Surviving as CIO

Survival is important to the CIO to get his job done, but it is difficult to survive. A very great number of CIO’s last in their job two to three years or less. CIO shouldn’t mean career is over? Or mean currently in outplacement?

CIO is a man in perpetual danger. High expectations and rapid change in technology is a double edged sword.

CIO has made the top executive totem pole, but as bottom man on the totem pole.

A delicate balancing act to satisfy each of the following six:
SELF
BOSS
YOUR BOSSES’ BOSSES
PEERS
USERS
SUBORDINATES

To survive you must match your style to the style of your firm.

Do a good job, emphasize quality, and be strategic.

Remember, you are part of the top management team, but in most cases, still the low man on it.

Understand the business as well as the technology. Management issues should always be more important than technology issues.

Establish good relations with all your bosses, peers and users. Sell your plans to them. Form alliances at all levels.

Be very aware of company politics. Be as political as you need to be – but work at keeping it to a minimum.

Have a good staff.

The Mission, Charter and Priorities of I/T must closely match the missions, charters, and priorities of the corporation being served as well as I/T’s immediate boss and the CEO.

Mastery of technology is not enough.
Lack of mastery of technology is dangerous.

Survival of the CIO is often contingent on whether or not the CEO has realistic or unrealistic expectations. The CEO’s evaluation of the CIO is the best predictor of how long the CIO will last.
Some CEO’s are technological ignoramuses – you had better learn to speak English.
Some CIO’s don’t listen to the CEO or figure out what he means. Plan his going away party now.
Some CIO’s say focused on technological detail that the CEO has no time or interest for. That is okay only if the CIO interfaces with the CEO on the issues that interest the CEO.
The CIO must imagine being in the CEO’s seat and learn to think about the things the CEO thinks about. This is a technique for not only lasting in the position, but also adding value to the corporation.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Taking pride in being above politics because of your technical skills is a recipe for disaster. If you want to get things done quickly, get project approvals, get budget, hire sufficient staff, and guard your backside, you DO have to rely on organizational politics and realities for survival.
CIO’s who actively pursue the political game as a priority are at risk.
But CIO’s who ignore political realities are at greater risk.

Be an agent of change including corporate cultural changes. But, that is dangerous.
Play it safe. But is dangerous to be a non-player.
Sounds like they got you coming and going. THEY DO!
That is why the CIO job is so dangerous.
My advice:
Be very alert when acting as an agent of change.

You don’t have to be a politician, but you cannot ignore or refuse to understand the politics of your organization.

Why would anyone want to manage the New York Yankees when you know that your fate is to eventually get fired? Why would anyone want to become a CIO?

Know and/or learn about every function in the company.

More Important Things For The CIO To Know

Question all of the latest fads.

If practical use several vendors. Don’t overdo it.

Beware of the perfect technological product from a small company that might have the danger of survival problems. Yet don’t overlook the new creative solutions of small companies. Understand that megalith vendors are not always the right answer.

Establish relationships with top executive management and the board of director level if at all possible.

Understand your firm’s business. Understand current technology. Understand emerging technology. Don’t pioneer unless that is the company’s culture. It is best to think two years ahead of your peers and implement one year behind (let others discover bugs).

Intimately involve the users. Listen to them. Serve them. Put them on your project teams. Yet maintain common corporate wide standards.

Control and understand your vendors. Understand costs. Have contract lawyers review your contracts. Beware of hidden costs (maintenance, licensing, etc.). Trust your vendor at contract time in the same way you trust your used car salesman.

Career Paths Are Rarely Straight
Opportunities, Timing & Pitfalls Are Most Often Not Under Your Control
Learn the Core Knowledge of Your business
(Your Function, Your Industry, Your Colleagues Functions)
Create Pockets of Excellence
Get Exposure Including Exposure in Operations
Learn As Much As You Can
Be Articulate Write Well & Clearly
Have a Knowing Vision of Your Job & Company. Be able to understand the vision of those above you and be able to communicate the vision to those below you.
Stretch Yourself
Be Flexible – It is Complex Out There – and nobody (you or I) are always right – be willing to change your mind – rigidity lose
As Things Do Go Wrong – Evaluate Contingency Plans Before You Need Them

SOME QUESTIONS WITH NO ONE RIGHT ANSWER

Single Company or Job Hopping
Is 20 years with one company riskier than a new company every three years?
Risk of Restructuring or Getting Bought Out
How Much Risk is Optimum
Risks in Moving Around – Don’t Get Stuck in Podunk
How to Make An Impact at Home Office If You Are in Another City
To What Extent Do You React to Your Competitors for Corporate Positioning?
Workaholism Vs. Quality of Life
How Much Money Motivation (or Greed) is the Right Amount?

SOME OTHER THOUGHTS

Good Ethics is Good Business
Honesty Usually Wins
Success is a Balanced Existence

Control Costs
Let Top Management Understand What You are Doing
Emphasize Strategic Applications. Understand Your Mission.
High Adaptability and Responsive to Change
High Priority to Staffing Quality
Provide Top Customer Service. Have Happy Users.
Be On Time and Within Budget
Fulfill all Promises – Promise the Most You Can Do – Not More
When Things Go Wrong – Cut Your Losses
Provide Measurable Results, but Also Communicate Non-measurable Benefits
Business (Not Technology) Driven
Control Confidential Information With Good Computer Security
Protect the Firm from Disruptions
Be Politically Astute
Provide Systems & Machines With Low Risk of Obsolescence
Don’t Fall in Love With Out of Control or Outdated Systems
Quality Control and Quality Assurance Must Be High Priority
Be Involved in Corporate Planning and Systems Planning

BE FIRST IN AND LAST TO LEAVE IN ORDER TO SUCCEED
That Describes the Janitor
Are you kidding yourself & your boss?
Save for critical projects & deadlines or the daily norm?

