The Rock Bottom Data Feed

In this episode of the Rock Bottom Data Feed, John and Mark go half-way around the world, literally, to bring you Sam Spencer, CEO and co-founder of Aristotle Metadata. Drawing on experiences ranging from nursing to public service to entrepreneurship, Sam advocates for a more assertive approach to governance that emphasizes accountability, ownership, and organizational responsibility. The wide-ranging ...

Christy Crute returns to the Rock Bottom Data Feed to discuss the growing importance of data literacy, critical thinking, and human judgment in an AI-enabled world. In addition to being Professor, Business Analytics at Grove City College, Dr. Crute has also been an executive at multiple Fortune 50 companies. In a wide-ranging conversation, she talks about how metrics can motivate employees, f...

Who is best to educate corporate executives? How about a college professor who was once a corporate executive herself. John and Mark welcome Christy Crute to the Rock Bottom Data Feed. Former executive at multiple Fortune 50 companies; current Professor, Business Analytics at Grove City College. In the first of our two-part conversation, Dr. Crute shares her observations about how AI is shaping educati...

John Ladley and Mark Cooper conclude their conversation with Jon Padfield. He's a an engineer turned State Representative, turned business professor, exploring how surveillance, data, AI, and corporate power are reshaping our world and what you can do about it. Check out and join the quarter-million subscribers to his YouTube channel, Business Reform. In this episode of the Rock Bottom Data Feed, Jon gives us more food for thought ...

Joining John Ladley and Mark Cooper at Rock Bottom is Jon Padfield. He is an Assistant Professor of Business at Indiana University, Columbus, President of the Business Reform Media Group, and proprietor of the very successful Business Reform YouTube channel. In the first half of our conversation with him, he discusses ways that companies collect and use our data that we don't often think about, fully understand, or knowingly agree ...

In this episode, John Ladley and Mark Cooper conclude their conversation with Tony Mazzarella. They discuss whether hiring a Chief Data Officer will "fix" data issues (hint: it won't), and look at governance as a social and cultural change initiative, not just a data catalog or glossary project. Tony also answers the "two questions" and plays the Famous Game Show.

As always, if you have a suggestion for an artifact to explore in...

In this episode, John Ladley and Mark Cooper conclude their conversation with Tony Mazzarella. They discuss whether hiring a Chief Data Officer will "fix" data issues (hint: it won't), and look at governance as a social and cultural change initiative, not just a data catalog or glossary project. Tony also answers the "two questions" and plays the Famous Game Show.

As always, if you have a suggestion for an artifact to explore in...

John Ladley and Mark Cooper welcome Tony Mazzarella to Rock Bottom! He just completed a Ph.D. focused on Data Governance, reframing it not as a static control layer but as a dynamic system that connects technology, people, and real-world outcomes. He'll explain all that, and much more, in this episode and the next.

We also have a new Archedataology artifact, Data Poetry Slam, and advice from the 8-Bit Consultants. As always, if ...

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Stijn Christiaens, co-founder and Chief Data Citizen at Collibra. He talks more about what data really is, and why it's far more than just transactions. From user interactions and system logs to external data sets and entirely new data created by redesigned products, Stijn unpacks the expanding scope of data in modern organizations.

Today we are excited to introduce a new openin...

John Ladley and Mark Cooper are back with the fourth series of The Rock Bottom Data Feed! We're introducing some new segments; some in this episode and more in upcoming episodes (we would tell you more, but we want them to be a surprise).

Something else that we're trying this series is to do more long-form interviews. Instead of hours long episodes, though, we're splitting each conversation into two episodes. This allows us to ...

Series Three of the Rock Bottom Data Feed has been an exploration of AI and data. It's a big subject. Sometimes we got talking with our guests and next thing you know we've gone long or ventured into a topic that's beyond the scope of the episode. Never ones to let good conversation go to waste, we've accumulated those bits here. If you haven't already listened to the episodes in this series, go back and listen. If you have already...

It is our pleasure to welcome to Rock Bottom, Tony Shaw, Founder and CEO of DATAVERSITY, the premiere resource for data education, whether delivered live, recorded, virtual, or in person. It is clear that data is becoming increasingly important for AI success, and in many ways, corporate success. But while data education is also becoming increasingly important, it is still undervalued by too many companies. Keeping up with the stat...

Nearly a hundred thousand corporate employees have been terminated in mass layoffs this year. Most just in the past few months. And ostensibly because of AI.

We're not convinced.

Our scheduled guest was unexpectedly unavailable (and in case you're worried, we can confirm that he was not replaced by AI), so in this episode, John and Mark discuss these recent events and some of what the future holds. Maybe this batch wasn't t...

In our first series, Doug Laney introduced us to Datanomics. He is also the author of Data Juice. In this episode he returns to Rock Bottom to go into more detail about the approaches and metrics companies can use to truly treat data as an asset.

To do that, we need to introduce data into the C-Suite. Most companies approach Data Governance through the CIO or CDO, and that has been moderately successful. It's good to have CEO in...

The Rock Bottom Data Feed gang is back for another series, and for much of this series we will be focused on AI. Just like the internet and Six Sigma, we think it's here to stay. So, what are its ramifications for the data area? How can we make AI work for us, not against us? How can we get something useful from it?

In this episode we welcome Kelle O'Neal and Gregg Loos from First San Francisco Partners. FSFP is a consultancy th...

Welcome back for this, the third series of the Rock Bottom Data Feed. Previously, John and Mark did a four-part radio play following Nick Guy, Data Detective, as he investigated the death of Consolidated International and the role that Jen AI may have played in its demise. The reception from our listeners was very enthusiastic, so in this special episode we present the full, uninterrupted radio play.

We'd again like to thank The...

In this very special twentieth episode of the Rock Bottom Data Feed, John Ladley and Mark Cooper welcome John Ladley and Mark Cooper to the show. Two blokes chatting at the kitchen table about data as anthropology and AI. Isn't that what everybody talks about at the kitchen table? You'll also hear your hosts answering the two questions asked of every Rock Bottom Data Feed guest and playing the famous game show.

We'd also like to...

We are excited to welcome Nicola Askham to Rock Bottom. She is an award-winning Data Governance expert, coach, consultant, and trainer. Her website has a wealth of useful information, including a list of the 10 biggest mistakes companies make when implementing data governance. How many look familiar to you? In this episode, Nicola shares best practices and stories from the front lines of Data Governance.

In the conclusion of our...

Principles and policies live at the intersection of Data Governance and Data Ethics. It's a place many companies could use some help. Providing that help in this episode of the Rock Bottom Data Feed is Malcolm Chisholm, President of Data Millennium, and author of Successful and Sustainable Data Policies. He introduces us to the Data Policy Lifecycle, required not only for Data Policies (as its name suggests) but also as a foundatio...