Recovery from the brink of ignominy

It was the first day at work for the CIO in his new company and he was excited about the prospects; the enterprise was one of the early adopters of technology and the business was growing faster than the market. The CIO having gone through multiple rounds of interviews and battery of psychological tests had made it. The first meeting was with one of the CEOs of a business; he arrived early and waited for the CEO. Arriving on time the CEO shook hands and sat opposite the CIO and opened the meeting with the remark, “I hate IT !”

Not knowing how to react, the CIO smiled and commented “Thank you, now that is a starting point”. The meeting went on for the allotted hour after with the CIO emerged with a list of things to fix, projects that the business CEO wanted to execute yesterday, meetings that he had to schedule over the next few weeks with other business leaders and he had yet to meet his team. Wondering about his decision, he walked across to the adjacent building where the next meeting was with his reporting boss and the Managing Director.

As he settled in he discovered the root cause of the bitterness with IT; there were many anecdotes and tales of his predecessor, his interactions with the business, his approach to any new solution and the way he managed the team. He (the predecessor) was the first CIO the company had hired when they needed to leverage the next wave of IT and moving from a local benchmark to being a global benchmark in the industry. Technically competent and extremely articulate, the ex-CIO had everyone eating out of his hands.

No one could have faulted the best of breed technology decisions, validated with more than adequate research from global consultants and industry reports. For his team and the business, he always had answers for any technical problem; his team supported him though they hated his micro-managing style of operation. The resultant rift continued to grow until one fine day the CIO fell into the chasm. Business leaders heaved a sigh of relief and hoped that the new CIO would put in better efforts to understand their viewpoints too.

The newbie met everyone across layers, from shop floor to Boardroom, warehouse to suppliers; he worked with the feet on the ground understanding their pain, met customers gaining insights on drivers of top line. Expectations were set with the teams on key deliverables and measurements with checkpoints on what to report and when. Meeting with key vendors determined traction and connect that he could leverage to move into the next gear. The biggest change was in the attitude of his team and how they approached the business.

Soon he was part of the business teams networking with executive assistants and chiefs with equal ease getting around with a conviction that people accepted at face value. His team liked the empowerment and the freedom; they knew help was at hand whenever they needed it, so was a good word and encouragement. They worked in sync and turned around some of the faltering projects excited by the prospects of growth, visibility and glory; perceptions of IT started its uphill journey towards collective credibility.

The team that was written off by the business shed their reserve coming out into the open with new found confidence built on the foundation of success and the strong shoulders of their leader. They saw a change in behaviour from their customers and reciprocated fuelling the fire of performance taking it to new heights. Internal and external appreciation poured in acknowledging the return to leadership position in an industry. The turnaround was complete, the new CIO had once again been able to bring the function back to relevance.

It was an industry conference on a global stage where the CEO was presenting on the business success and differentiation with help from IT. There was applause in the room after the keynote was delivered; the CEO bowed as his colleague the CIO joined him on stage. As they got off stage they were hounded to discover the secret sauce of the CEO-CIO relationship. The CEO said, “I hated IT a few years back until this guy came on board and changed everything. Today IT contributes to our growth and I love IT”. Both grinned cheerfully and with hands on other’s shoulders walked away.

Footnote: When I wrote about “Living with Bad Hires” many readers wanted to know what happened after the CIO was fired. This is the story of what happened.

Stay relevant, stay hungry

In the last few weeks by accident, coincidence or that suddenly it has become a big discussion; I had a few CIOs young and old, and other senior non-IT friends wanting to discuss job security and career progression. Their questions were fairly similar with the prime theme being how do they contextually stay relevant to their changing role and expectations and at the same time address the flavor of the month or season. After all with every even slightly disruptive technology trend comes the hype that the CIO role is no longer relevant.

Everyone has an opinion on IT today and they are trigger happy in their pronouncements; not that it matters who they are, or the power or authority they wield, there is always an opinion on what the CIO should be doing to survive the bad world of changing expectations. CIOs are used to this now, but when some non-IT friends raised similar doubts it had me wondering. A little more than a year back I had explored the subject of changing skills (Re-skilling for the future) and I did not see any change.

