Are you stuck as a CIO? Are you looking for ideas?
Do you wish you could listen into a Tier 1 CIO and observe how they think and act?
Bob Fecteau is what I call a Tier 1 CIO at SAIC. Tier 1 CIOs are in my opinion in the top 5-10% of the profession.
What impresses me about Bob is that he is passionate about building and developing Tier 1- Next Gen CIOs. If you are trying to break into the top 5-10% of CIOs on the planet this is a show for you to listen to because you will be a ‘fly on the wall’ of a CIO who is in my opinion dominating his role as an IT leader.
We discuss in this episode his philosophy
- Where did he develop his passion for building CIOs?
- Why does he feel it is so important?
- Team building – Linking every person’s efforts to the business strategy
- Being a financial expert – The largest expense other than HR is IT.
- Explain business process analysis and workflow. Becoming a diagnostician and a 6 sigma light CIO
- Communicate and speak to the business in their language (business) – A Journey
- Delivering value – explaining value
- Be an expert in Financial Management – programmatics – what is the value generated of every dollar?
- Asset management – Enterprise view – edge to edge
- Owning the problem – leadership
- Improving profitability – reducing expense
- Developing a Vision to avoid reactivity and becoming unstuck as a CIO
- The role of a CIO as a profession that is similar to a CPA or an MBA.
- Avoiding Buzzy words like SAS, Cloud, SOA
- Be involved in the CIO community
- His thoughts on the “Cloud” and other “buzzy” topics in general
- Attend conferences to be exposed and reminded about what is possible. “the art of the possible”
- Measurement doesn’t do anything. What is the definition of a metric versus outcomes
- The difference between managers vs leaders
- Not giving up and quitting on a problem till it is solved!
Show Notes
- Developing and Executing improvements of a team [1:10]
- “What one person can do is just a minor piece of what a whole organization can do synchronizing everything together” [1:50]
- Was there a moment in which something pushed you over the edge? [2:20]
- “How do you get more out of technologists that are experts in their fields, yet they can’t seem to see the purpose of what they’re doing?” [3:00]
- Defining the Technology for the Strategy of the Business [4:18]
- Education of a CIO [5:40]
- What services must a CIO deliver to manage IT investments? [7:25]
- Is business communication an important skill for a CIO? [11:30]
- “There isn’t a technology solution for everything…If it’s a bad process to begin with, don’t put in technology until you fix the process.” [12:30]
- Have you found anything successful for you in communicating with the CEO/Board? [14:47]
- The importance of communicating the impact of a decision on the business [16:45]
- Do wider communication skills make a CIO more effective? [18:55]
- How would a CIO develop skills in analyzing business process flow? [20:12]
- “It’s not about learning the skill so much, it’s establishing a common framework and common language between technologists and business people to achieve a better result.” [21:35]
- “…one of the key roles the CIO plays in a business is that of the change agent for the organization.” [23:00]
- How would a CIO own a problem within an organization? [23:30]
- What is the best way to lead through the details for follow up and follow through purposes? [26:59]
- Metrics vs. Leadership [29:17]
- “Leadership is the application of metrics in a creative and innovative way to become something better than you were when you started” [30:52]
- How does a CIO move an enterprise from a reactive culture to one that is a more successful, stable culture? [34:20]
- The Art of the Possible [36:50]
- Leadership and Vision as it applies to cloud opportunities for the business [39:10]
- Options for CIOs to get to the next level of their careers [43:22]
- University Programs for CIOs [46:07]
Mentioned in the episode – where to develop additional learning
- Carnegie Mellon – Institute for Software Research, Executive & Professional Education Programs
- Penn State – Information Sciences and Technology Programs which have an integrated Enterprise Architecture component that was built by CIOs and business leaders in response to a need to teach students how to align IT to the business. Undergraduate, Graduate and Executive Certification Programs
- National Defense University – Information Resource College’s, Chief Information Officer Program
- Harvard Sponsored Program in their Center For Management Research: Programs on Leadership for Senior Executives as well as the Kennedy School of Government
- CIO Executive Council – CIO Pathways – provides a broad range of CIO Level leadership programs
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About Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy is a world-renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader.
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