The Data Hero Playbook

3 Must-Read Data and AI Books for 2025 with Geoff Woods, Wendy Batchelder, and Malcolm Hawker

The Data & AI Chief, 8 October 2025. The author is the guest. The book comes up at 52 min 33 sec in.

Malcolm Hawker, the author, discusses The Data Hero Playbook with host Cindy Housen. He describes it as addressing a pivotal moment for CDOs: the book challenges a 'limiting mindset' in which data leaders blame external factors for failures—business indifference, poor data culture, lack of funding—and instead calls on them to own outcomes, become value-driven and customer-centric, align incentives, and break free from status-quo operating models to become truly transformational.

Listen to this episode ↗︎