Michiel van Staden, Data Analytics Lead at banking group Absa, was crowned Data Analytics Leader of the Year at last month's DataCon Africa Live virtual summit.
This episode of Data Conversations Over Coffee marks his achievement. In it, van Staden talks about effective data and analytics leadership and shares his advice for aspiring analytics leaders.
Technically minded data scientists or analysts often find it challenging to switch their focus towards people management as they climb the corporate ladder. So, van Staden shares his own experience of making this transition a success.
“Leadership is just such a practical thing that you need to figure out,” he says. “It’s very much something I have had to develop over time.”
“It’s not really about the data analyst,” he adds. “It’s almost not even about the data, as much. It’s really about your audience, to a large extent, and your stakeholders and your colleagues that you’re working with.”
“It really started clicking that if I was going to be successful and make an impact, I was going to have to start taking more note of the people around me,” he concludes. “You really need to work with your colleagues and the other stakeholders around you.”