Future of CIO

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Alphabetic Soup of Leadership Ingredients in 21st Century

9:13 PM Pearl Zhu 1 comment

Discover who you are, compete for uniqueness, that’s essential in the 21^st century of leadership.

Authenticity: The Leader who is true to themselves and their team, garners the trust & respect that is needed to be successful & motivate others.

Balance the pros & cons, the differences of viewpoints with the proven methods to lead effectively.

5Cs:Courage/Character/Capability/Creativity:/Charisma: Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. The character is to hold trust once it has been given and to maintain hope and confidence, have the capability to lead and lead with charisma. Creative leaders understand the art of leadership /management. "Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.” Winston Churchill

3Ds: Dynamism in thought, Discipline in action & Diversity in Team Building: 3D in all its manifestations of leadership, it ensures He/She will continually look at processes and procedures in new and innovative ways which may keep the organization in tuned and prepared for changes within their industry and/or profession.

Empathy: Without empathy, what kind of world would we be living in? Empathy makes people strong, courageous, and compassionate. Empathy helps in listening and understanding others, especially the feeling others are going through.

Flexibility: Leaders with flexible style & adaptation can embrace alternative thinking and a new way to do things.

Goal: Setting up long term and short term goal to make change meaningful & measurable.

Humility : Because good leaders realize they don't know it all and aren't necessarily the best in the room; also because to grow and develop, one needs to accept others' views and seek to change willingly.

3Is: Integrity/Insight/Influence: Be true to a set of values and beliefs that are generally acceptable within the societal norm. An insightful leader can understand problems from multiple angles. Leadership is an influence. The good leaders make it a positive interaction.

Judgment: A sound judgment is a foundation to make any fair, objective decisions.

Knowledge: Either business intact or domain knowledge can make leadership more in touch competitive and practical.

Love: Leadership is the tough job, however, kindness/love in heart is the fountain of positive leadership.

Motivation: Motivating and nurturing the team members to grow and achieve more.

Navigation: An effective leader can navigate the strategy and lead toward the right direction.

Open Mind to learn with others and with him/herself, embrace the diversified culture.

3Ps: Passion/Progress/Paradox: It takes passion and progressive mindset to turn the visions into reality and it takes paradoxical thinking to communicate effectively in the 21st century.

Questioning: The future of leaders lead by questioning. Peter Drucker

Respect: Respect is a two-way street, leaders will gain respect by respecting others.

Self-Awareness…Without awareness, we can never be sure of our motives.WHY are we acting or thinking a certain way.

Trustworthiness: Leaders keep their word, transparent, and candid; exploring and decisive.

Uniqueness: The leaders in the 21^st century will compete for uniqueness and practice rainbow leadership.

Value/Vision/Voice: Value-based vision to convey future with the ability to communicate it well (genuine) to create connection and confidence in the followers

Wisdom is the guide for the purpose, perception, and progress .Wisdom is multi-dimensional pursuit

X-Gen: New buzzword for X-generation leadership

Y-Gen: New buzzword for Y-generation leadership

Z-Gen: New buzzword for Z-generation leadership

IT Paradox: Should Creativity and Process go Hand in Hand?

9:33 PM Pearl Zhu 2 comments

Creativity is the core of what makes IT strategic in any company.

Today, organizations have to compete on a global scale and creativity is not only valuable from a product/service standpoint, but can also add efficiency or effectiveness to IT operations, improving business-IT communication, innovate business culture, and provide for outside-the-box problem-solving capability as well.

1. Why is Creativity Important in IT?

Creativity is becoming increasingly crucial in today's business environment as it breeds innovation. As it's common that many IT companies tend to focus more on their core competencies with age and often forget about the value of such innovation. Without creativity, organizations would be upstaged by the ones that are creative because disruptive innovation will happen no matter you well prepare or not.

The new way to do things: Using our creative side helps to create new ways of doing things that allow for innovation to happen. If we weren't able to think creatively in IT, we would be floundering as much as those falling mighty. How many times has someone used an old computer to do something it was never meant to do. How often do we take a new product and utilize it in a way it was never intended.

Continuous improvement: Creativity is of course about taking something and improving it in a way that one might not normally think of. For example, the benefits of industrialization are obvious, lower costs through standardized, repeatable, measurable execution, etc. It’s a bit like why all cars in the world have an accelerator, a break and a clutch; and in the same order! The automatic clutch was an innovation brought about by creative thinking; the next step, of course, in the car travel, could be total-auto-drive.