It is a fact that the role of technology professionals has changed over the last many decades; it is also known that CIOs have come up to the situation with varied degrees of success. Staying unaligned to enterprise politics and power struggles, in most cases the CIO has acted in the best interests of the company. This was an easy path with multiple conflicting priorities or interplay within functions. This position brings with it a strength and vulnerability leaving the choice to the person on how s/he uses it (a post on this coming soon).

The evolution curve has created some first amongst equals or the crème who are seen as the role models. They are visibly successful, appear to do everything right, have good presentation and oratory skills, are able to shift across companies/industries and roles with ease, end up attracting great talent and retaining them. They appear larger than life and are favorites as speakers for seminars, group discussions, quotes for publications, great networkers and are even sought after by executive placement companies too.

The relevance of a role in a company changes with industry ups and downs, size and growth, profitability and industry positioning, the culture and politics, and finally the incumbent individual. All these changes require adaptation to the new paradigms with focused action. Changes are rarely sudden and give fair opportunity to prepare; high professionals align quickly and hit the ground running. No one can afford to lag behind for too long, the outcome will be Darwinian; everyone is responsible for their own survival.

Everyone almost always thinks that they are doing well in whatever they do. It is typical for people to wait for feedback and when none is coming, they live in a false sense of complacency. Many also wait for their development plans to be created by HR or their managers, or training to be scheduled by the learning function; effectively it is a passive approach to skills enhancement and development. The crème takes ownership of their vectors and creates the desired path and outcomes more frequently.

Sustaining relevance to the role and context is important for continuity; for growth, demonstration of hunger is necessary too. It is important to create a persona that people associate with and are able to relate to. I have observed many CIOs drifting along with a sense of helplessness while enviously looking at the visible CIOs. They wonder why they are unable to rise; I do not for a moment believe that they are disadvantaged in any way except their inertia and self-created limitations of what they can achieve.

Survival is not mandatory said Edwards Deming the quality guru, while Darwin postulated that the adaptable survive. In the hyper-competitive and uncertain world that we live in, everyone has to fend for themselves. I believe that CIOs should take charge of their future as well as demonstrate leadership for their teams to keep themselves relevant. This has worked for everyone I know in the crème group; there is no reason for it not to work for you. Go ahead, stay hungry, and stay relevant.

The Honeymoon period

I met up with a CIO who had taken up a new assignment with a new company in a different sector from his previous industry; he had just completed a little over three months in the new role. The company was known to be a market leader in the industry with highly adaptable market driven IT systems. The company was growing quickly and it was also a known fact that their IT needed revival and renewal. My friend the CIO was excited about the opportunity despite butterflies in the stomach.

Three months had brought some success and quick wins; he had faced a few uphill tasks too where success eluded his team. We started chatting about his journey thus far, his joys, setbacks, challenges, plans, opportunities, cultural fit, politics, whatever; everyone was not aligned to the vision and agenda consistently though there were only a couple of detractors who believed that in the transformation the risk outweighed the benefits; change will be disruptive agreed everyone unanimously.

He described his journey with vigor and excitement in animated tones; initial days were great with all the CXOs helping him understand the business, the challenges and opportunities, the history and way forward. His team gave him a warm welcome and fervently looked up to him to provide the much needed leadership. Down the line as he traversed the organizations width and depth, he found that there was a strong culture and pride which kept people together. He was happy to join such a company.

Within a month he had enough data to form a sketch of the company landscape and a roadmap of the journey that would demonstrate the efficacy of his understanding of the enterprise. He ran it by his team and then selectively some of the CXOs; he incorporated the feedback into his finding and tuned the plan to what the organization could take in its stride without being overtly disruptive. He also received more than adequate time to detail the plan and its execution.

In the previous week to our meeting, he had received endorsement of his strategy and plan including the long-term funding. So the excitement was understandable and shared by his team; from being in the laggards’ quadrant of IT adoption, they were on the journey to the one marked followers and he hoped to get into the “early adopters” block within two years. He also had freedom to hire his team to execute the plan; he had started connecting to his contacts to explore. Sounds too good to be true ?

What I have described is what is normally referred to as the “Honeymoon period” in any new company and assignment. Generally the length of the term varies from 30 to 90 days in which the person has it easy while learning the ropes and boundaries. This is when the individual defines the flex s/he has to assert and where s/he has to back off. Learning about the culture, people, process and politics helps in creating relationships that aid or deter the journey. Questions are not frowned at as you are learning.

