Podchaser Logo Rate on Podchaser

Episode 25

bonus
Published on:

24th Sep 2026

Data Debrief: Networking, Intentionality & CVs that stand out

In this week's Data Debrief, Kyle Winterbottom and Catherine Dowden-King recap the Future of Data, AI & BI Summit with Starburst, share Catherine's top tips for networking at data events, and debrief this week's main episode with Simon Turner, Chief Technology Officer at Foil AI — including the Welsh Water case study that brought his "autonomic business" concept to life.

They also discuss:

  • Why the Future of Data, AI & BI Summit's core theme was the gap between giving people AI tools and reimagining how a business actually operates.
  • What "codified business knowledge" — the context layer — means for scaling AI from local productivity hacks to full agentic systems.
  • Catherine's top tips for networking at data events: doing your homework, messaging speakers in advance, and finding natural pauses for small talk.
  • Why leading with curiosity, rather than negativity, makes conversations easier to build on.
  • Why giving yourself permission to step away from an event is as important as showing up to it.
  • How Simon Turner's Welsh Water case study used agentic AI to cut through false alarms during this summer's drought.
  • Why the "autonomic business" concept compares agentic AI to a heartbeat that speeds up without conscious thought.
  • Why having access to AI tools is no longer a competitive advantage, now that everyone has them.
  • The debate between focusing on a handful of core business metrics versus giving people room to experiment and discover new use cases by accident.
  • Why the best AI use cases sometimes emerge locally, before being scaled across a business.
  • Why AI is making CVs look increasingly similar, and how outcomes-focused writing helps candidates stand out.
  • Why intentionality — in networking and in career planning — matters more than ever in a fast-changing market.
  • Why data and AI leaders should back the people already experimenting successfully with AI tools, not just the official roadmap.
  • A preview of the "data dilemmas" segment returning for Driven by Data Live.
All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Driven by Data: The Podcast

About the Podcast

Driven by Data: The Podcast
Designed for Data Enthusiasts to hear from the Data & Analytics industry's thought leaders
Orbition Group is delighted to bring you this podcast series, which is designed for Data Enthusiasts, to hear from some of the most high-profile Data, Analytics and AI thought leaders from around the globe.

Each episode will detail the guests journey to the top while bringing unique insights, drawn from first-hand experience on the industry’s most trending topics.

This podcast was created as a way for our industry's most respected leadership figures from across the world to give back to the Data & Analytics community, by sharing; knowledge, experiences and ideas, to inspire, innovate and provide real-life use cases on the industries most pressing topics/challenges.

About your host

Profile picture for Kyle Winterbottom

Kyle Winterbottom

Founder of Orbition Group, a Search and Talent Solutions business that operates exclusively within the world of Data, Analytics & AI.

I am hugely passionate about enabling organisations to drive decisions and obtain value from the use of Data, Analytics & Artificial Intelligence.

As such, I believe it is imperative that as a community, we share; knowledge, ideas, real-life use cases and inspiration to collectively give back to our industry.

Given my fortunate position of speaking with hundreds, if not thousands of leadership figures within the global Data & Analytics community each year , I feel it is my duty to share the successes, failures, challenges and opportunities.

Therefore, I have positioned Orbition Group to be a facilitator of that knowledge sharing, through these podcasts, events we host and public speaking.