2. How to Encourage Creativity in IT Organizations?

Do IT organizations strategize through the encouragement of creativity? Positive thinking should be yes. Unfortunately, it seems creativity is not encouraged in most organizations. Everyone is so busy keeping up their reports using the accepted methodologies that have taken over the IT world, such as industrialized IT frameworks. If CIOs don't soon realize that stifling the creative mind of IT will set back business, their IT organizations would continue to be perceived as a cost center. So how should IT encourage and enable creativity in the right way?

Creativity without a direction or purpose is building technology for technology's sake. Creativity is the core of what makes IT strategic in any company, but it is critical that the creativity is focused not on the technology but on how it can be used to advance the business objectives. IT creativity is struggling to occur and it is the reason many executives believe IT is not business aligned.

Creativity and process go hand in hand: Without process there is chaos and from the chaos, it’s hard to be creative. Using both creativity and IT framework to be successful; that could sound like a contraction. But actually, you need an IT framework to achieve the benefits of industrializing certain domains of activity such as Service management, Infrastructure management, etc. The concepts of the framework are good, but they are often implemented in a bureaucratic manner with a focus on processes and not execution. It is not just a matter of filling out the forms or generating reports. These are the byproducts of solid execution. So you even need more creativity to provide agile/flexible products & service and build up competitive uniqueness for business to compete in the long term.

High-performance IT organizations that continue to be successful can manage this tension between defined processes and creativity well. They understand the need for the process, but they also invest in R&D; hoping that staff will use their creative talents to deliver a competitive advantage. This is not just creativity, it is creativity with a focus or even a strategy that requires real discipline to design and implement the technology. Creativity is the core, but it must be wrapped in a "team" that begins with the infrastructure and ends with the user application and the support staff in a circular relationship. IT framework type disciplines are used with solid technical skills that understand how technology really works. Otherwise, it is a stifling process that destroys creativity and drives IT cost even higher.

Thus, CIOs should cultivate a culture in supporting creativity and innovation, regularly throw out challenges to the team, with a tolerance of calculated failures, process, and creativity need go hand in hand more often than not, to run a creative IT through creative communication.

InitiatingQuestionsaboutprocessimprovement

9:29 PM Pearl Zhu 4 comments

Asking questions at the start of the business probably also means that many decision are already set in stone by others.

To ask the right set of questions is to understand what BPM is good for, but then only decide to start a BPM project once you've identified a process that could be improved using Business Process Management..

Why is there a perceived need for starting a BPM initiatives?

Is it compliance, customer/market driven?

Why did you only just find out about this business initiatives now?

You have to fully vet and understand the scope which includes the high level business objectives and high level requirements before you can do anything else

What is the goal or the expected outcome?

The goal has to be something remarkably tangible...like, "Allow users to find any information necessary to do their jobs in three clicks or less. “

What business problem are you trying to solve?

Why do you think BPM is the key to solving your business problem ?

What's a BPM initiatives about?

Many times organizations have a very bad understanding about what process management is really about. Processes are often defined too small or too big. This will lead to useless implementations

- improving a process?
- automating a process?
- make a process perform forever?
- Mapping a process in a BPM tool in the cloud?
- Manage your organization by process?

How will this initiative enhance delivery of differentiable value to customers?

Do you have the right people that can make project successful?

Talent, experience and determination can make a big difference to achieving success

Do you have right organizational culture to support BPM success?

Organizational culture drives process management effectiveness through the direct actions (an inactions) of leadership. Organizations with "strong" cultures approach process management differently than do those with "less involved" cultures.

Do you have best practices to learn from previous process management effort?

How will you define success?

Asking questions at the start of the business probably also means that many decision are already set in stone by others (probably less experienced in BPM), making the project much more of a challenge for the person asking the questions. So asking right questions can help clarify project effectiveness and efficiency

Four Aspects to Measure the Success of a CIO

9:46 PM Pearl Zhu 3 comments

Measure CIOs' success in value creation, and you'll get the kind of performance you need out of IT.

As IT now like organization’s nervous system, touches every part of enterprise body, that’s why CIO's jobs are now getting harder and more interesting because it is inevitably connected with various people and processes in and outside of the organizations. For measurement, though modern tools and processes have made it easier to achieve albeit the people factor is still the hardest to track according to CIOs.

