The Keys to CIO Success

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Strategy  

Want to be a great CIO?  All you need to do is think like a CEO, and then add a dash of CFO and COO.  It is not as hard as it seems so long as you are willing to put technology in its proper perspective.  Sure, you have to be a student of information technology, be able to inspire the IT staff to follow your lead and be continuously pulled from all sides by the organization but, hey, welcome to the show.

Thinking like the CEO and your other ‘C’-level peers requires the ability to see the organization, the industry and the business world through their eyes.  It means understanding all that cool stuff that MBAs learn and the way CPAs think.  It means thinking strategically, financially, operationally and technologically simultaneously, and in that order.

The good news is, most CIOs can do this.  They can set aside the technology and focus on the issues of the organization in terms of what their boss and peers see them to be.  The first step is to spend time learning from your peers, and that means listening more, talking less and asking lots of questions.  Believe it or not, as you demonstrate interest in the needs of the CEO and peers, they will begin to perceive you as being smarter, more insightful and cooperative than ever before.  You will be accepted into the group and asked to participate in more conversations, …

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