In the classic story of Rip Van Winkle, Rip encounters strangers who offer him a mysterious liquor. When Rip wakes up, everything around him has changed. The village is transformed, people are strangers, his wife has passed and his children have moved on. 

During the twenty years of Rip’s sleep, the American Revolution occurred. 

When Rip returned to work, he was no longer the boss. His vision had been archived. His way of doing things was archaic. His seat at the table had been reconstructed. 

You are not Rip. But many around you are.

They drank a potion of proven ways and past performances and slipped into a slumber of professional maintenance. A revolution occurred, and the world around them changed.

And they still spin a yarn of how things should be based on a fond memory of how things were with hopes that you will retreat into the once-known.

It. Isn’t. Going. To. Happen.

The Revolution

CIO.com published an article written by Mary K. Pratt titled What The CIO Role Will Look Like In 2026. It’s a good article. In summary, she and the CIOs she interviewed contend:

• The CIO will be characterized by business innovation, strategy, orchestration, influence and eloquent communication and less by tech enablement, security management, IT operations and system performance, tech selection and integrator.
• In the words of Vipin Gupta, CIOs will become the architect of the company, not just the architect of digital, the Chief Integration and Chief Influence Officer.
• A number of factors are driving this revolution including the pace of technology, business’ full reliance on IT, the adoption of cloud and SaaS and introduction of digital natives into the workplace, AI, ML, and LCNC. Business is less dependent on IT, and very dependent on the CIO setting the environment in which all the new technologies can thrive. 

This is very much what I was driving at in an article a few weeks back in which I declared that you don’t need a seat at the table if you already sit on the throne.

Market competition requires your company to excel in digital business, consumer demand compels your business to satisfy their expectations, cyber war commands a unified and governed strategy, and talent pools are looking for innovative companies.

In other words, Business Rip woke up from their slumber. Before, we came to them, seeking to persuade them of the need for digital transformation. Then a revolution took place. Upon awakening, Business Rip realized everyone had moved on. 

Business Rip came looking for us.

You Don’t Change With The Times, You Change The Times

I promised that I would invest this summer in writing about how tech can better communicate with the business; and, as I have stated, help business to better communicate with technology. 

It turns out I have at least twelve articles devoted to the issue. I will not necessarily do 12 consecutive articles, since things come up that I am compelled to speak into, and because I want to help and advocate for you in regards to other issues that you face.

Still, this series will be fun and, to the best of my ability, valuable.

I want to give you a roadmap, because it is critical that you understand the times. If you seek to communicate tech to business with only immediate goals in mind, you will miss the window you have to pave the way for the revolution of your role and that of CIOs around the world. You will inadvertently become Rip, which of course is a play on words of RIP, as in Rest In Peace.

To be clear: If you only seek to be understood, you are still going to be overlooked.

Communicating for a change is two-way:

• You must help the business communicate in a way that technology understands. This means that if you ask the right questions in the wrong way you will only be getting in your own way. And if you think you are listening by reacting to their felt need or functional need, you haven’t really been listening. You must ask questions in the right way; you must listen and discover the formative needs. 
• You must help technology communicate in a way that business understands. This means understanding how to connect and speak to it. You are communicating to effect change, and you must make your own six very critical components of communication. 

Communicating for a change requires a new environment:

• You must change the narrative. We described the old narrative above, and peeked into the new narrative many see occurring as early as 2026. But the narrative is first an internal script. If you want to communicate for a change, change begins with you, and your identity, capacity and purpose.
• You must embody the new narrative. You will have three very strong forces against you, and three stronger attributes for you. 
• You must lead the change process. This requires knowing how to rally to, craft and drive change. 

I know. We all want the goods. Just tell me how to talk to business. And the goods are in there. You will have plenty of insights and exercises to work on.

But, one more time - You can be understood and still be overlooked. I advocate for you as a CIO because I want you to experience the career of your dreams, to know the fullness of leadership that is in you, and for you to understand that even if you didn’t ask for it or see it coming, the fate of the world is upon you. 

I dare anyone to argue otherwise. 

We need you. My children need you. Good grief, can you imagine the world our grandchildren will live in if we don’t get some things right. 

You need to be heard. Which means you need to listen. And you need to be in a place to do something about it. That’s what the series is all about.

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