The success of a CIO can be measured in four ways: do peers see them as an integral member of the executive team? Are internal users net promoters of the function? Are the objectives the CIO drives bringing value to the business and are those deliverables being met? Are the operational measures of performance a reflection of the world-class use of IT? Here are four "ARE" Q& As:

1. Value-Added: Are We Doing the Right Things?

What CIO has enabled add value to the company? How you measure business success should be based on what drives value for the business. Measure CIO success on value creation, and you'll get the kind of performance you need out of IT. Measure them on something else, and executives will question the connection between IT investment and business value...and eventually, they will question the value of the CIO. Ultimately, every executive has to deliver results. And those results must contribute value to the business.

A successful CIO ensures deliveries of agreed IT enablement to the business goals: The underpinnings of this success are providing vision and development of strategy, driving the business process to an IT optimized state, management of expectations, development of relationships up, down and sideward, implementation of the process to ensure predictability, and development of talent within the organization.

The CIO must be the change agent and be a good catalyst for a business to differentiate by leveraging of IT: Be it internal or not: Sustainability and blueprint for proper execution and vision are vital. Good CIOs deliver incremental milestone values to business and is charismatic to align well with people to execute.

A proactive approach towards suggesting the best approach for handling risks/constraints: Aligning IT goals with business goals and well-defined and scalable systems in place to meet future business growth. Communicate and educate business groups on governance, risk management practices.

3. Strategy Alignment: Are We Doing Them in the Right Way

Has CIOs aligned business strategy with IT strategy? Overly focus on internal IT delivery and value measurement misses the most important contribution of strategic IT - the power to provide a greater range of options to the business as a whole. Anecdotally, some CIOs who create "options for the business" that the business cannot monetize or focus on. Meanwhile, the things the business needs...faster product innovation cycles, lower transformation costs, better information management, etc., go unaddressed and the business suffers. Therefore:

All parts of the CIOs' strategic plan for IT should be focused on business outcomes: For example, if the 5-year business strategic plan is to grow revenues by 50% and margins by 30%, then it's the CIO's job to understand what is needed in order for that to happen: do the service delivery teams need to change the way they work with customers? Are product transformation costs too high? Are the product teams able to innovate quickly enough in order to get new goods out into the market? Can HR see across the resource pool and ensure enough of the right people are brought on board at the right time in order to deliver the plan? Is cash tied up in the business such that the company has very little flexibility? Are cycle times for critical processes to slow or cumbersome to scale efficiently? Do the marketing teams have the right tools to know what drives customer value? etc.

A higher standard, not even simple 'value' or effectiveness: When you are looking at creating digital options, about giving the organization the ability to explore new business models, then it is not the value of the investment which matters, rather it is the breadth of vision. There are intangible elements in organizational relationships that defy measurement but play a role in the future “contributions” of the CIO. Depending on the culture of the organization, these elements can take an elevated priority over productivity numbers, to the so-called politics that currently existing in a high percentage of organizations. Call them Departmental Silos, Turf-wars or whatever, but the phenomenon does in fact exist, hidden in nature.

3. Are We Doing them Well: IT KPI Metrics on Service Levels and Productivity

CIOs are uniquely positioned to provide organizational flexibility and agility. This focus on 'perception management is ultimately about communicating the value, CIOs might need to be resisting the urge to explain or even to 'defend' IT investment. For a CIO, the issue of balancing delivery and discovery means that success is based on enabling the organization to be both efficient and flexible to change. To be successful, you need to be consciously switching - in a word "ambidextrous."

Managing and utilizing IT budget for achieving better Return on Investment. Effectively IT exists within a business to increase revenue, reduce costs, improve service, manage/mitigate risk and/or assist with statutory/corporate compliance. Certainly, operational elements are important KPIs, achieving SLAs, managing budgets etc. However, if the focus is on IT as a value proposition rather than a cost center, then CIO can be considered as successful.

Did the CIO do what he/she said he/she would do? While success can be a fuzzy word, any effort to quantify achievements and/or related projects to organizational/divisional/unit goals is beneficial. Scorecards, OLAs, SLAs, and other tools are helpful, also the data and measurement criteria should be defined, negotiated and contracted in the planning process, coincident with defining scope and goals, to streamline operations with existing infrastructure and systems to minimize costs. Net promoter score provides an excellent measurement of user perceptions based on their experience with something. In fact, you could use that as a measurement with peers as easily as you could with users.