A shortened honeymoon based on understanding of the priorities and result oriented actions, able to capture the proverbial low hanging fruits, builds credibility and sets a strong foundation. My friend had more or less done that with his experience, rigor and quick understanding; he made the best of the time to create a foundation and set expectations with all stakeholders. While there were a few indifferent CXOs and some sections risk averse, his confidence withdrew the negativity and insecurity.

Honeymoons however do not last forever; they are usually to set expectations. They are getting shorter with engagements prior to joining in and expectations of hitting the ground running. Gone are the days of settling into a new company and role; information availability and competitive pressures now do not provide the latitude of the past. I believe that irrespective of hierarchy and position (more so when you are towards the top of the pyramid), patience levels are low, performance benchmarks are high.

Are you up to it ?

CIO Brand Value

Every enterprise has an IT function though the name it goes by may be different. Not many call it EDP or MIS anymore, IT is the most prevalent, BT is catching up and there are a few variants which I wrote about sometime back. Similarly the title of the leader has manifested itself in many ways, CTO, CIO, Head, GM, VP, SVP, EVP – IT and some not so common ones that are either legacy, futuristic, or far removed from convention.

Every person in the enterprise has a view on IT and the persona it represents; this is determined by personal experience and hearsay. Sometimes it is relative to past experience in other companies, in most cases it is based on (un)fulfilled expectations and the buzz in the company. The industry, its associates and partners add or confuse the perception with their views. CIO and the team collectively are thus labelled based on these facts, experiences and views.

CIOs and IT organizations like all beings driven by Maslow’s hierarchy yearn for acknowledgement and recognition. They work hard to create their aura and earn respect with solutions and dialogues that demonstrate understanding beyond technology. They walk the talk, meet customers, and engage with stakeholders to stay ahead in the race. In many cases they succeed in creating a lasting brand value, in few they remain challenged despite doing everything right. Why ?

The basic foundation of IT branding happens every day with desk side support on the laptop, desktop, printer, application, network access, email, and various other things that we take for granted. No one cares until something breaks and that incidence ends up being the tag by which IT gets labelled. One incident gets extrapolated to generic statements of (in)efficiency. Some IT organizations have active communication processes to manage this; most don’t leaving a wide gap on how they are seen.

How many CIOs invest in building the brand they and their team represents ? Business IT Alignment is not only about projects being executed or the discussion the CIO has with the Management teams. BITA happens every day with every interaction anyone within IT has with any other non-IT person (normally referred to as user) within the enterprise. This cannot be left to passive management; it has to be actively managed across the levels.

External branding is another aspect of visibility and credibility that requires a strategy and plan. Go to any conference, event or panel/roundtable discussion, you will find the same old faces on the stage. It would appear that CIOs were born with stage fright; most are happy to be part of the audience, their views rarely get aired (everyone has a view).  Nowadays social media and internet presence too contribute towards the identity of the CIO who represents the IT success of the enterprise.

The combined persona is finally the way s/he is portrayed to the world at large. If the CIO does not actively manage this, it will be managed by forces that s/he does not control. The CIO could then just be an entry in a database or one of the featured ones in a search. If people read about you and read what you stand for, your views on varied or specific subjects, it adds to the perception of who the person is. Some manage this well, the rest leave it to divine intervention.

I believe that CIOs should invest in building the brand not just internally, which is easily done by constant communication and discussion beyond transactions. They should also actively manage their visibility and branding across the IT industry and their chosen industry; participation in industry specific events, membership to bodies, talking to tech journalists and participation in social media make a great combination to get started. Is there more ? It all depends on where you want to go !

I don’t have time is the first lament (please read “Being Busy”), how do I get started is the second; ask the ones who have made it or wait until I write about it.

The price of inaction

The setting does not matter, but whenever I meet someone unrelated to IT (with IT folks the discussion is anyway about IT), the conversation always ends up talking about how they use technology. Maybe something to do with me, so when I met with a CFO of a large company, we predictably ended up discussing the health of their IT systems.

The company had grown organically to become a leader in its industry and now had global aspirations. Family run, it had over the years it had invested in IT to keep pace with the change in technology. The owners indulged the new generation allowing them to embrace cutting edge while retaining the legacy for the comfort of the stalwarts who built the company. The diversity that thus coexisted was amazing to just admire the profoundness and marvel at how it all worked together.

