The Weekly Insight of the “Future of CIO” 1/19/ 2017

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The “Future of CIO” Blog has reached 1.7 million page views with 3300+ blog posting in 59+ different categories of leadership, management, strategy, digitalization, change/talent, etc. The content richness is not for its own sake, but to convey the vision and share the wisdom. Here is the weekly insight about digital leadership, IT Management, and Talent Management.

The Weekly Insight of the “Future of CIO”  1/19/2017

• Running IT as the “Light Power” to Navigate Digital Transformation: IT is shifting its reputation from a reactive help desk and support center behind the scene to a proactive innovation engine and change agent leading at front. A CIO must be able to add value to an organization through strategic thinking involves being visionary. Traditional IT in the industrial age is often blamed as the controller to slow down the speed of change. Digital IT is running at much faster speed, and being elevated to the “light power” for navigating digital transformation via identify obstacles and reaching the destination more confidently.

• The Further-Looking Board: The digital enterprise consists of an amalgam of socio-systems, techno-systems, bio-systems, and Econo-systems. BoDs as the top business advisor role need to have sufficient knowledge to understand the business ecosystem and sense that the digital transformation is multifaceted; they should have the business vision to predict the emergent trend of business, technology or industry. Therefore, to make the role highly effective, digital BoDs not only need to be forward-thinking, they have to be further looking, thinking longer term, guide the executive team toward the right direction and play the management advising role effortlessly.

• Likability vs. Respect vs. Trust: Respect is based on being trustworthy and authentic. Likeability is subjective, people often like people who are similar to themselves, or have a certain charisma. Being likable or popular does not always earn you the respect. Trust starts with respecting. There are differences between likeability vs. Respect. Vs. Trust.

• Digital IT Improves Business Visibility and Maturity Traditional IT organizations act as an invisible back office and the support function of the company, to keep the lights on. Thus, often IT has been perceived as the cost center in the industrial age. Nowadays, information is one of the most valuable business assets, and technology is often the disruptive force of digital innovation. Perhaps the biggest value adds from IT is VISIBILITY for itself and for the business as a whole, to improve transparency, effectiveness, and maturity.

• A set of Q&As (IX) for Dealing with IT Management Dilemmas: Modern CIOs face many challenges, it is not sufficient to only keep the lights on. Regardless of which industry or the nature of organization you are in, being a digital leader will need to master the art of creating unique, differentiating value from piles of commoditized technologies and take advantage of the emergent digital trend as well; digital CIOs also have multiple personas, “Chief Innovation Officer,” “Chief Insight Officer,” “Chief Improvement Officer,” “Chief Information Officer,” and here, we discuss CIOs as “Chief Inquisitive Officer,” with a set of Q&As to lead digital transformation.

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