4. Are We Getting Benefit from IT: Ability to Quantify, Qualify, and Deliver Tangible and Intangible Business Benefits

Many CIOs create "options for the business" that the business cannot monetize or focus on. Meanwhile, the things the business needs...faster product innovation cycles, lower transformation costs, better information management, etc....go unaddressed and the business suffers. Thus:

Running IT as a business: The CIO should treat IT division like his/her own business, as a start-up and requiring venture capital (buy-in from other divisions), be it mature and sustainable and hence shows ROI and a profit back to the organization. This can be measured via many different means, including the business realization of delivery to market, achieving key SLAs and growing the business through increased work and increased the confidence of being able to solve complex organization-wide issues.

The qualified result is more important than quantified measurement: The CIO should be developing an IT strategy and delivering on that plan. Having too many metrics focused outcomes means the CIO might spend too much time measuring and trying to quantify the benefits - which is very difficult. IT delivers value, but that value is sometimes within a context, and difficult to quantify.

A CIO = Catalyst: In organizations, the KPIs that have been set for each CxO, need to be measured effectively, but without dwelling too much on this issue, as there are conflicting KPIs between CxOs, that being an obstacle to achieving the corporate KPIs. For example, where IT shows all lights as green and yet the business is stalled or innovation has slowed or production costs are too high.

In summary, since each company is different, the measurement criteria in each area is, of course, specific to the company requirements. Generally speaking, the success of the CIO is based on how he/she is personally gratified with his/her performance, how his/her departmental KPIs are performing and how aligned he/she has been with his/her contribution to the corporate KPIs.

Which Color is CIO’s Parachute

9:49 PM Pearl Zhu No comments

CIOs need to orchestrate, know-how about business, also understand technical logic.

Based on the feedback from CIO forums, it seems that it is not only the CIO who is being asked to simultaneously be proficient as a strategic leader to a tactical manager, but even a technician being able to sing Kumbaya with every level in her/his company. It seems that other technical specialists may also be getting asked to perform similar functions. If this type of talent is really out there, it seems that the term associated with the above condition is described via the Purple Squirrel Syndrome.

1. Purple Squirrel Syndrome in the Talent Management Industry

Purple Squirrel syndrome: The term Purple Squirrel is very familiar to some talent managers as it is widely used in that industry. A Purple Squirrel is a creature that is nearly impossible to find and in staffing the term refers to a job specification with skill and experience requirements that are impossible, or nearly impossible to find.

Mindset is Cause: It’s not only a syndrome, it’s a mindset that spans many lines of business and it is dangerous, especially to innovation. This mindset is largely a leadership issue. Leadership in some areas of business is being narrow-minded. They want a candidate to have all these specialties but seldom does it happen that way. When faced with a "purple squirrel" you have to take a step back and ask yourself some hard questions that break down the needs. Then create some solutions.

IT Ranked CIOs often only see one side of the coin: CIOs get bogged down with operational detail that they have no business being part of the solutions. This is common to high achievers that have risen through the ranks and are unwilling to let go. When they have to be replaced, it seems like they create the job description for the CIO position from his/her resume and overlook that the CIO may not need his/her exact knowledge/experience to do an outstanding job. Other factors are more important at that level.

2. The True Color of CIO’s Parachute

CIOs have to focus on strategic aspects. And sometimes, tactical programs/projects have to be undertaken to bridge the gap. To confuse a strategy job with a tactical job is a mistake when hiring. Although there might be some "savings", in a medium to large organization, each level has its time frame and although a CIO might be very conversant with the tactical problems, that is not his/her job. The CIO has to look out for the strategic value of the IT direction with the business strategy and interact with his/her business peers giving them alternatives that improve the bottom line. The CIO as C-Level leadership role, is a rule maker, not just an order taker. Not only do CIOs need to wear six thinking hats, but also they have every color of their own parachutes:

Blue Dots at Influential Point: It’s not necessary for CIOs to become pilots to fly from A to B these days, however, as a CIO, you should have a clear vision of where you need to go, the art of choices on how to get there, thus, CIO need be more as strategist and visionary; the CIO's influential point is also about their thought leadership, insight, and how to communicate it well. BLUE represents Blue Ocean, not always Blue Sky.

Yellow Dots at Inflection Point: The speed of business change is accelerated, either you are the cause of inflection or you are the subject of inflection, thus, modern CIOs do need to become change agents, with a transformational mentality, and focus on business long-term growth. YELLOW is the symbol of positivity with caution.

Multi-Color Dots at Decision Point: Modern executives' main tasks are to make the right decision, to leverage the multitude of PoVs, to take advantage of data analysis (white dots), to synthesize seemly opposite opinions, and how to think fast and think slow properly, thus, CIOs need be a logical thinker with a certain level of creativity and intuition (red & green dots), CIOs also need be cautiously optimistic and intelligently paradoxical as well.