Hundreds, no thousands of almost disjointed small systems supported mission critical tasks across functions held together by the experienced hands that orchestrated the business. The management had discussed and debated renewal for a decade to replace the increasing inventory of applications with a contemporary ERP. The decision was always deferred with the fact that it has worked for us so far, so it should work in the future too. We have survived downturns, competition, and grown.

They did not have an IT Head and had never thought of getting a CIO. What about cost of sustaining diverse and antiquated technology ? The response was, my IT vendors take care of that. Were employees happy with the situation ? It works, so happiness is not the consideration. Was productivity optimal ? Grudgingly he accepted that it could be improved upon.

In the second decade of the twenty first century a successful large enterprise working with no formal IT strategy nor a CIO; as I dug deeper it was evident that the unfettered IT had its advantages that there was agility in creation of solutions where required; business teams worked with multiple partners and sometimes even individuals to get processes or content enabled. Across various offices and functions this was the norm.

Integration and reporting was on another planet. Rarely anyone agreed to figures; sharing of best practices or synergies in process, unheard of. The local optima did not favor global optima. The CFO was at the receiving end of most of the chaos, but did not see ROI in large scale change. He lamented the fact that competitors were beginning to catch up and technology may have a role in that. The promoters wanted to step back and handover reigns to the next generation and professionals.

Can total or strategic outsourcing solve the problem ? We discussed and debated the merits and challenges of this approach, the change management across the diverse enterprise and employees across locations. Giving away the problem will not necessarily solve it. Someone internally will have to own the change, coax it step by step and create lasting change. S/he will have to take everyone along the journey. 

My humble suggestion to him was to get a CIO.

Surviving layoffs

We live in uncertain times with global economies tumbling randomly impacting everyone within as well as across borders. Citizens and corporates alike are living with FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) as the world watches the unfolding of one crisis after another. With survival at stake, individuals as well as enterprises are taking steps to tide over the current quagmire. In our connected world, the impact is felt even in otherwise stable or developing economies.

Are there learning from past economic events that have left many economies struggling. Recession and slowdown driven new normal had everyone focusing on cost and then incremental growth. Successive events have taken away much of the impact once again driving enterprises and individuals up the wall. Once again there is talk of deep cost cutting which now chips at the bones with no flesh remaining.

Not too long ago interacting with such a CIO who was asked to find alternative opportunities, I learnt about the trials and tribulations of such a situation, especially when there is a gap between two jobs. The person was a great performer and excelled in creating new technology solutions. In recessionary times discretionary spending was cut, no new projects and thus the pink slip.

In good times every enterprise leader will cite the often repeated cliché “people are our best assets”. In difficult times after everything else has been tried, companies lay off assets that can no longer be deemed useful. Normalization has a way of sometimes impacting productive assets too with resultant attrition hitting operating efficiencies. Layoffs are reality and so is the adverse impact it creates.

The ecosystem of friends, peers and close family can help overcome the negative sentiment. Seek a coach or mentor who can keep the sanity levels normalized. Even if you are lucky it takes time to find what works for you and the new company wanting to hire your services. A non-CIO friend took almost 2 years to get his rightful position while his kids and family supported him emotionally. The CIO was lucky to find a fresh beginning within 6 months.

What could I have done to prevent this from happening ? The mind tries to justify and find causes related to personal behavior, performance or shortfall that created the situation. It refuses to recognize external forces instead attempting to rationalize self-existence. It takes a while for reality to sink in and start afresh. The self-denial phase can last from a few hours to years. This self-pity mode becomes the most unproductive time. It is important to leave behind the baggage and move on with a fresh start.

What does this mean ? Be prepared as Black Swans are becoming more prevalent than NNT (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) postulated. Do not feel disheartened when someone close gets impacted. Support the person any way that you can. When I faced this situation a long time back, my friends and the IT industry leaders provided adequate cushioning to sustain self-pride. I was fortunate to maintain continuity in my transition and thankfully overcame emotional distress quickly. That’s when I realized the importance of networking and reputation.

We live in uncertain times.

Is the CIO going through an Identity crisis ?

No IT event is ever complete without discussing the evolving or changing role of the CIO. This has almost become a flogging horse; surprisingly the people engaged in discussions are consultants, academicians, vendors and also the CIOs. All of them have aired their views and opinions, all of which indicate that the CIO role is changing and the incumbent should not be a CIO, but move laterally within the enterprise. Not that other CXOs are discussing how to become CIOs !

