About this episode

Davin Crowley-Sweet OBE and Catherine Dowden-King discuss the human side of data leadership, exploring burnout, rustout, and the impact of remote work on professional interactions.

In this week's Data Debrief, the companion show to Driven by Data: The Podcast — Davin Crowley-Sweet OBE, CDO at National Highways, steps into Kyle Winterbottom's seat and is joined by Catherine Dowden-King to unpack the week's main episode with Nick Zervoudis and range far beyond it into the human side of data leadership. From burnout and its lesser-known cousin "rustout," to the serendipity we've lost to working from home, to why psychological safety matters more than technical mastery, Davin and Catherine make the case that the job of a modern data leader is less about building things and more about building the people and the environment in which those things get built. They also discuss: Why burnout has an opposite — "rustout" — and how to tell which one you're actually facing. How working from home has stripped the chance encounters and serendipity out of professional life. Why so much success comes down to luck, and why being open to it is the real skill. What "the worst they can say is no" taught Catherine about taking a chance. Why so many people tie their identity to a job title, and what happens when the badge disappears. How psychological safety, not technical…

More episodes of Driven by Data: The Podcast

• Data Debrief: Schools Back, AI Attack & the future of paid employment · September 10, 2026 · 49 min
• S7 | E23 | Redesigning Organisations for AI-Driven Competitive Advantage with Greg Freeman, CEO & Founder, Data & AI Literacy Academy · September 8, 2026 · 50 min
• Data Debrief: Creepy AI Teddy, Running App Renters & The beginning of the Real AI Use cases · September 3, 2026 · 40 min
• S7 | Ep 22 | Getting AI out the Sandbox and into Production with Chris Pearce, Chief Data & AI Officer, Ageas · September 1, 2026 · 52 min
• Data Debrief: Blame AI! Averages Lie! and Kyle's throat sounds like he's going to... Cough. · August 27, 2026 · 37 min
• S7 | Ep 21 | What being Advisor to a FTSE 100 UK CEO for 10 yrs Taught me about Data Insights with Michael Ross, Data Agitator & NED · August 25, 2026 · 1h 2m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Driven by Data: The Podcast podcast page.