This has been an eventful week for me to say the least. I came across two instances of other CXOs moving to take a CIO role. This is a big paradigm shift from the earlier trend where the role of the CIO was rarely up for grabs within the enterprise with other peers wanting that job.
In the first instance, the CIO quit without appointing a successor. She was fairly successful with what she did to transform the IT setup and bring in technology which the business benefited from. Her abrupt departure put the CEO in a spot. Not having visibility into the IT Organization's talent, he decided to take on additional responsibility as the CIO to understand the team and hopefully appoint someone from within. Few months into the role, he is helping the group understand the role of the CIO and also conducting his own review of possibilities within the team. The option to hire from outside always existed. So far he is doing a reasonably good job of holding the technology fort :-)
In the other instance, the CIO moved to another role within the company, and one of the business unit CFOs has taken up the role of the CIO. That should be an interesting one to watch for. One of the edits of a publication mentioned the challenges faced by the business leaders when the CFO became the CEO; most of the leadership team departed over a period of time as the mindset transition did not happen along with the role.
Lastly an enterprise I know has been attempting to fill the CIO position for the last 6 months with little success. Another one has the position vacant now for more than 12 months ! What does this bear for the CIO ? Is the position really important for an enterprise ?
If yes, how can a company continue the direction set by the CIO, which they agreed to, forward ?
If no, then maybe we need to bring back Nicholas Carr back !
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
What do you do when you start a new job in a new industry ?
Across the last decade or so, I moved across many companies, all of them representing a different industry vertical. In each case, it involved learning about the segment in which the company operated, its customers, its services/products, marketplace, competitive scenario and market standing. Being a part of the executive management team, the expectations were quite high and needed to be addressed with speed.
In such a scenario, there are many approaches that work for different people. Research using print and electronic media is a starting point and it can give a broad perspective of the industry. However the experience on the ground can be a big eye opener ! It's like being in the stands and watching a sport and making references to how the player should play, and actually playing the game !
Is there a settling time ? And if there is what should it be ? Over the last 2 months, I have been through my induction, meeting people, making notes, asking questions, and above all getting to understand the dimensions of IT with my team. Despite best efforts not to get involved in the operational issues, reality is that when the ball stops here, you have to do something with it. People look up to you for advice, resolution and decisions on way forward.
So like it or not, you have to start playing and learn on the job. Depend on your team and peers to help you through the process which will help in reducing the mistakes you may end up making if you were all alone. Organizations are extremely different in many respects but at the same time they are also similar in many ways. Use your past experience to validate what you see. e.g. Finance, HR, legal and a few other functions will behave in the same way across most organizations and will probably have similar issues.
My guess is that within the first 90 days, its a process of absorbing whatever is thrown at you. Validate your assumptions by asking questions and write back or repeat what you understood. This will help in ensuring that you have understood what the other expected you to. Sometimes progress can be a bit slow, and patience helps in these cases. Supplement your understanding by talking to vendors who will be more than willing to contribute to your learning.
What do you do after the first 90 days ? For that you will have to wait another month ! But if you have changed jobs across industries, do share your experience.
In such a scenario, there are many approaches that work for different people. Research using print and electronic media is a starting point and it can give a broad perspective of the industry. However the experience on the ground can be a big eye opener ! It's like being in the stands and watching a sport and making references to how the player should play, and actually playing the game !
Is there a settling time ? And if there is what should it be ? Over the last 2 months, I have been through my induction, meeting people, making notes, asking questions, and above all getting to understand the dimensions of IT with my team. Despite best efforts not to get involved in the operational issues, reality is that when the ball stops here, you have to do something with it. People look up to you for advice, resolution and decisions on way forward.
So like it or not, you have to start playing and learn on the job. Depend on your team and peers to help you through the process which will help in reducing the mistakes you may end up making if you were all alone. Organizations are extremely different in many respects but at the same time they are also similar in many ways. Use your past experience to validate what you see. e.g. Finance, HR, legal and a few other functions will behave in the same way across most organizations and will probably have similar issues.
My guess is that within the first 90 days, its a process of absorbing whatever is thrown at you. Validate your assumptions by asking questions and write back or repeat what you understood. This will help in ensuring that you have understood what the other expected you to. Sometimes progress can be a bit slow, and patience helps in these cases. Supplement your understanding by talking to vendors who will be more than willing to contribute to your learning.
What do you do after the first 90 days ? For that you will have to wait another month ! But if you have changed jobs across industries, do share your experience.
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