3. The Art of Search or the Science of Search, Which one is superior

Talent Manager, be a change agent yourself: If there are companies that have Purple Squirrel wish lists on a Position Specification, talent managers should act as a change agents, jump into this dialogue, re-configuring the bullet points of the wish list into a marketing piece narrative with winning approach, allows the Art of search to take over the science of search, and talent manager need to seek candidates who show evidence of personal and professional growth throughout their career who are capable of growing into a position, such as the ability to be able to learn quickly and be able to apply the skills effectively.

The goal is not just to look for an individual candidate, but with a strategy to build a leadership team with complementary strength and having a few very driven people with a high aptitude for learning to lead and guide specialists. Such a combination is very valuable in both creating and executing a strategy. Many times, CIOs need to orchestrate, know-how about business, and also understand technical logic, but compared to technical jobs, executives in leadership roles should be good at synthesis, not just analysis, betterment, than just accuracy, insightful than just knowledgeable. So don’t hunt for a perfect CIO, but have the best and most versatile CIO available.

Is Vision "Must Have" or "Nice to Have" for CIOs & C-Suites

5:35 PM Pearl Zhu 2 comments

C-level roles are supposed to be the guiding force in the enterprise, envisioning and leading it towards its future.

The best vision is insight, the most-wanted vision is foresight, Being a visionary is a character or perspective. But, is vision “must have” or “nice to have” for CIOs and other C-level executives? Here are nine collective insights upon “vision things”:

Any C-level position needs to be a visionary: Every C-level leader must participate in creating and shaping a company's vision. A visionary changes the course of business by seeing beyond what all other see or by charting new revenue or growth through the creation of a new product or market. A leader with a vision, however, takes his/her organization through the necessary steps to achieve that vision. "There's no limit to what a man can achieve if he/she doesn't care who gets the credit." That attitude should successfully live at the C-level!

Vision is an integral part of the directorial role: It doesn't have to be exclusive or externally focused. In most cases, it must be a shared, collaborative vision, because the board of directors which is responsible for setting the vision for the enterprise is a plurality, not an individual. The CIO ought to be a member of the inner business circle. He/she ought to be on the most senior strategic executive committee, responsible along with other C-level executives for charting the future of the company. Therefore, the CIO needs to be a visionary - someone who can assist in "seeing" and bringing clarity to the future within the executive chambers. A CIO must be able to add value to an organization through strategy, and strategic thinking involves being visionary.

Adding value requires vision: If the CIO is not a visionary then he or she shouldn't be a CIO. Keeping the lights on and taking orders does not need vision. The CIO can lend a great deal of insight into the vision of an organization by providing and communicating possibilities that are technology driven which could shape the vision or even enhance it, or make it come to pass quicker than originally thought possible. A CIO has to have a vision for their department and articulate it in a non-technical manner that clearly demonstrates the business value delivered. A CIO has to be consistently delivering highly visible value to the business on a regular basis. Vision requires leadership and understanding. Leadership must be clear and unified. Understanding has to come from knowledge and expertise.

C-level roles are (supposed to be) the guiding force in the enterprise, envisioning and leading it towards its future: If they're not doing that or not allowed to do that then they aren't C-level, they aren't the Chiefs, they are implementing the visions of other people - which perhaps goes beyond "administration," but does not merit the C-title. Everyone in the leadership team has a gift and the future business is very complex. Business models and technologies are changing very rapidly, No one person is able to deal with these complexities and speed. "Team Leadership" is able to build the future Business and IT vision and, more importantly, to react very quickly.

Every CIO should be capable of having a vision and not just living inside of the IT box. They must be able to understand the Business Strategy, The Operations Strategy, and the IT Strategy. Further, they should not only be able to align IT to business, but formulate ways to drive business. The CIO should be able to envision not only where a company believes it is going, but how it will get there, and how it might be missing out on opportunities because of limitations on understanding. More specifically, the understanding of what technology can help companies achieve. The CIO builds and creates a culture that reinforces life, value, and meaning to the organization. The CIO is the Chief Imagination Officer supporting the board in its efforts to create extraordinary organizations and enduring value.

The CIO is a visionary of what: Business strategy or IT strategy? The CXO is a visionary role, it sets the direction for the enterprise (internal and/or external). If the CIO is not visionary, then they should not be called a CIO. A CIO must be able to add value to an organization through strategy, and strategic thinking involves being visionary. That's a given. The real question here regarding the CIO is - a visionary of what? The company strategy or the exclusive IT strategy? Always keep in mind, IT strategy is an integral part of business strategy.

