88. Bill Schmarzo

The Iowa Idea: Bill Schmarzo

“Don’t create boxes, create swirls.”

In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I’m joined by Bill Schmarzo. Bill is an author, professor, innovator, and consultant. He is the author of four books including The Economics of Data, Analytics and Digital Transformation. Bill is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Hitachi Vantara where he was responsible for driving Hitachi Vantara’s Data Science and “co-creation” efforts. He was selected for Hitachi Limited’s 2020 Solution Innovation Award for his ground-breaking work in data science and Automated Machine Learning. Bill has held leadership roles Dell EMC and Yahoo. He grew up in Charles City, IA. Bill attended Coe College where he majored in Math, Business Administration, and Computer Science. He played basketball and jazz trumpet. He earned his MBA at the Tippie College of Business at The University of Iowa.

Bill and I dig into the power of data science rooted in human-centered design. We explore the parallels between basketball, jazz, and innovation and what Bill calls “organizational improvisation.” Not to date ourselves, but we talk about some of our early tech experiences, including IBM 1130s and Syquest cartridges. I appreciate Bill’s description of data model drift, as the world continues to change and evolve around us and his call for “might” moments to help organizational learning. We look at the role diversity in high-performing teams and the importance of nurturing curiosity, and the ability to “unlearn,” so that we can learn new things. Bill shares his personal journey unlearning business intelligence to enable data science.

It was a pleasure having Bill join me on the podcast. I hope you enjoy the episode.

About Bill

Author, Professor, Innovator and Consultant – Data Science and Data Monetization Adjunct Professor, Menlo College

Honorary Professor, National University of Ireland-Galway

Executive Fellow, University of San Francisco

Dean of Big Data | Recognized global innovator, educator, and practitioner in the areas of Big Data, Data Science, Design Thinking, and Data Monetization | Creator of the “Big Data MBA” Curriculum | Filed 7 Data Science patents | Author of 4 books including “The Economics of Data, Analytics and Digital Transformation”

Bill has extensive hands-on experience in the areas of big data, advanced analytics, design thinking and data monetization.

Bill is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Hitachi Vantara where he was responsible for driving Hitachi Vantara’s Data Science and “co-creation” efforts.  He was selected for Hitachi Limited’s 2020 Solution Innovation Award for his ground-breaking work in data science and Automated Machine Learning.

Bill also has served as CTO at Dell EMC where he formulated the company’s Big Data Practice strategy, identified target markets, developed solution frameworks and led Analytics client engagements with his Vision Workshop, a methodology that links an organization’s strategic business initiatives with supporting data and analytics. As the VP of Analytics at Yahoo, Bill delivered the analytics tools and applications that optimized customers’ online marketing spend.

Bill has served on the City of San Jose’s Technology Innovation Board, and on the faculties of The Data Warehouse Institute and Strata. He is the author of “Big Data: Understanding How Data Powers Big Business” and “Big Data MBA: Driving Business Strategies with Data Science;” and his most recent book “The Economics of Data, Analytics, and Digital Transformation”. He is an avid blogger and was recently ranked the #4 Big Data influencer, #4 Data Science and #6 Digital Transformation influencer worldwide by Onalytica. He is a frequent speaker and his expertise is sought after by leading industry publications. He is a University of San Francisco School of Management (SOM) Executive Fellow and an Honorary Professor at the School of Business and Economics at the National University of Ireland-Galway.

Bill holds a Masters of Business Administration from University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, Computer Science and Business Administration from Coe College.

Links

Follow Bill on Twitter @schmarzo and LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/schmarzo.

The Economics of Data, Analytics, and Digital Transformation

https://amzn.to/2KawzMt

Mastering Nanoeconomics in the Era of Digital Transformation
https://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/mastering-nanoeconomics-in-the-era-of-digital-transformation

Ethical AI, Monetizing False Negatives and Growing Total Address

https://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/ethical-ai-monetizing-false-negatives-and-growing-total-addressab

Cassini Nazir on Curiosity – https://cassininazir.com/curious/

Credits

Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/).

The Iowa Idea Podcast theme music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).