Cincinnati Talk on Lessons Learned And Timeless Principles for Transformation
Last week, thanks to my long-time friend Geoff Smith (Co-Chair of the Cincinnati CIO Roundtable), I had a chance to speak at the Greater Cincinnati IT Symposium. The Symposium overall was great, with over 300 IT leaders in attendance. I was honored to be on an opening panel and to have a chance to speak […]
Eliminating The Blind Spot Between Business and IT
For any IT-enabled business transformation to be successful, or even to get off the ground, an important partnership must be formed between business and IT leadership. One of the most common, and most basic, challenges to making this happen is having those two groups speak a common language so they can discuss complex issues and […]
Back to the Future – “Modern” Software Development
In my decades-long career in the industry, I’ve seen a lot of things come and go. I was excited to witness and be a part of some, while I couldn’t wait for others to fade away. Many of the recent trends excite and encourage me as they center around developing solid, well-engineered business solutions in […]
The CIO as the Chief Integration Officer
Over the last 100 years, business models have evolved. Much of this evolution has been driven by innovations in technology, including the automobile, airplane, television, mainframe computers and smartphones. These have enabled commerce to expand from local, to regional, to national and, more recently, to global. However, it’s not that one replaces the other, rather, […]
The 30 Game Changers in Your Organization
I previously posted that great leaders focus on setting the agenda, building a great team and delivering with consistency. However, that is only part of the challenge for a leader, because none of that matters if you can’t “sell it” and if the business won’t consume it. That’s where “Street Smarts” are required, but I […]
The Who Is Where All the Leverage Is
Leading the journey to becoming a more agile business based on a well-structured, integrated and holistic multi-year plan is easy to say, but it’s very hard to achieve without an extremely talented team. Decades of transformation work have continuously reinforced the idea that if you have the right WHO – Structure, Leadership, Culture and Talent […]
The Journey to Becoming an Agile Business
Over the last few decades, most large and successful 20th century businesses have calcified around their legacy systems and processes. The journey to becoming more agile and nimble will require a thoughtful, well-structured, well-designed and well-executed multi-year plan. The plan needs to be focused on achieving three major outcomes – Business, Architectural and Organizational. All […]
Guiding Principles Learned in the First 50 Years of IT
Throughout history, technological inventions have always fueled growth and prosperity. However, with today’s unparalleled, rapid-fire pace of IT innovation and global adoption, it has never been more stunningly apparent that technology is at the heart of global competitiveness, enterprise excellence and sustainable success. A Summary of My IT Career I’ve had the privilege of playing […]