How do you know that you are aligned with the business? There is a difference between something feeling off and true misalignment.

You meet challenges and opportunities. The doorway in is for another to help you out.

You can only accomplish so much. The answer isn’t saying no.

2024 was hard fought. I saw some things in tech leadership no other leader should overlook.

Lack of cohesion in the company is the reason many CIOs lack a solid tech strategy. You don’t have to change the world overnight, but you can change your environment right away.

CEOs and their business and tech leaders don’t always work together smoothly. Unless corrected, losing streaks develop. Effective CEOs recognize the need to realign or suffer even greater consequences.

Importance is measured by absence and ability.

What if growth under your leadership came naturally? How would you lead differently if what matters most happened all by itself?

CIOs, perhaps more than any other title, are all over the map in who they report to. Take control of what you need to get done by making key three shifts in your mindset and relationship.

Building takes time. It also takes buy-in. And buy-in requires knowing the crucial, not just the superficial.

Hard markets and tight budgets don’t need to delay the spending you need now. Buy-in isn’t about the budget. It’s about the right decision. And that’s something you can lead.

It’s not enough to tell CEOs what to think. They best manage their expectations of IT through processing three critical areas.

Begin with the end in mind is standard advice. And is still a missed dynamic in most planning. It’s the big picture, not the individual project, that gets forgotten. Working backwards is the critical way forward.

We rely too often on our own credibility or research or vendor propaganda to sell our proposals. We rely too little on the best way we know that what we know is right.

You must lead the way for technology and business to communicate for a change. And for the change to mean anything, you are going to have to change the environment in which all this talking is taking place.

It’s not what you don’t know or overlook that bites you as a leader. It’s what is right in front of you that you choose to ignore. Two changes will change everything

CIOs are in a unique position to lead the most critical conversations businesses now face in the wake of global AI. Three discussions - the philosophical, the practical and the positional are essential.

The CIO role is always changing. Now, some say it is soon to be on its way out. Is the CIO going to be replaced by the technology they have championed? No. You are more than a Chief Information Officer. You are the Chief Insight Officer. And that is key.

CIOs are qualified to become CEOs because of one outstanding quality that is supported by four demonstrable skills.

Leaders are being misled in how to communicate, whether to one or many. Following this advice will leave you confused and frustrated. Taking back your power will leave you and your listeners better off for what you said and how you said it.

More CIOs are reporting to CEOs than ever. And it won’t matter unless CEOs know how to turn their work with CIOs into a partner relationship. But effective CEOs know how to do just that and gain a competitive advantage in doing so.

There are plenty of voices calling for more women to work in technology. But it is more of a fight than an ideology, and it requires intention and integrity, not just inspiration.

CIOs typically shoulder responsibility for technology failure. But CEOs and Boards don’t get a pass. Lack of courage and loss of vision are at the heart of the failure, and CIOs can step up beforehand to change and focus the conversation around business and customer experience, not just bottom lines.

Many CIOs have options in place to develop people, but they still aren’t seeing the results. Even if you are making cutbacks, you can invest more into your people while saving money and increasing revenue. You just need to brush up on your farming.

We hear a lot about tactics when it comes to persuasion. Relatability and confidence are more effective; unfortunately, what they mean is often misunderstood.

Leaders lead leaders. They can’t help it, but they can own it and be more effective in it. The first of four strategies is to serve by being clear and unapologetic about the value you bring. There are three areas in which you must do so: What can’t be contained in you, What can’t be denied from you, and What you must handle with care.

An evening visit of familiar ghosts teaches the C-Suite a better way to filter budget decisions and cost justification.

At some point, you have to take a closer look at a possible solution to a continuous problem. Now is that point.

The basis for a solid, long-term business relationship is the same as for our adult relationships. And contrary to popular wording, it’s not something that technology leaders manage, but they definitely must lead in.

We need women to lead in technology, but the standard narrative as to why misses the point. And as women continue to elevate their leadership, they do so knowing the critical areas to focus on, the mistakes to avoid, and the skills to develop.

All of our efforts at engagement and retention fall short if we don’t customize growth at an individual level. Business is not about a person working for a company; it’s about a company working for a person.

Threats of inflation and recession have companies preparing for budget restrictions. The one thing you can’t cut, that is instinctive to cut, are the outsiders who are key for your insiders. How do you know who they are?

You want to be a leader that others turn to or go with. But the competition is immense. Leaders who stand out have learned to avoid two pitfalls by focusing on one key element: They know how to be noticed, remembered and talked about.

We think that influential leaders are the ones who have the best to say. It turns out, it’s the ones who have the best to ask. And asking the right questions is a skill not often or easily mastered, especially by those who think they already have it down.

Career stall and role-rut are within your ability to move forward from. Tech-leaders who keep growing are intentional to develop personal, relational, positional and vocational areas that make them better professionals, better leaders, better executives and better experts.

Technology leaders are in an opportune moment to move business forward from transformation into innovation. But there is one critical mistake that will prove costly. Effective technology leaders know how to lead in-between movements and avoid outpacing others.

An effective CIO shows us ways to invest in ourselves and dig deep the well of our identity, capacity and destiny.

Mentoring isn’t often taught in CIO leadership development. Four skills are needed: assessment, coaching, training and support.

Great leaders are multipliers. And you must be; it’s not just the company that needs you to do so, it’s your country and your legacy that needs you to do it.

Leaders are thinkers. But good ideas go to waste. For your idea to thrive, you need to avoid four pitfalls and traverse four avenues of idea fruition.

The answer to talent gaps, backlogs and shadow IT is Citizen Development. It’s not a fad, it’s a movement, and one you must lead and shape to resolve challenges you still face and will face more of in years ahead.

CIOs and CEOs need a cohesive strategy to counter the technology talent gap, backlog and shadow IT. Citizen Development is the framework that will get it done.

IT is a brand, whether you know it or not. You are regarded by others, and eventually compared to other departments. The CIO is the Brand Marshal, and there are four essentials you must employ to perfect your brand and to stand out from the rest.

There are no ends of opinions and conflicting reports about remote and hybrid work. Use this checklist to help you form your own strategy.

Public perception of the CEO matters, and members of the C-Suite misrepresent the CEO in subtle but daily ways.

Transformation is not an overused word. If anything, it is underused. Leaders embrace it and keep it in front of everyone.

The future of work isn’t in the changes we see coming. It is in the CIO who is leading. You must expand your capacity to lead in three critical areas: customer, culture and competition.

Office relationships don’t need conflict resolution. It won’t work. Some say ‘cart before the horse’ but I say you need the right environment before you do the right things. Three dynamics create the environment needed for healthy office relationships, and these three alone will improve any relationship: affirmation, acceptance and advocacy.

Too many CIOs know how to win in the realm of technology but then lose in the arena of political leverage. I’ve learned 7 insights that help me come out on top. The first is to engage it, not avoid it. What follows are the rules of engagement.

Leaders who find their own voice drive their organizations; leaders who fail to do so drag their organizations along. Do you know how to find your own voice?

Though most CEO’s and CFO’s didn’t rise through the ranks of tech mastery, they still see clearly the essential changes in front of them. They then enlist alongside them a whole new band of Chief technologists. Together, Digital Transformation is your shared vision.

Introducing LEFT brain thinking…Not the standard understanding that the left-brain is for analysis and the right brain is for creativity, but 4 commitments that will reduce waste and increase productivity, teamwork and morale.

Most companies are by definition a bounded set: You have a Board and policies and employees. Within the larger bounded set are any number of other bounded sets: IT, HR, Marketing, Finance, Production, etc. In other words, a typical company is defined by a number of boundaries. This is how a company exists.