The CIO needs to lead the transformation of IT: With the changing role of IT in a world that is increasingly more people-centric from a technology perspective, it is imperative that the CIO be a visionary as well. Importantly, this person should lead the transformation of IT to become more of a governance providing a body for supporting process excellence in the business side of the house. This activity is important if an organization is to succeed and this goes well beyond the cliched notion of "aligning IT with business" or vice-versa. Without a capability for vision, IT roles are simply that of 'keeping the trains running.'

Vision or innovation, which skill is more critical for CIOs? "Vision" and "innovation" are different but complementary skills. "Vision" is about a destination and 'innovation' is about discovering unique path and leveraging alternative methods or great tools to get you there. CIOs can be innovators who have the potential to fuel a new vision in some cases. CIOs also need to be visionaries and be in synch with the leadership team’s corporate vision and must be able to deliver end results, 'vision' alone isn't enough, “vision" thing has to go hand in hand with execution and value contribution. CIOs must DELIVER and deliver with creativity and innovation in order to outperform and be aligned with the defined objectives. Don’t forget that an IT service is sometimes the only department servicing the entire organization (technical, functional and operational).

CIOs need to have a vision in the context of their role and deliver measured value: In the pursuit of this role, the CIO understands the mission, the purpose and the social need the organization fulfills. The CIO understands the role of information in weaving together a living organization- rather the role of information architecture in infusing life into the organization. The CIO understands the role of information in designing and bringing success to a business model. The CIO is both an artist and a technologist - in brilliantly imagining the missions and business models of tomorrow while architecting the ability to succeed in the missions and business models of today. Of equal importance, he/she must then be able to take the vision of the company and translate it his/her staff, who collectively will help find a path and be responsible for the tactical execution in concert with other areas of the company.

Therefore, the CIO has to have the capability to look ahead and imagine what is possible for his/her organization as part of the whole, then execute the right options as part of the overall vision for the firm/company via logic steps: First: IMAGINE: the CIO must be able to work with fellow C-level executives to contribute to the vision & direction of the company. Second: PLAN is the ability of the CIO to understand the strategic vision of the company and then be able to create a vision of how the IT organization will support the company in attaining their goals. Then ACT: finding innovative solutions and creating the teams to support the company.

Three “W”s in Wise Leaders

5:24 PM Pearl Zhu 1 comment

The doors of wisdom are never shut. --Benjamin Franklin

Knowledge tends to be linear, but wisdom is often multidimensional. A wise mind is not full, but free; not about cleverness, but about humbleness; not about system or boxes, but about out-of-box; not about informativeness, but about openness.

“Being wise” seems to be a bit old fashion, however, as a leader, the pursuit of wisdom is the only path to reach high maturity, from good to great, or from important to significant. Wisdom is not as superficial as winning only, or as countable as gray hairs, there are three “W”s in wise leaders.

1. WHY

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. --Socrates

A wise leader doesn’t always know everything, however, a wise leader always has the curiosity to understand things deeper or look at things from different angle. Leadership is more about digging into WHY while management is more about knowing how.

A wise leader is “ageless”: Age does make one mature, however, wisdom is neither equal to gray hairs nor wrinkles, though age perhaps gives people some experience, getting older does not always make one wiser, a wise leader shouldn’t always be portrayed as an elder at golden age; we can also see the wisdom seeds in youngsters, like bamboo shoot or the sunshine in the morning, they bring fresh thinking or ask deep questions. Thus, a wise leader is “ageless,” more open to the unknown, more substantial than stylish, and become agiler to changes.

A wise leader leads via reflection: Wisdom is the full learning cycle: learning, unlearning and relearning. If knowledge is gained from learning, insight is captured from re-learning, then wisdom is a full set of learning, unlearning and relearning. Wisdom mainly consists of having experience and yet knowing when to discard that experience, when you come to new knowledge - new frontiers to existing knowledge. Plus an open mind -wisdom is a function of knowing what you don't know and keeps curiosity to know more. Wisdom combines knowledge, reflection, and experience, a senior leader may lead from experience; a younger leader may lead from imitation; but an “ageless” wise leader will lead from reflection.

