Not every organisation has a leader eagerly waiting to champion an MDM initiative. In fact, in many companies, no one raises their hand. Not because the problems don’t exist — but because the problems have become invisible or politically dangerous. When people live with broken data long enough, it stops feeling like a problem and starts feeling like “just the way things work.”

In my pervious blog i briefly touched on this, but there is more to be harvested here, how do we pivot our role, from discovering the hook in the organisation into actually creating it.

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Make the Invisible Visible

Most leaders don’t reject MDM because they don’t care. They reject it because they can’t see the problem. They’ve adapted. They’ve built workarounds. They’ve normalised the pain, and our take has to involve breaking that spell.

You do that by showing them something they can’t unsee:

• Duplicate customer counts that inflate revenue expectations
• Inconsistent hierarchies that distort reporting
• Mismatched totals between CRM, ERP, and finance
• Fragmented supplier spend that hides consolidation opportunities

Even a small, well‑chosen snapshot of data issues can be a revelation. It’s the moment a leader leans back in their chair and says, “Wait… how is this possible?” That moment is your opening.

Connect Data Problems to the KPIs Leaders Actually Care About

Data quality scores isn’t particularly meaningful for executives. Relevant KPIs is, if you want engagement, you must translate data issues into business impact. Not abstract impact, it has to be their impact.

For example:

• Forecasting accuracy: “Your team is forecasting with inconsistent customer definitions across systems. That’s why your numbers never align.”
• Spend consolidation: “You think you have 1,200 suppliers. You actually have 900 — and you’re negotiating as if you have 1,200.”
• Supplier risk: “You can’t see concentration risk because your supplier hierarchy is wrong.”
• Revenue recognition: “Your revenue leakage isn’t a process issue. It’s a data alignment issue.”
• Inventory performance: “Your safety stock buffers are inflated because product data isn’t harmonised.”

When you tie data to outcomes, you stop talking about MDM. You start talking about performance. That’s when leaders pay attention.

If People Don’t Reveal the Pain, Let the Process Reveal It

Sometimes even KPI‑based conversations don’t land. Not because the leader doesn’t care — but because they don’t yet understand how deeply data issues are embedded in their daily operations. In those cases, is another shift needed. Change focus from people to processes.

Pick a process that touches multiple systems and multiple teams:

• Quote to cash
• Procure to pay
• Customer onboarding
• Supplier onboarding
• Product introduction

These processes are data minefields. They expose inconsistencies instantly. And once the issues surface, the affected leaders naturally become stakeholders — because now the problem is theirs, not yours.

THE Goal

Whether the hook emerges naturally or you have to engineer it, the goal is the same: Identify the leader who recognises the opportunity and is willing to champion it with you.

This person doesn’t need to be the highest‑ranking executive. They need to be the one who:

• Feels the pain
• Sees the value
• Has something meaningful to gain
• Is willing to advocate

Once you have that partner, everything changes. You’re no longer pushing MDM uphill. You’re co‑owning a business problem with someone who wants it solved.