Hands On Podcast: How to get comfortable with chaos + Forging a path where none exists

Emilie Schario is the Data Strategist in Residence at Amplify Partners – and also happens to be one of those people somehow able to fit 26 hours into a 24-hour day. In this episode of Hands On, Emilie talks with Bryan about leadership, data, community, forging your own path and finding comfort within the chaos. She also explains why the most useful data isn’t really data at all, but rather the context in which it exists. On top of all that, Emilie shares great insight on growing a proactive mindset inside a team. Join us on this episode of Hands On to uncover some truly expert perspectives on data analytics and community building.

Jump straight into:

(03:10) - Guest Introduction: Getting to know Emilie Schario and some of the life experiences that have shaped her growth. “In a lot of ways, I grew up inside of a Dunkin’ Donuts. One of the reasons I was really good at math as a child is because I spent a lot of time working cash registers.”

(09:06) - Thriving in chaos: Lessons from Emilie’s experience founding the Data Analytics team at GitLab. “If it's a two way door, just make the decision. Don't even ask. Document that you did it and keep going. If it’s a one way door, there are more things to consider.”

(14:41) - Sharing insights: Leadership, community building and starting new conversations around data within tech companies. “Data people can do a lot more than just fetch numbers for you and they need to be a part of your strategic decision-making.”

(18:05) - The half-a-day rule: An effective practice of developing a proactive mindset on your team. “By the end of the month, you've gathered 40-50 things that you can surface to the business. That is slowly going to build upon itself and really change how people see the work you're doing.”

(22:08) - Philosophical beliefs on finding, building and contributing to online communities. “Early on, I was asking a lot of the questions and trying to figure out what I should do. And over time as I've developed my career, my connections and my network, I'm answering a lot more.”

(26:22) - How do you identify useful data? A practical example that involves Netflix and Jane Fonda. “It's about a bigger picture and that bigger picture is never in the data. It's in the context. That is much more valuable than any given data.”

(33:14) - Crazy Points and other ways to enhance the value of data to the organization at-large. “My suggestion is always to carve out some of that insight time where you get to do proactive work and surface the things you're finding in the data to the rest of the organization.”