The Four Pillars: The Secret to IT Transformation

By Charles Araujo “Do you want to know a secret?” The “secret game” is a favorite of almost all young children. It is exciting and exhilarating to have a bit of secret knowledge that others do not. So they slyly ask this question, reveling in their secret information while inwardly dying to share it with…

The Four Pillars: The Secret to IT Transformation

The Second Pillar: Bridging Silos and Building High-Performance Teams Transformational initiatives are most often undermined by an insidious enemy: organizational silos. Silos have become such a common part of life in IT that we almost don’t question them any longer. But as we move into the new era of IT, silos will be the single…

Technology for Humans Should be Easy not Annoying

I was traveling recently, and was greeted with the following in my hotel room. I was staggered. I removed the actual hotel name, but this was real. Is it just me, or are these 19 steps to program a wake-up call a bit much? I built a successful career in technology by following one guiding…

3 Reasons to Get IT out of the IT Dept.

A fellow professional recently shared this conversation with me: “Recently, an HR director I work with stopped me in the hallway and asked, ‘Have you had to get new shoes since you started with [our company]?’ I first thought this guy was giving me grief that my shoes needed to be shined or that he…

Next-Gen CIO — The Role Redefined

The role of CIO has morphed faster than Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde — with about the same amount of agony. Not so long ago CIOs were respected misunderstood master geeks who were often software developers and programmers themselves. More recently, they’ve been shackled to securing and supporting a hodge-podge of bring-your-own-tech and often derided…

How to Communicate in 3D

The goal of the Master Listener is to be able to re-create the other person’s communication in such a way that the sender experiences that the receiver has understood their communication. However this seldom, if ever, happens. Why? Because the master level listening involves the combination of both words and three-dimensional mass. In watching how…

Performance Improvement and the CIO

Performance improvement is a top business priority in the “new normal” as organizations seek to perpetuate the cost savings they achieved during the economic downturn and leverage even greater value from their existing assets. While many performance improvement efforts are undertaken informally and within individual departments, others represent board-level initiatives and span the entire operations…

9 Steps to Becoming a Master Communicator

I would like to start this series on effective executive communication by first exploring the area of listening. What are the blocks and barriers that stop you from being a master listener? How can we master in-flow? How can we be truly “present” to another person’s communication? Once the muscle of effective listening is developed…

Special Report: What Should Today’s CIO Really be Managing?

As a CIO or leader in your organization’s IT department, you’re managing many things: the company’s network, numerous technical projects, and (hopefully) a talented group of IT people. But you’re also managing many other important things including the perception others have of IT; constant change from outside forces; how distracted you and your team are…

IT Leadership is about Motivating Employees in Tough Times

Having a loyal, motivated team can make all the difference in your company’s ability to not just survive but also succeed. IT leadership plays a key role in making this happen. As the economy improves, it will be critical that your employees are satisfied because the risk of turnover will grow exponentially. In fact, in…