Twice weekly, I share proven strategies to help data scientists get noticed, promoted, and valued. No theory — just practical steps to transform your technical expertise into business impact and the freedom to call your own shots.
My Stakeholder Whispering Wake-Up Call
|
I'll never forget the moment I realised that in data science, what stakeholders say they want and what they really want aren't always the same. It was one of my first projects as a data scientist. My stakeholder - an executive in my organisation - pointed me in the direction of a dataset. and told me to find some "interesting insights". I saw it as the perfect opportunity to show off my new skills, so I didn't think to question what she'd asked. Big mistake. One month later, I returned with what I had - a flashy presentation, filled with beautiful visualisations and examples of every statistical technique I could manage to apply. I was so proud of my work. It took my stakeholder less than 1 minute to flip through my slide deck from end to end. "Yeah, I already know this. Tell me something I don't know." I was devastated. And honestly? I blamed my stakeholder for not being more clear. But after it happened again... and again... I realised the problem wasn't my stakeholders. It was me. I hadn't yet learned the art of stakeholder whispering. It was only after figuring out this secret that I was finally able to advance my career. I recently sat down with Bill Shander, author of Stakeholder Whispering, to share this story, and the lessons I learned from it, in the latest episode of Stakeholder Whispering Live. You can watch our conversation HERE. If you've ever felt like you're playing a guessing game with your stakeholders, this conversation will give you a clear path forward. Talk again soon, Dr Genevieve Hayes First published: June 29, 2025 |
Data Science Impact Algorithm
Twice weekly, I share proven strategies to help data scientists get noticed, promoted, and valued. No theory — just practical steps to transform your technical expertise into business impact and the freedom to call your own shots.
Data science in the real world is about more than just building models - it’s about building models that work under pressure, earn trust, and avoid costly mistakes. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? Yet most data science education skips right past these fundamentals. Bootcamps teach you how to code algorithms, not how to prevent bias. University courses cover model architectures, not how to build systems that perform when millions of people are watching. No wonder most data science models never get...
Welcome back for 2026! I recently came across two data science services being sold online, both by individual consultants working remotely. The first (on Fiverr) promised: "I will build you a dashboard from your data that meets your specifications." Price: $100 The second was a half-day "check-up" of a company's data capabilities, described as: "suitable for internal use when making strategic choices."Price: $10,000 Same type of consultant. Same general skill set. 100X difference in price....
Data science bootcamps teach Python. They don’t teach you how to turn chaos into answerable questions. To this day, whenever I’m faced with a problem, the first thing I do is come up with a series of research questions - then I try to answer them. It’s standard practice in academic research, but I’ve rarely seen it done elsewhere. That experimental approach keeps me focused on what actually moves the needle. And it’s the kind of strategic thinking that gets you noticed by senior stakeholders....