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

Winning without listening is losing that’s running behind but soon catching up.

The person who can answer “then what” is more valuable than the leader who answers “now what.”

You lead a locker room. You can lose the locker room. Winning it back can seem overwhelming, but three essential responses can get it back for you.

Confidence is the product of what I call Near Leadership. You get alongside (to focus and to educate) to help others get ahead.

Entropy sets in over time. Our system of work degrades. The effective CIO sees what is happening and resets, reinvigorates and renews how their team functions. They focus on priority over priorities.

You will run into CEOs who do not have right expectations. They will run over you if you don’t know how to manage their expectations. How do you lead CEOs who have unrealistic expectations of IT while remaining an integral team player?

Do CIOs drive growth? No and yes. And where it is a yes, they focus on six critical areas.

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.

There are a lot of good reasons to hang on and press-in to your current situation. And there are three good reasons to take off.

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.

The number one issue for CIOs working within the C-Suite, according to your peers, is translating “technology speak” to business impact. It’s time to learn how to effectively connect, engage and align with lines of business to gain their commitment to technology by improving your communication skills and strategies.

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

You don’t need to communicate IT in a language business understands to demonstrate the value of IT. Instead, you must help LOB communicate business in a language that IT understands.

Old-school CEOs need to be re-educated by CIOs who only know how to be lifelong learners, innovators and adaptors. The key is understanding the difference between mindset and mentality, between what they view and how they see.

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

We have misused feedback, and in thinking we were being objective, we have actually been subjective. We don’t really give people a lot to work with. Constructive feedback is aware of the science behind how people learn, and the steps to take in light of that truth.

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.

A goal will fail without a system, and a system will fail without resolve. But we misunderstand how resolve works, and why it is the essential driver between a desire and its fulfillment. Understand the place of resolve, and 2023 will elevate you and your leadership.

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.

It’s one thing to have earned a position. It’s another to feel established. Is your feeling grounded in reality? Discover the traits of those who are, and who are not yet, established.

It’s not enough to get back in the saddle after you fall. You must embrace a shift within you. You must address a crowd around you. You must change a story about you.

CEOs often look to be succeeded by someone like them. But the great CEOs have led their company to a place that requires different skills for a better future. And that will be found in the technologist.

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.

Technology leaders don’t always get their way right away because of who gets in their way. Three practices will help you settle down and move forward constructively.

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.

Leaders look to IT as a Savior. CIOs know better than to live in that shadow, and they ask three powerful questions to help business leaders face reality and effectively allocate technology resources.

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

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.

The Cut-Above CIO is a leader who understands the differences each of his key leaders bring to him, and knows how to chart a course with them that is unique to their ambition.

CIOs who leverage their leadership embrace five pace-setting qualities: They are opportunity-focused, certain enough, influence minded, network established and resource savvy.

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.

Too many leaders believe they have a culture problem when they don’t. Here is how to identify the false narrative of culture, call out the one-dimensional giant it has become, and take back the power true culture can have in your company.

Boredom is an executive experience. It is also a sign. Before you are quick to escape it, step back and look at it. One of three things may be at work more than you think.

It takes a lot of work to become a CIO. It takes even more to lead well in the role. Three areas of focus will increase your leverage and pave the way for what you want to get done. You are always selling yourself. Here is how to sell well.

CIOs handled 2021 in exceptional fashion. It’s because they know a secret, because they know who they are and what they have up their sleeve.

Every leader sells, and as the CIO portfolio broadens, selling ideas becomes an even more critical skill. Three insights will help you reduce friction and be seen as an advocate rather than an adversary.

The one thing CIOs and technology leaders can’t get away from is the need to deliver. Today, that need is overwhelming. The answer to overwhelm is four essential dynamics that keep leaders well-ordered and able to work above the overwhelm.

A recent roundtable of your CIO peers exposed six common frustrations CEOs have with IT and six practical responses that help you calm the storm.

Executive coaching is only valuable if it is not being masked as mentoring or consulting. Great coaching will always lead you through assessment, clarity, conversation and action.