International Literacy Day had me thinking about literacy, not just the reading-and-writing kind, but the kind we need now: Data Literacy.
This got me thinking further and who came to mind wasn’t a data scientist or a tech leader, it was Dolly Parton.
Yes, Dolly. Sequins, Songwriting, Storytelling Dolly, but also, the Dolly who quietly built one of the most successful literacy programmes in the world: the Imagination Library.
If you know anything about the Imagination Library, you’ll know it started small. Dolly wanted children in her home county to grow up with books because she knew literacy changes lives. Today, it has delivered over 350 million books to children around the world. A simple idea, scaled with a big heart and driven by Dolly Parton.
Literacy is about empowerment
Dolly didn’t give children books because she wanted them to become authors. She gave them books because she wanted them to have confidence, curiosity, and choice. Why? Because literacy opens doors; doors of shared understanding and communication.
And that’s exactly where the connection to Data Literacy begins. Data Literacy isn’t about turning everyone into analysts. It’s about giving people the confidence to say:
Just like reading, Data Literacy is a life skill, not a job title. Just like Dolly’s ‘9 to 5’ reminds us of the everyday worker’s grind, Data Literacy is the everyday skill people need; the skill that turns daily tasks into confident, informed activities instead of guesswork.
And what was Dolly’s secret?
One of the reasons the Imagination Library works is because Dolly made literacy accessible. No barriers. No judgement. No “you should already know this.” She had a way of making learning feel welcoming and encouraging. Data Literacy needs the same approach.
Most people aren’t afraid of data; they’re afraid of looking foolish. They’re afraid to ask what a field means, or to admit they don’t understand a dashboard, or to say, “Where did this number come from?” I’ve seen this so many times; bright, capable people hesitating because they don’t want to get it wrong.
So, if we hope that AI will succeed, we need to create the same kind of environment Dolly created for children:
The Imagination Library is built on consistency — and so is Data Literacy
Every child gets a book every month. No exceptions. No complexity. No “maybe next quarter.” Consistency builds trust.
Data Literacy needs that same trust:
When everyone speaks the same “data language,” data stops being mysterious and starts being useful.
What was Dolly’s real lesson?
Dolly didn’t wait for a national programme. She didn’t wait for perfect conditions. She started with people. one community, one idea, one book at a time. I’ve always admired that about her: she just gets on with it.
Organisations can do the same: Start with one team. One concept. One shared definition. One conversation about what data means.
Data Literacy isn’t a grand, great, big, planned transformation. It’s a cultural habit. Like Dolly’s books, it spreads.
The takeaway
Dolly Parton taught the world that literacy is a gift; a gift that empowers people for life. Data Literacy is the same gift inside organisations. We must give our people the confidence, clarity, and curiosity to really understand the data they work with every day
Let’s pay tribute to someone who inspired millions of people around the world and who contributed so much to promoting literacy amongst disenfranchised children. Dolly Parton.
In the spirit of promoting literacy, please click the link to download a glossary template that I use. It should help you become more data literate, it’s a starting point of terms and acronyms that you can use to establish a common data language in your team. Please use it, grow it, add to it as you see fit, and improve and share it.
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