2. WEIGHT

A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool. -Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Not only does wisdom have dimensions, but also it has “gravity.” because cleverness is not wisdom, or style only can not convey wisdom, one need gain some weight in the mind or encounter a few failures in the life to refine leadership wisdom:

Leadership Gravity: A wise leader does need the “gravity” in the heart or put the “weight” in the mind. Leadership gravity means the humble attitude but higher aptitude, be confident with humility, “down to earth” with flying thinking; forward-looking, and act wisely. A wise leader shows that style is no substitute for substance, that knowing certain facts is not more powerful than simple wisdom.

Weigh in Multitude of Decision factors: As a leader, perhaps the most important thing is to make a decision, a wise leader will weigh in the multitude of decision factors and balance opposite viewpoint in making the right decision at the right time or dealing with uncertainty or change. A wise leader has the ability to unify all necessary elements of intelligence in the service of a common good and noble purpose. Wisdom is also not equal to knowledge, but how you use knowledge, to transform to intelligence, then transcend into wisdom and influence.

3. WORD-LESS

Silence is Golden, Speech is Silver. –American Proverb

A wise leader is usually not the smartest person in the room, as old saying: A great wise person seems like a fool, does not practice conventional wisdom. A wise leader has the courage to break through barriers and constraint, but also has essential pieces of awareness, grows a depth of empathy and goes beyond smartness.

Think Deeper, rather just than just Speak Louder: A wise leader is a good communicator, upon knowing when to voice out, when to keep silent, think deeper before speak louder; use fewer words to express more; master of crowd-sourcing and enjoying collective wisdom.

Know what to Sell, What not to: A wiser leader can also be a good promoter, to sell vision, failure, and wisdom, with crucial skills such as the creative ability to come up with fresh ideas, the analytic ability recognize the truly good one and the practical ability to convince the value and gain support.

Well, there are many interesting "W" words, however wisdom neither just comes from Wild Wide West, nor equal to Wit, Wizard or Win, Book can teach you knowledge, but only through digesting and reflecting, knowledge can be transformed into wisdom; A wise leader discovers and determines, learns and leads.
“Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them”. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Ways CIOs Can Contribute to Revenue Generation

5:01 PM Pearl Zhu 2 comments

CIOs will contribute to revenue generation when they are part of the senior exec team responsible for the revenue targets.

With the constant change in the capability of information and technology to serve the business, CIO's role in an enterprise is evolving accordingly. CIO has to foresee, anticipate business needs for information and then prepare and gear up the information systems to not only make readily available pertinent information to top business decision-makers but also preempt the need and present the business value. More specifically, here are six ways CIOs can contribute to revenue generation:

ENGAGEMENT: CIOs will contribute to revenue generation when they are part of the senior exec team responsible for the revenue targets. A well-rounded CIO should act like any other board member and contribute to the improvement of products, services, and sales channels. Besides operational efficiency, live, eat and inhale the business model, what can be done to improve these aspects?
LISTENING: The best way to achieve partnership is to listen to what the business says they need. Let them tell you their stories and challenges. You have to know and relate to what they value and how they quantify that value first before you can add real value. Develop and socialize a strategic business plan that aligns both business strategies and technical direction. As a result, you'll have an organization that is viewed as a business partner that adds business value. Finally, to gain credibility, ensure better delivery on the commitments.

CONVINCING: It takes a strong CIO to convince management to continue IT investment to maintain that nimble state. Unfortunately, many executives see that once IT reaches that state of "can do it," now want to start to milk the process but stop the IT investment. IT efficiency and effectiveness is an ever-evolving state and sometimes it takes larger and not incremental investments to reach desired positions.

ANALYTICS: Better and efficient business analytics can provide visibility into the business and certain kind of trends can be seen and the early decision can be made in order to launch new services, tariff changes, improvement in the services. Being an integral part of the business unit(s) planning and budget processes, so the CIO has a clear understanding of the revenue drivers.

PROFIT: How can the CIO help a business improve net (profit). Improving revenue alone without improving the net will not be enough as stakeholders will be more interested to see how much net generated from the business rather than revenue. The key question is what will improve the top line and at the same time decrease expenses to improve the bottom line. CIOs can help businesses improve net, by reducing the cost of doing business by keeping the cost down while at the same time maximizing its output so when the business revenue increase, IT cost remains the same which will improve net.

“COMMERCIAL”: A good CIO needs to be "commercial" and has some market expertise and business unit managers need back to back KPIs with the CIO on applications/service deliveries, so the organization sees "wholeness” and IT makes contribution cross-organization:
• The readiness of IT for business initiatives. IT should be highly available and efficient internally that It should take minimum time to market.
• Better Management of services and operations through IT Systems. Bringing the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes which are obviously run on IT Systems.
• Better and effective Management of complaints. It means an increase in revenue and customer satisfaction.
• Stopping the revenue leakage due to IT systems errors
• Retention of customers/reduction in the churn with better management of services provided to the customers will be an indirect way of increasing and maintaining the revenue.

