“Sadin on Digital” episodes explore the fast-changing and high-stakes world of digital business. Wayne Sadin and I focus in particular on what CEOs and boards must do to lead their companies successfully into the Digital Age. Today, we explore how business leaders should hire CIOs. Because the industry is changing, and the role needs to change along with it.
Episode 9
In this episode: Wayne and I talk about CIOs, and specifically how to hire a CIO for success in 2019 and beyond. Wayne says that if a CIO can’t hit your strategic agenda, help you become a partner, and move the business forward, you’re setting your sights too low. CEOs and boards should not settle, he says, for a mediocre CIO.
The CIO needs to get on the truck, if the company delivers things. They need to get in the warehouse, if the company stores things. Go on a sales call, to see what happens when salespeople get tossed out on their ear. In other words, CIOs need to deeply understand the business.
Many executives work in vertical silos. But Wayne says the CIOs who are effective reject siloed thinking, and think of themselves as the Chief Process Person.
Wayne also tells a few illuminating stories, including about one CIO who described their biggest accomplishment as such: “My IT budget was 0.91% of sales, and I was able to keep it to 0.88% of sales.” Wayne says that’s just nuts – what if the company had given him 0.03% of sales to focus on top line innovation? Or process improvement? Or customer satisfaction?
You can also stream the audio-only version of this episode:
Highlights
'We're past the stage when CIOs were geeky people who lived in the basement and kept the computers running.' #CloudWars Click To Tweet 'It is not, in my view in 2019, appropriate for a head of IT to be reporting to a CFO or to any other functional siloed executive.' #CloudWars Click To Tweet 'As the CEO or the board, look for somebody that puts the IT department second to the business.' #CloudWars Click To Tweet
Thanks for watching! For more like this, we recommend:
Stream more recent episodes of Sadin on Digital
- Technical Debt and Its Consequences
- Data Breaches, Capital One, and AWS
- When Hyperscalers Abound, Why Be Second-Class?
Follow Wayne on Twitter and LinkedIn for more valuable insights into digital strategy.
Cloud Wars Live Digital All-Stars
Wayne Sadin is one of our regular Digital All-Stars. The All-Stars are experts whose video podcasts will focus on the critical themes shaping (and re-shaping!) the business world here in the digital age of 2019. Our intention is to provide regular chunks of timely ideas and insights about high-priority subjects from industry veterans with diverse backgrounds.
