The Future of the CDO Part 2

Recently, I posted about the CDO transformation and what needs to happen.

Well, on LinkedIn I was challenged because all of the that I stated have been talked about for a very long time. Questions such as “What makes this list any different?” It’s a fair comment.

But it did plant a seed in my head, and I thank those who challenged me. it made me ask myself, “You know what, Samir, maybe I need to stop thinking like everyone else and start thinking more independently to the current narrative.”

Then it got me thinking, and I posed this question to myself:

What if the next generation CDO isn’t about proving value?

What if it’s about designing adaptive organizations.

Organizations that can respond, and evolve faster than their competitors through data, AI, and decision intelligence.

Here is another way to look at it:

The CDO of the past built foundations. The CDO of today builds factories.

But what if the CDO of the future builds ecosystems that evolve themselves?

So I structured my thoughts this way:

👉Build Adaptability: “democratizing data” always bugged me because it never really worked. So thinking this through what if we “design for decision fluidity.” This would ensure that data and AI flow into every decision, whether strategic, operational, or automated, with minimal friction and maximal flexibility.

👉Be a Talent Catalyst: I’m going to take a cue from my work on operating models here. Why don’t we stop building centralized data teams and start enabling adaptive skill networks. To grow decision-making muscle across the business, so it doesn’t always run back to the data team. Maybe there are new roles here: AI translators, decision designers etc.

👉Build Enterprise Memory & Foresight: what if the future CDO builds a learning organization. Not the usual data lake architecture. If we think AI what about some form of cognitive architecture? Maybe this helps the organization remembers what works, forgets what doesn’t, and predicts what’s next.

👉Be the Champion of Adaptability: This is a bit tougher for me to think about. There is no “chief” role for this. But what if you don’t need a chief role. As we are in a state of VUCA maybe it’s about leading how the company learns, changes, and competes in this perpetual state of disruption.

This isn’t about tech at all. This is about designing an organization that never stops learning, never stops evolving, and never gets left behind.

Here is my final thought:

What would change if you stopped chasing value and started engineering decision adaptability?