Inspiring the new generation of “Data Leaders”

I interviewed Josué Lima Romano from the Universidad del Congreso, Mendoza — Argentina. He is the only professor in South America to be highlighted by the Qlik Academic Program. Hear what we has to say!

Talking about leaders no longer has the same top-down stamp. Previously, the word leader was associated with a position of hierarchy. Today leaders are those agents of change who seek to share their experiences, knowledge and opportunities with others. In education, the leaders aren’t just those who teach disruptively, they are also those who can inspire their students and manage to enthuse them.

The educational challenges of the next generations demand being more creative: you have to find a place with new, different and infinitely more complex tools in a world where the ability to manage, analyze and solve data is a must. That is the post of students in the future of large companies.

The main objective of the Qlik Academic Program — easily adopted — is to help higher education institutions in Argentina and around the world to strengthen their academic offerings (of various branches and areas) by adding knowledge in Analytics and providing various data analysis skills to their studies. As a result of these efforts, the Professor Ambassador Program was launched, which operates within the same program and encourages the highlighting of teachers who are part of this initiative.

It is as a result of this that Josué Lima Romano has been highlighted in this first edition.

What does this recognition mean to you?

It means that when we work as a team, we can achieve results that exceed our expectations. This was the possibility for me to be part of the first cohort of the “Qlik Academic Program Professor Ambassador 2021”. Although I applied, I speak of teamwork because the Technological Linkage Unit of the Universidad de Congreso gives me that freedom to innovate. I like being in contact with the younger generations (we have a research team made up of foreign students and invited professors from different countries) and because the Data IQ team guided me to access the “Qlik Academic Program”. 1600 academics from 85 world universities participate in this program.

What must you keep in mind to stimulate and inspire this generation of students?

It must be taken into account that we have gone from the paradigm of the “accumulation of knowledge” to “the application of knowledge”, and in this phenomenon, data plays a very important role. If in this process we have an academic program with access to software, the experience becomes tangible for students and teachers.

Chiavenato, a well-known author in social sciences, defined motivation as “the result of the interaction between the person and the situation that surrounds him”. Students are motivated by the idea of ​​knowing that what they are studying will be applicable in their working life.

What do you consider to be Qlik’s strengths for the “jobs” of the future?

Today students ask themselves: what will this do for me in the future? and how can I learn to apply it? And that is where the key is for them to connect with reality, with experience, so that they learn by doing and working as a team where the evaluative is transferred to the field of “development of critical thinking” (criteria) and creativity. And Qlik is a good ally for that since they can learn to use it in research, prepare for work with data and because as future graduates, it is a plus to have these certified skills in their own time to enter the job market.

What could you highlight about the Qlik Academic Program?

What I like the most about the program is the easy access to data analysis software, the online learning platform is very pedagogical, the possibility of having exams and certifications of “data literacy and analytics” and a guide to incorporate Qlik in classes. As a researcher, I am particularly amazed by the associative engine of Qlik Sense and all the valuable information that can be obtained.

The leadership and power of Analytics is already more transversal to various areas and companies around the world. Do you think Argentina needs to know more about Data and Analytics? Why?

I think there is already awareness of the need to know more about “Data and Analytics” but the challenge is pedagogical and that is where Qlik has a solution with its academic program. Because at the work level I believe that there is still room for the development of roles that link soft skills with a certain degree of technical knowledge. Especially in Management areas where it is necessary to go from the design of a work plan with objectives to concrete results. This is where the leader must know how to transmit and at the same time listen to build as a team. A good example of this was working together with the Data IQ product team, from which we received advice to get the most out of the tool and application we had created to measure “financial resilience in communities affected by COVID — 19 ”.

Can Argentina lead a cultural change, at least in the region, with regard to data management and use of data for decision-making?

What are we waiting to do? The most important thing, which is human talent, we have it. India is a good example of this. Therefore, we can see many of their professionals in the Software industry. To quote the phrase from the academic program, this is done: “creating a data literate world, one student at a time.”