CIOs should become top business executives, not single-minded IT geeks. Strategic CIOs know how to change the dynamics of the enterprise by refining information and leveraging technology for strategic advantage.
The outlier CIOs are innovative leaders who can step out of the conventional thinking box, connect nonlinear dots to run transformative IT.and leverage systems thinking to ensure IT as an integral component of the company.
To reinvent IT from a change laggard to the change organization of the company, CIOs shouldn’t get pushed for changes; they are in a better position to be the change agent. Change should be viewed as an “opportunity,” and deep engagement usually accelerates changes.
The digital CIO needs to set the right guidance, identify blind spots, gain insight about the business problems, provide pieces of advice and recommendations to the business on how to leverage information and technology to discover a proper solution to that problem.
The IT leader of the future and the exemplar of today must move away from being a pure IT manager to become a trusted business partner to bridge the gap between IT and business, and between the industrial age and the digital era.
The digital modernist CIO is an advocate to catalyze change and lead digitalization. They not only enforce the engineering side of IT but also stimulate the creative side of IT for reaching “the art of possible.”
The purpose and advancement of IT are not to complicate things; it’s the opposite: simplicity is the optimal level of complexity. Ultimately, IT needs to make things as simple as possible, and simplicity should rule the day.
IT plays a crucial role in energizing the digital business, to make sure that information and interaction flow in every direction, digitizing the enterprise platform for idea brainstorming and collaboration.
An intrapreneur CIO must run IT as a business. Intrapreneurship is about creating a new venture within an established organization to leverage startup culture to catalyze changes and inspire innovations.
To get their voices heard and improve IT leadership maturity, IT leaders should have a seat at the table to help make digital policies and co-develop business strategies
It takes strategic planning, methodologies and practices in orchestrating digital transformation. IT needs to go beyond playing the background music to support the melody. Think of it as the sheet music.
Digital CIOs are scientific digital guardians, not charismatic prophets. CIOs should be able to envision not only where a company believes it is going, but how it will get there, as well as how it might be missing out on opportunities due to low responsiveness caused by bureaucracy.