Performance Guide: Six Ways to Gain the Trust of Your CEO

Gaining the confidence of the company CEO is critical for a successful data-driven transformation but not always easy to do: misaligned expectations and shifting priorities are just two reasons why the CDO and CEO end up on different pages of the same book. Data Leaders Members share six tactics they deploy to bridge that gap and position themselves as a trusted partner to the company’s top decision maker.

1. Speak Their Language.

Have the conversations your CEO wants to have about commercials and value, not data and technology. 

2. Find a Genuine Pain Point and Fix it.

Find a pain point that can be fixed in a reasonable timeframe. Use it as a hook to build support. 

3. Elicit Their Needs.

Ask questions like: “What decisions do you need to make? What questions do you want to answer? What if you could have…?  

4. Set Correct Expectations.

Explain in plain terms what is required to address needs. Set out the impact of incremental investments today and tomorrow. 

5. Protect Your CEO.

Be the guardian of publicly announced data initiatives. Alert the CEO of risks of non-delivery and define mitigation plans.

6. Measure Value Of Data.

Quantify and benchmark the increasing value of a data asset as its quality improves and usage/linkage grows.