Aug 31, 2026 · 40 min · 11 segments
Tom Davenport — the man who called data science "the sexiest job of the 21st century" — is back with a reality check on AI. As one of the most seasoned observers of how businesses actually adopt…
Tom DavenportGuest
Katie MaloneHostPhoebeHost
My guest today has spent decades studying how organizations actually use data and technology.
And you may have heard of some of his work, even if you don't totally realize it.
He's left fingerprints, if you like, all over the language that we use to talk about data science today.
If you've ever heard the phrase, data scientists have the sexiest job of the 21st century, that was him.
He also coined an idea that you might have heard of too, competing on analytics.
Tom Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College.
He's a fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and a longtime senior advisor to Deloitte's analytics and AI practice.
He holds a PhD from Harvard, and he's written or edited more than two dozen books.
He's written about knowledge management, he's written a lot about enterprise AI, and he's a prolific writer in the article space as well.
He's published over 300 articles, which makes him one of the most frequently published authors in the Harvard Business Review's history.
But when I reached out to Tom, I wanted to have him specifically because he's got a really unique position.
And in particular, he's right in the intersection point, the overlap area in the Venn diagram between the two.
So he goes and talks to executives all day at some of the biggest companies in the world.
And then he comes back and distills what he's seen and tells the rest of us the truth of it.
As you listen to him, you'll come to appreciate, I think, that he's very clear-eyed, he's very data-driven, and he's a bit skeptical in a way that cuts through an awful lot of the hype around AI.
For this week's Linear Digressions, you have the pleasure, as do I, of listening this week to Tom Davenport, an old buddy of mine and maybe someone that you've read some of his work, whether you realize it or not.
Tom's got some great perspective on AI, but also a lot of other technical paradigm shifts that have happened in business.
And he's got, I think, one of the best calibrated, most realistic reactions out there.
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My guest today has spent decades studying how organizations actually use data and technology.
And you may have heard of some of his work, even if you don't totally realize it.
He's left fingerprints, if you like, all over the language that we use to talk about data science today.
If you've ever heard the phrase, data scientists have the sexiest job of the 21st century, that was him.
He also coined an idea that you might have heard of too, competing on analytics.
Tom Davenport is the President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College.
He's a fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and a longtime senior advisor to Deloitte's analytics and AI practice.
He holds a PhD from Harvard, and he's written or edited more than two dozen books.
He's written about knowledge management, he's written a lot about enterprise AI, and he's a prolific writer in the article space as well.
He's published over 300 articles, which makes him one of the most frequently published authors in the Harvard Business Review's history.
But when I reached out to Tom, I wanted to have him specifically because he's got a really unique position.
And in particular, he's right in the intersection point, the overlap area in the Venn diagram between the two.
So he goes and talks to executives all day at some of the biggest companies in the world.
And then he comes back and distills what he's seen and tells the rest of us the truth of it.
As you listen to him, you'll come to appreciate, I think, that he's very clear-eyed, he's very data-driven, and he's a bit skeptical in a way that cuts through an awful lot of the hype around AI.
For this week's Linear Digressions, you have the pleasure, as do I, of listening this week to Tom Davenport, an old buddy of mine and maybe someone that you've read some of his work, whether you realize it or not.
Tom's got some great perspective on AI, but also a lot of other technical paradigm shifts that have happened in business.
And he's got, I think, one of the best calibrated, most realistic reactions out there.
