Alpha Males and Data Disasters: The Case for Data Governance Corporate America values managers with good instincts that have been supplemented with formal and informal education. We hire them, and we place them in boxes on the corporate org chart, and we empower them to do what managers do: make decisions. And this works well - sometimes. But what if your managers' instincts are dangerously wrong? What about the Alpha Male Instinct - the one that says everything's a competition, that winning is all, that you should never show weakness or ask for directions, that you should confidently lead even if you're not sure where you're going? This instinct is mal-effective for certain types of decisions that involve data - data that must meet the needs of the business, of IT, the Legal department, Compliance, Business Intelligence, Auditing, Security, Privacy, and who knows how many other stakeholders? A single failure point in any of these areas could result in a data breach, failure to meet regulatory compliance requirements, or another type of Data Disaster. A pandemic of Data Disasters is underway. Between February 2005 and February 2006, in 130 separate incidents, over 53 million private data records were lost, stolen, hacked, freely given to criminals, or improperly displayed to the public. This book shows you how to help your managers avoid creating Data Disasters. It shows us all how and when we should NOT trust our Alpha Male Instincts. Using practical, non-technical advice and fun stories, Alpha Males and Data Disasters makes the case for formal Data Governance. It shows you how to get started, and how to succeed quickly, before you get into trouble. About the Author Gwen Thomas is President of The Data Governance Institute and publisher of the institute's website, www.DataGovernance.com. She has designed successful Data Governance programs for Fortune 500 and smaller organizations. She has also served as a Corporate Knowledge Manager, a teacher of college English classes, and editor of a literary magazine. She lives in Florida, U.S.A. more information.

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