NEVER CONTRADICT THE BOSS
Good Bosses Don’t Like Yes Me
Good Bosses Must Demand Loyalty
Are these statements in conflict?

BUSINESS IS SERIOUS STUFF. WE DON’T NEED WOODY ALLEN WORKING FOR US.
A Sense of Humor is a part of the well rounded businessperson
If you can’t laugh at yourself you might become a grim dogmatist who cannot establish the personal relationships necessary for advancement.
You got to have a good time while working

YOU MUST BE POLITICALLY ASTUTE.
You must not be a politician
Business is like politics, you are always wanting to run for the next highest office.

SOME OTHER INTERESTING QUESTIONS

How Do You Handle The Fact That There are a Lot of Piranhas, Vultures & Snakes hanging Around?

How Do You Handle Projects That Get Too Big. Too Complex and Take Too Long? If the specifications signed off at the beginning are not the specifications needed at implementation (many months or years later) and if the hardware and software signed off at the beginning are obsolete at implementation – What Do You Do? The longer the project the greater is Murphy’s Law. “The day it is implemented is the first day it is out of date.”

If Top Management Views Computer and I/T as an expensive technical department and not strategically critical to operations, What Should the CIO Do?

1. Recognize the role of talent. Attention and attitude to talent is decisive to how well management will succeed. Spend loads of time on all aspects of nurturing talent from recruiting to on the job development. This is not a distraction but the essence of business because ”business is people.”

2. Nothing is more strategic than recruiting. Nobody takes recruiting as seriously as the NBA and NFL. They recognize that talent is their lifeblood. Yet too many corporations treat recruiting as a ho-hum affair. Should the CIO be deeply involved in recruiting or should he delegate the hiring to his staff? The most successful CIO’s recognize that their personal involvement in staffing is critical to their success.

3. Look for the quirky as well as the “solid gold.” Pursue the offbeat raw talent that might create something very special – as well as the predictably “good” big league caliber person. Software houses, corporations and professional basketball teams can learn together. A rigid specification by Personnel would have overlooked Larry Bird (too slow and cannot jump)!

4. Develop talent fast. The future for all businesses lies in project orientation. Get people working on project teams – in over their heads – from Day One. But let the talent develop slowly with a network of coaches to offer support. Evaluate project managers for their coaching skills. Do project managers, even under unrelenting pressure to complete on time and under budget, nonetheless make it safe for newcomers to fail and thereby grow? If they do they, improve their own prospects, their staffs’ prospects, and their corporation’s prospects.

5. Better to have great talent stolen from you than never to had great talent working for you at all. With great talent you offer them an extraordinary, but not necessarily permanent, opportunity to grow and develop, in return for extraordinary effort while you have them aboard. As a manager you will shine.

6. To recognize exceptional labor (as well as disappointments) from your staff, invest heavily in evaluation and review. Lack of feedback feeds the status quo.

7. As a manager, be flexible and demanding. Self starting talent often goes where it will – YET business units thrive by setting and adhering to uncompromising standards. Well communicated, sky-high expectations is the best way to achieve the proper balance between flexibility and standards.

HIGHLIGHTS OF CAREER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

1831 – Failed in business
1832 – Defeated for Legislature
1833 – Failed in business
1836 – Suffered nervous breakdown
1838 – Defeated for Speaker
1840 – Defeated for Elector
1843 – Defeated for Congress
1848 – Defeated for Congress
1855 – Defeated for Senate
1856 – Defeated for Vice President
1858 – Defeated for Senate
1860 – ELECTED PRESIDENT

INTELLIGENCE
IQ – Book Smart – Analytical – A Problem Solver

BUT – NOT the major criterion for measuring the probability of succeeding in any activity, function or endeavor.

STREET SMART
Adaptive – Able to read the environment, determine what is needed to succeed in that environment; and adapt one’s thinking and behavior so as to succeed in that environment. Often a more important trait than IQ and Book Smart. Synergistic when combined with analysis.

CREATIVE
Ability to look at an environment, turn it upside down and inside out, and see things in new ways. To reclassify, rearrange, reposition, reformat, recompile and restructure the environment, and one’s approach to the environment.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
Knowledge and experience are not intelligence. Anybody can get them. Very valuable traits for success.

OTHER TRAITS FOR SUCCESS
LEADERSHIP, MANAGERIAL TALENT, COMMUNICATION SKILLS
IONTERPEROSNAL AND PERSONAL QUALITIES

MOTIVATION – THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN MEASURING THE PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS
Intelligence is important – but not all encompassing
Motivation is the most important single factor

DO NOT RELY ON INTELLIGENCE ALONE – THAT IS NOT SMART.

Establish positive work relationships with those around you. It is up to you to take the initiative.

Know your organization goals and purposes so you can help to achieve them.

Build a network of constructive successful people in your workplace and communicate with the frequently.

Build your relationship with your boss on genuine mutual interests, abilities and goals.

Establish a reputation for reliability by completing assignments well and on time.

Record and communicate your contributions and achievements. They are the building blocks of your career.

Recognize the contributions of others.

Never present a problem without suggesting a constructive solution.

Continue to build and maintain your Career Contact Network.

Continue your personal and professional growth and never be without a goal.