The right book at the right time can completely transform your career trajectory, but many data professionals struggle to find resources that directly address their unique challenges of bridging technical expertise with business impact. While technical skills courses are abundant, guidance on becoming a strategic data leader remains scarce.

In this Value Boost episode, Kashif Zahoor joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to reveal how he transformed his entire data team's performance and culture through a simple but powerful approach: starting a BI book club that costs almost nothing but delivers enormous ROI.

This episode reveals:

1. How a weekly team book club transformed Kashif's data team [02:26]
2. The "data concierge" concept that transforms dashboard builders into trusted business advisors [04:07]
3. Why Data Insights Delivered by Mo Villagran is a team game-changer [08:28]
4. The critical difference between fulfilling requests and solving underlying business problems [09:05]

Guest Bio

Kashif Zahoor is the Vice President of Business Intelligence at Influence Mobile and has extensive experience in data leadership.

Links

• Connect with Kashif on LinkedIn
• Data Insights Delivered (Amazon Australia)(Amazon US)
• The AI-Driven Leader (Amazon Australia)(Amazon US)
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Many data scientists begin their careers expecting to influence strategic decisions, only to find themselves trapped as "data order takers" - endlessly running reports and responding to requests without understanding their business impact. This reactive approach limits career growth and earning potential, keeping even experienced professionals from reaching their strategic potential.

In this episode, Kashif Zahoor joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to share his journey from data order taker to strategic business partner, revealing a practical framework that any data professional can use to transform their role and accelerate their career growth.

You'll learn:

1. The three-step framework for evolving from order taker to strategic partner: amplify efficiency, deliver measurable value, and partner first, analyze second [06:21]
2. Why understanding your company's financial model is crucial for demonstrating real business impact [10:57]
3. The mindset shift from waiting for requests to proactively identifying and solving business problems [19:33]
4. How building trust through consistent delivery opens doors to bigger strategic conversations [17:04]

Guest Bio

Kashif Zahoor is the Vice President of Business Intelligence at Influence Mobile and has extensive experience in data leadership.

Links

• Connect with Kashif on LinkedIn
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Even the most compelling data presentation can fail if it runs headfirst into your stakeholders' cognitive blind spots. Decision makers who claim to be "data-driven" often unconsciously filter information through their existing beliefs, leaving brilliant insights ignored or dismissed.

In this Value Boost episode, Dr. Russell Walker joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to reveal practical techniques for identifying and overcoming the cognitive biases that sabotage data-driven decision making.

This episode reveals:

1. How confirmation bias transforms data analysis into a "numerical Rorschach test" where stakeholders see only what confirms their existing beliefs [02:59]
2. The "verbal jujitsu" technique that acknowledges preconceptions without confrontation, allowing stakeholders to save face while guiding them toward data-driven conclusions [03:47]
3. Why recency bias makes yesterday's angry customer complaint outweigh months of systematic data analysis in executive decision making [05:24]
4. The pre-meeting strategy that helps you anticipate and prepare for stakeholder blind spots before they derail your presentation [07:00]

Guest Bio

Dr Russell Walker is the principal consultant at Walker Associates, which specialises in data science education and healthcare analytics, and previously served as a professor at DeVry University, where he co-founded the university’s business intelligence and analytics program. He holds a PhD in business administration with a specialty in computer science.

Links

• Russell's Website
• Connect with Russell on LinkedIn
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Data storytelling might make your findings memorable, but persuasion is what gets your recommendations implemented.

Many data scientists have mastered communication and storytelling, yet still watch their brilliant insights gather dust because they haven't learned the crucial difference between informing stakeholders and persuading them to act.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Walker joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to reveal how battle-tested frameworks from competitive debating can bridge this gap, transforming data scientists from skilled communicators into persuasive advocates who drive real organizational change.

This conversation reveals:

1. The fundamental difference between ethical persuasion and manipulation [03:13]
2. How to make dry statistics emotionally compelling by connecting data points to human experiences that resonate with decision-makers [08:11]
3. The four-part "stock issues" framework from policy debate that transforms any technical presentation into a persuasive business case [11:22]
4. The executive summary and headline strategies that ensure your persuasive message cuts through information overload [17:44]

Guest Bio

Dr Russell Walker is the principal consultant at Walker Associates, which specialises in data science education and healthcare analytics, and previously served as a professor at DeVry University, where he co-founded the university’s business intelligence and analytics program. He holds a PhD in business administration with a specialty in computer science.