CIO as Chief Inspiration Officer: Ten “I”s Elevator Pitches

9:20 PM Pearl Zhu 2 comments

By permeating multiple "I" in leadership, CIO should stand for Chief Inspirational Officer.

Too often the perception is that the CIO is a glorified geek. The reality is that the CIO is one of the most important executive roles in the organization, the person in that role must be business savvy and not only understand the vision of the company but also be able to help formulate it. Here are ten highlights on the “I” in CIO’s title:

CIO –Chief 'INFORMATION/ INTELLIGENCE' Officer: An effective CIO solves (and to the degree possible anticipates) business issues and needs. They are responsible for the preservation of knowledge, communication of best practices, data integrity, and information security, capture intelligence from information. In a nutshell, the CIO is the ultimate enabler for the lifeblood of business -information and all the tactical & strategic elements of an organization.

CIO –Chief ' INSIGHT' Officer: An effective CIO has a unique cross-organizational perspective. They can bring true business value by providing cross-organization insights as well as integrating technologies, people and business process across lines of business (LOB). Strategic integration also creates an opportunity to enhance the bottom line. A CIO is a business leader who understands the "WHY" of using technology to enhance business and can communicate with those who know "how" to implement it.

CIO –Chief 'INTRAPRENEUR' Officer: An effective CIO:

Running IT as Business
Communicates, Sells, and Educates.
Translates business to tech, and back again.
Does more than enable, they enhance business.
Is an evolutionary change agent.

CIO-Chief 'INNOVATION' Officer: A CIO works closely with business and industry partners establishing the strategic technology direction of the company. They lead the planning, development, and execution of strategies and solutions in supporting the organization. They ensure that the production systems continue to meet established performance standards. They establish, promote, and reinforce a proactive, action-oriented customer-driven philosophy for the IT team. They identify creative, technology-based opportunities to improve service, reduce costs, and increase revenues with the team.

CIO –Chief 'INTERPRETATION' Officer: A good CIO communicates with the business in business terms and not always in technical jargon. He/She should bring change and inspiration and excitement to resolve problems or better said, grab opportunities. CIOs must demonstrate the ability to distill technical issues/investments into the clear, simple business language to help the organization make the correct choices. The 80 / 20 rules is a must in. Take risks to achieve something believed in. Understand people and communicate a lot, and don’t forget the humor, but true humor served in a good manner and likable fashion.

CIO-Chief 'INFLUENCE' Officer: The role of the CIO is to push the focus away from politics and back towards performance. Retool business culture via optimizing processes with the latest technology tools, as too much time is spent on "internal politics" that have little relevance for customers and investors. Nothing garners influence like delivering the goods time after time. Negative politics rarely adds shareholder value - performance does. So the role is to deliver business growth through technology, innovation and cost efficiency.

CIO –Chief 'IMPROVEMENT Officer: Only a CIO knows how to identify the normal because they are the only person other than the CEO that sees every part of the business, identify what should be automated vs. what can be automated in improving overall company performance in both the short-term and long-term. A CIO is a top executive in the organization responsible for optimizing organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

CIO –Chief 'INTEGRATION' Officer: Isn’t a CIO super-systems integrators of silicon-based systems (tech) and carbon-based systems (people) and the very different cultures that dominate each realm, so good relevant stuff flows freely throughout the entire system? Drive the IT Services development and support to add value to the business directly or indirectly. CIO also optimizes the IT cost for OpEx and CapEx with keeping the required QoS required by the Business.

CIO –Chief 'INCLUSIVENESS' Officer: A CIO needs to develop cultures in an organization, a culture of always learning and improving and a culture of inclusiveness, collaboration, and continuous change. Once this has been established, the company associates will drive innovation, change, and ongoing growth through process improvements and new product development.

CIO –Chief 'IMAGINATION' Officer: CIO is a paradoxical role to play balancing act........or a series of contradictions depending on your viewpoint.

A visionary but a pragmatist
An investor for the future but at the same time a cost cutter for today
A technology visionary but more importantly a business visionary

By permeating ten "I's in leadership, CIO should stand for Chief Inspirational Officer. Inspiration to others can be your biggest benefit to the business.