My Data Analytics Tribe
The magic of Citibank’s Asia Pacific Analytics community.
Background
I’m writing this article from Xishuangbanna in south-western China, the home of the ethnic Dai people. A very long time ago, folks from here sailed down the Mekong River, giving “birth” to the kingdom of Thailand. Why am I here? And how is this related to my weekly article on data analytics / data science? I’m here attending the 8th unofficial “Citibank Asia Pacific Analytics Country Head Offsite”.
I used to be the Chief Analytics Officer for the retail division of Citibank across Asia Pacific (during the still golden age of the bank!). I oversaw the data analytics / data science function across 14 markets; our Analytics units were embedded in the respective markets with a thin supplemental support layer from the region and global centre of excellence. When I left the bank at the end of 2012 to co-found a boutique analytics consulting firm with my then Indonesia country head of Analytics (Sally Taher), I wanted very much for the community of Analytics country heads to continue staying in touch with each other. I had been an Analytics country head myself (Singapore) before being given the opportunity to lead regionally. A “first amongst equals” as the British would say.
As Analytics country heads, we were a close bunch. We were more collaborative than competitive. Since my departure, many of the country heads have also moved on and a few have retired. But since 2015, we’ve made it a point to gather, once a year over a weekend, to celebrate our friendships. To my knowledge, no other function in Citibank has this amazing camaraderie.
And so I dedicate my 46th weekly article to unpacking what makes the community of Citibank’s Asia Pacific Analytics country heads so unique, and what we can learn about sustaining communities in data analytics / data science.
(I write a weekly series of articles where I call out bad thinking and bad practices in data analytics / data science which you can find here.)
A Genuine Community
In 2015, Sally and I sent out personal invitations to our ex-colleagues who were Analytics country heads during our time with Citibank. The occassion was to celebrate the 2-year anniversary of the company that Sally and I had co-founded. We would host the invited guests in a villa complex in Bali over a weekend. To our delight, almost everyone turned up. And it was the start of something beautiful.
We repeated it again a year later, this time cheekily re-naming the event as the “Analytics country head offsite”. We started a WhatsApp (chat) group to stay connected in real-time. This further evolved into a monthly Zoom video session to increase 2-way interactivity.
Many ex-Citi colleagues continue to be fascinated by our ability to sustain this community; I had left my role at Citibank for more than a decade. All the Analytics country heads in this community have since left Citi, some to much bigger roles elsewhere, while others went into semi and full retirement. There was no “business incentive” to stay connected, and yet we did. Yes, we’ve done guest speaking gigs for each other, but this hardly qualifies as a business benefit.
Years ago, we considered using our community as a springboard to form an Asia Pacific association of data analytics and data science practitioners. But it was hard soliciting interest and getting it off the ground. The initial idea and proposal went nowhere. I guess the members of our community just wanted to hang out together rather than turn it into ‘work’.
Finding Your Tribe
While data analytics and data science practitioners are expectedly passionate about their craft, it’s not so common that they want to hang out in a personal capacity. They are more likely to sign up as a member of an association if it gives them some business or competitive advantage. A tribe, on the other hand, is a different thing altogether. Members of a tribe both support and are supported by the other members. They share a similar mindset (though not necessarily similar values).
For our tribe of Analytics country heads, we share a love for intellectual discourse. We are genuinely curious people; part of our data analytics DNA. Our discussion topics range from global politics to global economics. During the Covid pandemic, we were swapping notes on infection rates and mitigation outcomes. The conversations are always anchored on how we are each interpreting the underlying information signals of a given phenomenon.
When did we become a tribe? I guess the roots of it were planted during our time at Citibank. The bank is notorious for its ultra-competitive culture, but the Analytics teams were always respectful of each other. There was no such thing as the smartest team or country; no such thing as best practices (because we believe analytics is highly contextual). We were happy to adopt another country’s solution if it made sense, but we were always looking to innovate in our backyards as well. As such, when we got together officially (at the bank), the focus was always about exchange of ideas rather than ego signalling. That way of working translated across time and space into our current community.
Conclusion
Analytics may seem like a lonely endeavour self selected by introverts. There might be a tendency for one-up-manship in technical prowess. There might be a tendency for not wanting to give your solutioning trade secrets away. But when you discover your tribe, magic happens. Over the last decade since leaving Citibank, my Analytics tribe has turned out to be just that — magical!