The role of the CIO has come into existence for just about a decade now and most of the IT leaders worked hard to get to this position. The transition from EDP Manager to CIO has indeed been a dramatic change and revolution for many individuals as well as organizations. Moving from a support tag to a business enabler and now with stake on the board table, the CIO has indeed proved it beyond any doubt that s/he is a leader in her/his own right contributing in many cases a wider perspective than other CXOs with visibility and insights from the entire enterprise.

Is it that the IT leaders of today are not performing their role adequately or they are dissatisfied with the laurels bestowed upon them ? The CIO is expected to be in touch with almost every trend in technology including but not limited to hardware, networking, software applications, tools and devices, telephony and mobility, and along with all this, the business too. In business, they are expected to understand the products and services, sales and marketing, production and back office, finance and accounting, legal and administration, processes and measurement, dashboards and analytics, not to discount people management and negotiation skills. Are we somewhere expecting the CIOs to be a compendium of all the superhuman heroes rolled up into one ? I have yet to come across such expectations from any other CXO in the company, including the CEO.

So what is causing this ? It would appear that the CIOs are to a great extent fuelling this debate and my hypothesis is that having moved rapidly into a role of prominence, they now want more even though there may be no more to have in many cases. The success through the journey has created the taste of blood with no easing of the adrenalin rush. With the current level of expectations and performance, the possibility of a burnout is higher than any other outcome. Some may be able to move mountains or climb the peaks of the Himalayas, but these are and will continue to be exceptions.

If a CIO is asked the question “Are you satisfied with your current role ?”, the answer would surprise many. So what’s the predicament in being a good CIO ? Does it spell the proverbial end of the road for the IT leader ? It’s a question that cries for an answer and the CIO is expected to find the answer without consulting the wise men in the mountains. Everyone has some advice on what next thereby demeaning the role to being lower in ranking to other CXOs.

I believe that the CIO should credibly communicate the contributions towards the successful and smooth functioning of the organization. The scorecard should mention the improvements made possible with the help of IT, new customer segments served enabled by analytics, additional revenue generated through new capabilities or services, or earnings realized with efficiencies that were made possible.

So stop debating the role of the CIO and move on to consolidate the position of strength with pride that is unique to the role. Debates and views will continue to distract the IT leader towards perceivably greener pastures. Lateral movement is finally a matter of personal choice.

This blog was first published on the CIO Klub website (http://www.cioklub.in/cio_says.htm) on May 11, 2009

Blue Oceans and Black Swans in the current economy

I have been fortunate to meet both the authors (Kim Chan and Renee Mauborgne though at different times spread over a year) of Blue Ocean Strategy, the much talked about book. Both authors present a contrasting style when discussing the book and the Blue Ocean Strategy and that got me thinking a lot about how does one go about creating strategies that can be indeed classified as Blue Ocean way of steering a company ahead.

When I met Kim in a high power talk, it was motivation enough to read the book. The book was a wonderful collection of facts presented together to justify the Blue Oceans v/s the Red Oceans or the competitive scenario in which all of us operate. But the question that remained unaddressed is that how many companies had their executives read the book, engaged consultants and then came up with a real Blue Ocean strategy which was implemented and found successful. I have yet to find any.

Almost a year later, the meeting with Renee was to that extent different, where I was a bit skeptical as well as started asking many within the audience whether they had read the book and found any of the principles making a difference in their strategic thinking. Reality is everyone who had read the book liked it, but had no answers to the question that continued to haunt me.

And then a few weeks back I read Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and I found solace in the fact that most theories are created to justify what happened; rarely a theory has been applied to create the impact that it justifies by looking at the past.

Putting both of them together, the conclusion that I draw is that tactical strategies may bring short-term results, long-term strategies may work to a point, and then the unexpected comes along and thought leaders (?) will create new theories to justify them.

So what has all this got to do with a CIO ? Well IT organizations end up at the receiving end when Red Oceans and Black Swans come together as it is the case right now. Budget cuts, manpower pressures, outsourcing and vendor management, all of these are here to stay. What Blue Ocean strategy keep the Organization afloat and the CIO busy ? If I do find some answers, you will see them here. If you have any, do post them here.