Welcome to our blog, the digital brainyard to fine tune "Digital Master," innovate leadership, and reimagine the future of IT.

The magic “I” of CIO sparks many imaginations: Chief information officer, chief infrastructure officer , Chief Integration Officer, chief International officer, Chief Inspiration Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Influence Office etc. The future of CIO is entrepreneur driven, situation oriented, value-added,she or he will take many paradoxical roles: both as business strategist and technology visionary,talent master and effective communicator,savvy business enabler and relentless cost cutter, and transform the business into "Digital Master"!

The future of CIO is digital strategist, global thought leader, and talent master: leading IT to enlighten the customers; enable business success via influence.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Culture Eat Strategy For Breakfast: Discuss Cultural Innovation in Global Economy

By opening up people’s mindset and taking advantage of the emerging technology, the forward-looking multi-national organizations will become the natural incubator to embrace the difference, inspire the creativity, improve the fair judgment and empower the right management.

The internet and globalization make unprecedented impact in modern human society, it will be superficial if the culture discussions are still base on recognizing the basic custom such as the ‘fork” vs."chopsticks," the true global strategy will embrace the cultural difference, absorb the philosophical quintessence, and integrate cross-cultural creativity with the best technology into the global organization’s mission and purpose.

Culture is one of the most intangible and strongest fabric weaving inside the human society and organization, it’s the critical ingredient to orchestrate the globalization  benefit for both emerging economies and developed countries.

Western style management is rational, scientific and logic, more like western style medicine, take the right pill to fix the ill in specific, usually it’s efficient (doing things right with the measurable result, but sometime at short term), it may cause some side-effect either (the necessary questions could be asked: is it doing the right thing for the long run?); Eastern style philosophy and management are more spiritual and integrated, maybe like herb, tea or acupuncture, try to boost your immunization, and enhance your energy, but the problem is how efficient they are, lack of the right benchmark to measure the performance and immediate results.

Western style leadership is more hands-on, managing in front of group, and inspiring by delivering the great speech; Eastern style of leadership is more natural, walking behind of the people, acting properly to attract the followers. Western communication is “talking is golden” and Eastern style could be “silence is golden”.
Even the red hot technology such as predictive analytics should refer two sides of coin:
“Study the past if you would like to define the future” Confucius;
“You can never plan the future by the past” Edmond Burke

Actually in today’s post crisis era, the most successful organizations in US are already learning deeper and faster from both sides and all angles; and the latest technologies such as internet, mobile computing, social network are the great catalyst to exchange the cultural essential and accumulate the collective wisdom, the diversified corporate leaders are the indefatigable ambassadors to glorify the world-wide cultural intelligence.

By opening up people’s mindset and taking advantage of the emerging technology, the forward-looking multi-national organizations will become the natural incubator to embrace the difference, inspire the creativity, improve the fair judgment and empower the right management.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Seven Imperatives to Improve Leadership DNA in post-Crisis Era

Diversity and globalization are the most critical imperative in this multi-polar world, for any forward-looking global enterprise.

In the first decade of 21st century, we’ve been through the Great Recession in US, the tough time like this make many of us more humble, also bring some deep thought about how to develop the crucial new leadership in the upcoming decade.
 
The essentials of leading in post-crisis should have some significant distinction from before: the Western “heroic style” leadership will integrate with Eastern “Servant model”, the outgoing extrovert executives need mix up with logic introvert thought leaders; the business expertise will and have to touch base with IT and engineering specialty and analytics….

1.Multi-Dimensional thinking:

The leaders will be both humble and self-confidence, systematic thinker with articulation capability, executive’s responsibility, authority with entrepreneurial mindset, budget making…..

2.Scientific & Independent Decision Making Process

Today’s high performance leaders have the capabilities to see through the bias and see around the corner. Any guess work or “gut feel” like decision making process may be the true root cause of the leadership failure in the current economic crisis, how to build up the structured decision making process will test leaders wisdom and accumulated knowledge and expertise.

3.Competitive Accent
Diversity and globalization are the most critical imperative in this multi-polar world, for any forward-looking global enterprise, no matter it’s the board room, the executive team and middle management, the diversified voices with competitive accent would be the latest fashion and identity for the post crisis leadership.


4. Standardized and Structured Incentive Package

The image of executives in the last couple of decade are always contradictory in US, on the one hand, they are the heroes to inspire the world, on the other hand, they are overpaid, lost trust by their shareholders, employees. How to standardize the executive rewarding package with the reasonable structure should become the key to shake up the new leadership landscape.


5.Consistent Role Model Image In & Outside Workplace
People intent to look for the role models with positive impact everywhere, in main street, Wall Street, Silicon Valley or Hollywood, the leaders are the role models usually with simple and healthy life style, beyond star’s charisma persona.

6.Lifelong Learner

All the leaders should be the good and continuing learner with their own styles, in this world of information explosion: tireless learning capability would be another keep identity of new leadership

7 Streamlining Career Path

Groomed to become the leader are the part of strategic career planning and life scenario, today’s leader may need to think more about their post executive life: the entrepreneur, the adviser, the career coach., etc, career will be never over with the right support system and planning.

In Summary, the new leaders should have experienced the pain of normal American people in this economic downturn, they are not the isolated privileged class with silver spoon, the are the creative pioneers to bring up the new hope and blood for the corporate of America.