Become A Servant Leader
“The leadership part of servant leadership is about vision, direction and goals because leadership is about going somewhere. If the people working for you aren’t clear on what they're being asked to do, what good behavior looks like and what values should guide their journey and their goals, shame on you because that's the leadership part of servant leadership.”
Ken Blanchard Chief Spiritual Officer, Author & Business Consultant, The Ken Blanchard Companies
Balance EQ and IQ to Find the Best Talent
“You think about all these hard skill sets we’re asking for. But it’s also the creativity, design and product thinking that is really going to bring us to the next level with our talent.”
Andrea Gallego Managing Director, Partner & Global GAMMA CTO, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Communicate Effectively With Your Board
“Whether it's digital transformation, whether it's cyber or any other topic as a management team, I think you're dealing with a ton of complexity—all the operational issues, all the risks, all the go-to-market—and abstracting that to the right level of detail and the right altitude so it's consumable and you're also getting the input you want, I would argue is art versus science.”
Chris Bedi CIO, ServiceNow
Pursue Inclusivity With Intention
Ron Guerrier Global CIO, HP
“I call them my three E’s: education, exposure and experience. … Getting kids excited in diverse communities about STEM at the earliest ages is fundamentally important. … [Second is] exposure, exposing individuals, diverse organizations and underserved communities to ‘what is tech?’... And then experience: providing internships, apprenticeships, mentorships.”
Inspire Confidence
“Where the conversation is the most productive with the boards on which I serve is when the head of tech is co-presenting with a line of business leader. We've all learned digital transformation is really … a business strategy issue and more than a technology strategy issue. And when that dynamic can be created in front of the board, it gives this element of credibility to the progress that’s being made.”
Diana McKenzie Technology Advisor, Board Member and Former CIO
Seek Different Viewpoints
“Diversity of thought has to be at the core. It’s the hard skills, of course, but it’s also: How do you have the learning agility? How do you infuse that into the team and how do you support that to achieve what we call orchestrated outcomes? … Fundamentally, it comes back to creating that environment of trust where individuals can come forward and actually embrace different ideas.”
Ashish Parmar SVP & CIO, Tapestry
Embrace Divergence
“Innovation happens at the intersection of different perspectives. But the caution that I will give you is when you do that, diversity leads to diverging perspectives. So how do you bring back that convergence? … Going forward, going faster and farther together as an organization takes intentional effort.”
Suja Chandrasekaran Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Information And Digital Officer, CommonSpirit Health
Tap Into Networks Of Innovators
“For me, it was largely about networking and taking the business challenges that my enterprise had, my firm had, and finding solutions through that network. … [It’s fixing] my business problem in a way where I'm not following a best or leading practice, but I leapfrog and become the leading practice over time.”
George Llado SVP & CIO, Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Join A CIO Advisory Panel
“Our job as venture capitalists is not to show other CxOs what's down the road. ... Our job is to show them what's around the corner … whether it's relevant to their business from a vertical perspective or technology that's going to streamline or disrupt their business.”
Mark Fernandes Managing Partner, Sierra Ventures
Apply Psychology When Pitching Ideas
“Use the human tendency for loss aversion. … If you are the CIO, and you've got an idea for a change, it's not enough to tell people what they will gain. Let's say a 20% benefit from that change. Tell them how they will lose that 20% benefit if they fail to change.”
Dr. Robert Cialdini Behavioral Scientist, Author and Founder, Influence At Work
