This Is Not A Data Podcast

This week, Bren and Lenno, ask what happens when we rename things that already had an established name. Yes, here's looking at you "super intelligence"... Lenno tells the story of how a team renaming an SAP table in plain business terms made data easier to read and harder to build on. Whilst Bren recalls a business that had seven names for the same report. The bigger question starts with governance and both discussion how agrees what the words mean and how much of it does a business actually n

This week Bren is joined by guest Jamie Fry as Lenno is enjoying some well-earned time off. Jamie runs the Hawkfry Group, a consortium of senior cloud and data specialists, as the conversation dives into the real returns made on using AI. Jamie puts a real number on it and explains where his teams lean on AI the most. But the real question is where does the human still have the biggest impact? The discussion looks at the conundrum faced by AI speeding up the technical work but the human work b

This week, Bren and Lenno are still reminiscing about the CXO Data Summit in Crete, but they dive straight into a question that follows them into every boardroom...what does "data first," "AI first," or "cloud first" actually mean? Lenno questions whether it's really just about fixing whatever's in front of you and calling it a plan. And Bren lays out his theory that 80% of businesses are successful enough to never really need to change, so they throw money at data and AI initiatives without ev

This week, Bren and Lenno are joined by Peter Laflin, a chief data officer who's spent the summer researching what it takes for neurodivergent leaders to thrive in data and AI teams. Peter shares what he's learned about building high-performing teams and creating genuinely inclusive environments for neurodivergent individuals. The conversation also touches on the leadership challenges and opportunities in managing a neurodiverse team. One question stands out...how many teams have been quie

This week, Bren and Lenno record face-to-face for the first time at the CXO Data Summit in Crete, on what makes a transformation succeed. Lenno tells the story of the first SAP program, one that had to be pulled apart mid-flight. This painful lesson meant the next one, built on those battle scars, came in pain-free, on time and under budget. That's the essence of the episode...real capability comes from getting it wrong first. So what happens when AI removes the junior roles where those mistak

This week, Bren and Lenno are joined by their first guest, Alberto Gonzalo Otero, a purpose coach who helps leaders and teams reconnect daily work with why they do it. Alberto talks through the power of "why," the questions he uses to get people past surface answers like money, and the team assessment he built to measure purpose and psychological safety alongside trust and clarity. The conversation also looks at courage and the relationship with purpose, and why staying in a role that doesn't