Help us raise the bar of the possible: Apply or nominate others to the Tableau Community’s most distinguished leadership program

Applications and nominations for the Tableau Community’s most prestigious leadership program are officially open! Tell us who you think should join the 2022 class of preeminent community leaders.

In February, we’ll make some big announcements. First, we’ll share the new class of leaders who best embody the spirit of the Tableau Community. We will also announce a new, more inclusive name for the Zen Master program (more on this below). Though we’re replacing the name, the selection criteria and expectations remain the same: Tableau experts who raise the bar of what’s possible with Tableau through teaching, sharing, and collaboration.

As always, we count on our community leaders to push us to be better partners, help us create products people love, and build an inclusive community where everyone belongs. In return, they get insider access to Tableau and other fun perks during their one-year term. 

If you or someone you know would be perfect for this role, apply or nominate by 10 p.m. PT, Friday, January 14th, 2022.

What will the 2022 class of Tableau Community leaders do?

The new cohort of data leaders will be critical to creating a world where everyone can see and understand data. During their one-year tenure, we ask community leaders to: 

• Share their mastery: The Tableau product roadmap is ambitious. We continue to launch new capabilities at an unprecedented clip. The platform is now broad enough that no one person can be an expert in everything—and that’s okay. Community leaders demonstrate their passion for the part of the platform they love, whether it’s visual analytics, data prep, server management, Business Science, extensibility, or beyond. By sharing their expertise, they help everyone in the community achieve more.
• Teach the next generation: Tableau President and CEO Mark Nelson recently announced our commitment to enabling 10 million people with in-demand data skills in five years. Community support is crucial to enabling a new generation of data people. The Tableau Community has always been a place to engage with and learn from passionate, data-driven people. From blogs, podcasts, and YouTube tutorials to Tableau User Groups, Tableau Community Forums, and Tableau Public, the community and its leaders play a key role in educating and supporting the next generation of data talent.
• Improve how we collaborate: By working together, community leaders create better experiences for everyone. For example, they share product ideas in the Community Forums and advocate for them with developers; they provide feedback on product prereleases; they experiment with new digital platforms, like Braindate and Slack; they share how their organizations are using Tableau; and they identify new community voices to amplify. We need partners who are willing to experiment and push the community forward to the next great thing.

Apply or nominate!

Are you an aspiring community leader? Do you know someone who should join this year’s class? Please submit your applications and nominations today—we don’t want to miss anyone! 

• Nominate … yourself: We strongly encourage anyone interested to apply. We don’t want you to miss out because you assume someone else will nominate you.
• Applications requested: No one is better at sharing your contributions than you. If you are nominated but haven’t applied, we will reach out asking you to do so. Applications will be due one week after nomination notification.
• Review process: 
  • ​​​Nominees and applicants will be reviewed by a selection committee made up of Tableau employees with input from the Hall of Fame Community leaders.
  • We do not select Community leaders based on the number of nominations received. While we do read and track all nominations, we also use internal metrics, employee nominations, and the needs of our global community to determine the new cohort.
  • Due to the high volume of nominations and applications, we do not share reasoning for those who aren’t selected.

Why Tableau is no longer using the term Zen Master

In the spirit of equality and leading with our values, after deeply listening to our community and working with our leaders, we decided to move away from our use of Zen, to respect sacred Buddhist practices, and Master, which originated during slavery.

Our community leaders deserve a title they’re proud of that’s inclusive to all. We are incredibly grateful for the time they dedicate to helping others and for everything they do. Thank you in advance to our community for supporting the new direction and helping us make the new program name shine. 

Learn more about our commitment to inclusive language. 

Answers to some questions you may have

When will Tableau announce the new name of the Zen Master program?

We will publicly announce the new name in February 2022 when we announce the new cohort. The name will be disclosed to those who are selected for the program prior to the announcement under a non-disclosure agreement.

How will Tableau select the new program name?

We are consulting with current program participants, members of the Community Equity Task Force, and internal employees to select a new name and gather feedback on the renaming process. Stay tuned for our update in February!

What will this mean for previous program participants?

We will fully transfer the Zen Master titles (yearly and hall of fame) to the new title that will be announced in February. Previous Tableau Zen Masters will be able to use the new title in place of their old one.

How will the new program differ from the old program?

The program’s values and activities won’t change. This rebranding process will not impact what’s expected of program participants or what Tableau delivers to them. We will continue to invest in elevating and celebrating the work of our data heroes.

Does Tableau intend to grow the number of members in the program?

We don’t have a firm target for program participants—we will add qualified candidates as appropriate—but we do want to increase participation from under-represented regions. For reference, the 43 Tableau Zen Masters in the 2021 cohort represented 14 countries across 4 global regions. 

Do my contributions at work qualify me for this role?

We avoid selecting individuals whose work is internal and private to their organization. We respect that as our communities have grown, internal communities have flourished. Though we applaud these efforts, we only select members whose work meets our criteria of working and elevating others in public, not fee-gated spaces.