The CIO is both the most crucial and most volatile expert to companies today. Navigating change and crafting transformation require the CIO expertise. Yet, there are still questions being resolved as to place and function.

Peer learning, leading practices and supportive community is irreplaceable in today’s currency of gaining advantage and staying ahead. Without the insight of others, waste of time, energy, ability and money accumulates. No leader today will survive under the burden of expectations weighed down by less than best execution.

Digital Transformation is more of a leadership challenge than a technology challenge. The demands of today have outpaced yesterday’s training. IT members need to exhibit a whole new skillset than what drew them into technology in the first place.

Companies get so buried in daily responsibilities they overlook what really matters. Digital Transformation matters, and the effort it takes to rally, craft and drive that initiative matters. In Part 1, we talked about rallying change through how you motivate, relate and connect.

The moment you assume the mantle of a leader, you redefined success in terms of how you bring out the best in others, and how you multiply your skills to the point that others surpass them. Leaders are not threatened by any one individual’s success, because the leader is measured differently than those they lead.

Because technology is 'important,' the CIO has been invited to the table. What companies don’t realize is that the traditional long table with a head that listened and then made decisions has been replaced by the round table. Today’s CIO must co-create, not just facilitate, the very nature of how business is done. The CIO is transformational not transactional.