The most important thing in your company is not a thing by Mark McDonald on The Gartner Blog Network
6 Lessons for Life by Jon Gordon on Jon Gordon’s Blog | Developing Positive Leaders, Organizations and Teams
The Hidden Value Of Loyalty by Tim Sanders on Sanders Says
Words Matter But Actions Matter Most by Lance Haun on Rehaul by Lance Haun
Sales people, you’re fired! by John Moore on Random Thoughts of a Boston-based CTO: John Moore’s Weblog
Marketing is Smart, Customer Service is Submissive by Frank Eliason on Time to be Frank
Switch Off Your Social Self – Switch On Your Creativity by Cath Duncan on Lateral Action
Where Business Process Meets 2.0 by Susan Scrupski on ITSinsider
Listening is not enough by Spike Jones on Brains On Fire Blog
Meet Commitments. Build Trust. Say No. by Steve Roesler on All Things Workplace
Four Ways to Create Intangible Value by Norm Smallwood on HarvardBusiness.org
Innovation does not equal technology by Jeffrey Phillips on Innovate on Purpose
Don’t Underestimate Surprise and Delight as a Strategy by Whitney Hoffman on WhitneyHoffman.com
First, care. by Merlin Mann on 43 Folders
Microsoft, Middle Management and Why Some Companies Can’t Innovate by Dominic Basulto on Endless Innovation
Skill, Hard Work, and Luck by Julien Smith on in over your head
Less is Less by Scott Blitstein on WebWorkerDaily
Shiny objects by Seth Godin on Seth’s Blog
Drucker’s Question: What Will You Do Differently on Monday? by Rick Wartzman on HarvardBusiness.org
I recently stumbled across an article on TechRepublic titled “The seven habits of wildly unsuccessful CIOs” written by Karen Ann Kidd in 2003. The article is an interested read and provides seven things a CIO or CTO can do to ensure they are unsuccessful.
These seven habits are:
1. Acquire technology simply because it’s new
2. Exhibit a knee-jerk reaction against open source
3. Create solutions in search of a problem
4. Eagerly reach beyond competency level
5. Act as CMOs—Chief Marketing Officers
6. Fail to understand relationship between technology and business
7. Don’t communicate well with nontechs
I think most would agree these are valid habits that would make any CIO or CTO unsuccessful.
But…aren’t these the same things we’re talking about today?
Take a few minutes to look around the web and literature relating to the role of the CIO. You’ll find a lot of discussion about how CIO’s need to be more business focused and communicate better with the business. You’ll also find many conversations about these bad habits.
Seven years after the article by Karen Ann Kidd, We still see many CIO’s with some of these habits (and some with all of them).
So…if we all know that these habits should be addressed (and changed), then why are they still an issue? Why do CIO’s, CTO’s and IT organizations still have problems with communicating IT’s value to the organization and aligning IT with the business?
I don’t have the answer. Do you?
Five by Chuck Musciano on The Effective CIO
The Splinternet means the end of the Web’s golden age by Josh Bernoff on Groundswell
Run IT Like a Business, Not As a Business by Chris Curran on CIO Dashboard
Why the CIO Loves Agile Development by Isaac Sacolick on Social, Agile, and Transformation
Are you keeping your standard in view? by Tim Walker on What I’ve Learned So Far
Can I get some social strategy with that Big Mac? by John Moore on Random Thoughts of a Boston-based CTO: John Moore’s Weblog
Social In a Corporate (And Agency) World by Lauren Fernandez on Marketing Profs Daily Fix
Is It Time To Say Goodbye To The CIO? by Dr. Jim Anderson on The Accidental Successful CIO
Lessons in Strategic Communications from an Admiral by Charles H. Green on Trust Matters blog
Quality: You Don’t Get What You Don’t Measure by Jurgen Appelo on NOOP.NL: Managing Software Development
How to Encourage Small Innovations by John Baldoni on HarvardBusiness.org
Better User Experience With Storytelling – Part One by Francisco Inchauste on Smashing Magazine
Stop thinking like a CIO by Patrick Flynn on Clear IT Leadership
The Burning Drive to Never Settle: Refuse to Compromise by Louis Gray on louisgray.com
Sunday Morning Reflections: All the great things are simple… by Skip Cohen on Marketing Essentials International
