“With the invention of the internet, any subliterate cretin can be Michiko Kakutani.”
When I heard that Cindi Howson was interested in joining ThoughtSpot, my first reaction was disbelief. Why would one of the industry’s foremost thought leaders and experts decide to join a vendor - and a startup, at that?
But later, when I realized it was actually going to happen, I was overjoyed. Here are 3 of the top reasons why I am so excited about Cindi’s decision to join us.
1. She saw the writing on the wall before we could even imagine it. In 2007 she wrote an article titled “Will the Googlizing of BI take BI mainstream?”. This was 5 full years before the ThoughtSpot cofounders came together with the same question and vision to start the company. Cindi is not only the preeminent thought leader in our space, but a true visionary. She has been passionately working at the frontline to move the Data and Analytics industry forward on behalf of customers. She believed in ThoughtSpot’s vision and mission - even before ThoughtSpot existed!
Title of this post came from a quote from Robert Galbraith. It’s fact that everyone is an expert while on social media. But Cindi, like Ms. Kakutani, is peerless in what she does.
For the last 17 years, she has worked as an industry analyst, helping customers make the most of their data by investing in the right tools, processes, and use cases. Joining a vendor wasn’t an easy decision for her, but at ThoughtSpot, we aren’t going to change her passion for customer advocacy. As Chief Data Strategy Officer, she will continue to work with customers and industry peers to shape the future of data and AI-driven analytics. The only difference - she now has the amazing power of ThoughtSpot’s engineering team to deliver capabilities and solutions to solve customers’ problems faster than ever before.
2. While she loves data, she loves people even more. If you follow her on Twitter, you will know Cindi is on fire when she is talking about #Data4Good or bringing more intersectional diversity in the space of data analytics. Overall, the tech industry is somewhat lost when it comes to business ethics, integrity, and diversity. Having a powerful internal force like Cindi within ThoughtSpot, dedicated to the ethical use of data and AI, will guide us toward the right shores and benefit us immensely in the years to come.
3. She is a lot of fun. Between her tweets about her son who plays college football, marine scientist daughter learning R on her own, her passion for baking, and her love of British culture, her irreverent, fun personality shines through. Life is too short to be spent with people you don’t like. Cindi will fit in really nicely with ThoughtSpot’s selfless excellence culture.
Bad companies focus on competition, good ones focus on themselves, but only great ones consistently keep their eyes on customers. ThoughtSpot aspires to be a great company and Cindi’s relentless dedication to providing value to customers will only help our chances.
Welcome aboard Cindi!