Links

• Russell's Website
• Connect with Russell on LinkedIn
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Social media data drives countless business decisions, but up to 40% of social media engagement may be artificial or manipulated by bots. For data scientists accustomed to cleaning messy data, deliberately manipulated data presents an entirely different challenge that requires specialized detection techniques.

In this Value Boost episode, Tim O'Hearn joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to reveal practical strategies for identifying and filtering out bot activity from social media datasets to extract trustworthy business insights.

This episode uncovers:

1. The telltale patterns in social media data that reveal bot activity [03:10]
2. How machine learning classifiers can identify bot accounts [05:20]
3. Why removing bot activity can increase marketing ROI by 10-20% [06:41]
4. The broader application of these techniques beyond social media for identifying "dodgy" data records in any dataset [07:25]

Guest Bio

Tim O’Hearn is a software engineer who spent years gaining millions of followers for clients by circumventing anti-botting measures on social networks. He is also the author of the new book, Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media.

Links

• Tim's Website
• Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to Tim's newsletter
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Social media algorithms silently shape what billions of people see and how they interact online. While most data scientists work to optimize business value within platform rules, there's valuable knowledge to be gained from understanding how these systems can be exploited - knowledge that can make ethical data scientists better at their jobs.

In this episode, Tim O'Hearn joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to share insights from his experience manipulating social media platforms, revealing what ethical data scientists can learn from understanding the dark side of algorithmic systems.

This conversation reveals:

1. How social media platforms are essentially just sophisticated recommendation engines [08:16]
2. The "canary" technique for detecting when underlying systems have changed [11:36]
3. Why customer accounts often provide better testing data than artificial test accounts [13:56]
4. The importance of time series data collection for identifying suspicious patterns, effectiveness of campaigns, and understanding platform dynamics [18:04]

Guest Bio

Tim O’Hearn is a software engineer who spent years gaining millions of followers for clients by circumventing anti-botting measures on social networks. He is also the author of the new book, Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media.

Links

• Tim's Website
• Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to Tim's newsletter
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Most dashboards and reports get ignored despite all the technical expertise that goes into creating them. The reason isn't technical limitations or poor data quality - it's that they fail to deliver value to the people who are supposed to use them.

In this Value Boost episode, Nicholas Kelly joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to reveal proven strategies for increasing dashboard adoption and showcasing your value as a data professional.

In this episode, you'll discover:

1. The number one reason why dashboards fail [01:15]
2. The three-bucket framework that transforms dashboard development [04:06]
3. How to salvage an already-built dashboard [07:12]
4. The simple wireframing technique that opens doors to meaningful user conversations [10:08]

Guest Bio

Nicholas Kelly is the founder of Delivering Data Analytics, a consultancy focused on helping organisations enable their teams to make smarter, faster, and more confident decisions through data and AI. He is also the author of Delivering Data Analytics and the recently released How to Interpret Data.

Links

• Nicholas's Website
• Connect with Nicholas on LinkedIn
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE

Despite unprecedented data abundance and widespread data science education, even experienced data professionals still struggle to interpret data effectively. They draw wrong conclusions, miss critical insights, or fail to communicate findings in actionable ways.

In this episode, Nicholas Kelly joins Dr. Genevieve Hayes to tackle the critical challenge of data interpretation - revealing why technical expertise alone isn't enough and sharing practical frameworks for transforming raw data into actionable business insights that drive real organisational change.

This conversation reveals:

1. The four primary challenges that make data interpretation so difficult [02:24]
2. Why ChatGPT and AI tools are changing the data interpretation landscape [06:23]
3. The "Five Whys" technique that ensures you're asking the right questions instead of wasting time on problems everyone already understands [17:32]
4. Why successful data projects don't end with presenting insights and what to do next [20:01]

Guest Bio

Nicholas Kelly is the founder of Delivering Data Analytics, a consultancy focused on helping organisations enable their teams to make smarter, faster, and more confident decisions through data and AI. He is also the author of Delivering Data Analytics and the recently released How to Interpret Data.

Links

• Nicholas's Website
• Connect with Nicholas on LinkedIn
• Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
• Be among the first to hear about the release of each new podcast episode by signing up HERE