this is where the learn fast/fail faster discipline is vital. If you want to learn fast yourself, then start with this book.

Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, PhD, authors of The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time

Inspiring, terrifying, but always usefully instructive, Randy Bean even-handedly lays out the indisputable case for why every organization needs a Big Data strategy and what it takes to build and act on it. Filled with great first-hand examples, profiles in courage, and learning about what has succeeded and failed, the book is true to its title as it takes you through the tough lessons, worthy risks, and core imperatives of life competing in the Big Data future. This is a book that should be required reading across C-suites and boards, because if they don't read it, they will be overrun by those who did.

Dave Edelman, former chief marketing officer, Aetna; former lead, McKinsey's Digital Marketing Practice

Randy Bean has written the quintessential book for organizations striving to become data-driven. While many books often cover the technology aspects of Big Data and AI, Bean uniquely strikes at the heart of why so few have been able to capitalize on their investments in data: culture and people. Bean covers the complex but critical topic of data and AI ethics. Fail Fast, Learn Faster is both inspiring and cautionary, weaving case studies, data, and best practices, making it a must-read for CEOs, CDOs, and all data and analytics leaders.

Cindi Howson, chief data strategy officer, ThoughtSpot; host of The Data Chief podcast

Randy Bean is the preeminent writer on the modern data revolution. In this book, he explains in straight-talking business terms why data is foundational to success and how to develop a strategy to seize value from data. The data journey is continuous, full of twists and turns, as he outlines in his case studies. Ultimately companies that understand the value of data and work purposefully, collaboratively, and iteratively to sharpen their capabilities will reap outsized rewards. As Randy shows, you have to take the steps to make the leap, and he gives actionable examples to accelerate your journey.

Allison Sagraves, one of Corinium Intelligence's 2020 Global Top 100 Innovators in Data & Analytics; named to CDO Magazine's 2020 Global Data Power Women

In his new book Fail Fast, Learn Faster Randy Bean has delivered a compelling summary of the why, what, and how companies must become data-driven to compete in the coming decades. Randy's mix of strategic perspective and pragmatic know-how is truly unique and clearly articulated in Fail Fast. I consider Randy's new book to be required reading for all of my employees, customers, and partners who are working hard to become data-driven.

Andy Palmer, co-founder and CEO, TAMR; investor and founding board member, Vertica, VoltDB, CloudSwitch

Randy Bean's book Fail Fast, Learn Faster takes the reader past the hype of Big Data and AI to the core business lesson: being data-driven is at its heart the art of basing business decisions on a continual cycle of experiment and assessment. Randy's excellent book will help readers understand this simple-sounding idea and helps them take the steps required to create a data-driven organization.

Alex Pentland, author of Social Physics; Toshiba Professor at MIT; director at MIT Media Lab

Among the data and analytics strategists who can capture and articulate the essence and lessons of enterprise initiatives, Randy Bean stands alone. His new book, Fail Fast, Learn Faster, gives us not only sage guidance but also hope for the future of data's preeminence as a corporate asset.

Douglas Laney, author of Infonomics; Innovation Fellow, West Monroe

Randy Bean has been an intimate witness to the explosion of data use in businessfirst as a data geek, and then as a chronicler for the Wall Street Journal and other business publications. In this lively book, he explores how data has become an essential element of business strategy in the twenty-first century. He teaches how to make effective use of the modern role of chief data officer and to think about data not as a source of revenue but as a driver of successful business outcomes.

Cameron F. Kerry, Ann R. and Andrew H. Tisch Distinguished Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution

A terrific guide that tells the compelling story of the first generation of data management practices and how a range of skills are needed to realize data's powerful future.

JoAnn C. Stonier,CDO Magazine 2020 Global Data Power Woman; co-chair, World Economic Forum Data Policy Council of the Future

In Fail Fast, Learn Faster, Randy Bean brings to life the rise of the chief data officer and the importance of data management in today's economy. The CDO has gone from humble beginnings to a dominant C-suite executive. Randy chronicles this journey in a way that the importance of this role is easy to understand and necessary to appreciate.

John Bottega, president, EDM Council; former chief data officer, CitiGroup, Bank of America, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

People, machines, and pathways, from healthcare to commerce, are generating data at a rate unparalleled in history. Fail Fast, Learn Faster is the story of how organizations must adapt to this proliferation of data or face inevitable disruption. Randy Bean draws upon his experience as a participant in the rise of Big Data and his role in helping companies learn to think differently and adopt new approaches to grow and compete in a data-driven world. Fail Fast, Learn Faster