Taking The Reins As Cio

An executive’s transition into any leadership role can be a challenge. Such transitions do not always go smoothly, and the negative consequences can be significant. This is particularly so for Chief Information Officers (CIOs), as the role has evolved significantly over the years yet remains deeply ambiguous. This is despite information and technology moving from the periphery of an organization to a fundamental driver of innovation and competitive advantage. This book is to help the newly appointed CIO “take charge”: the process of learning and taking action that the newly appointed CIO goes through until s/he has mastered the new assignment in sufficient depth to be effective in the role. This book provides keen insights into the challenges faced by today's CIOs while transitioning into a new role and enlightens readers on how to navigate the organizational environment in order to implement necessary changes. With plenty of practical tools and insights it will help you to: • Decide how best to approach the job • Prioritize the first areas of the business you should attend to • Draw up your goals for the first few weeks and months into the role • Find out if there are there any decisions that you can postpone making Based on over 200 interviews with CIOs, CxOs, and recruiters, this book offers readers guidance on how to take on the role of a business executive with special responsibility for information and technology, with ten key prescriptions to maximize success.

Be the most effective CIO you can be—by learning from the best in the business Today's Chief Information Officers must be an entirely new breed of technology leader. With ever-changing demands from the business, and in an increasingly technology-centric business environment, CIOs must find game-changing innovations and process improvements that make a real impact on the bottom line. Business executives need their CIOs to be real partners—speaking the language of the business and donning their strategist caps—not just commodity managers. Those IT leaders who fail to break out of the order-taker, utility manager mold will, simply put, be looking for a new job. In Confessions of a Successful CIO: How the Best CIOs Tackle Their Toughest Business Challenges, current and future CIOs will gain invaluable perspectives from the stories of today's best IT leaders. These acclaimed leaders—each profiled in their own chapter—explain the toughest business decision they had to make, and how the outcome influenced and impacted their leadership style. These in-depth anecdotes take the reader inside some of the most challenging business climates imaginable and chronicle how these elite CIOs made the decisions that mattered. Read detailed case studies of how some of the best CIOs have handled their most challenging business problems Learn how the best CIOs anticipate changes to their business and respond—before the business comes knocking Explore how these top-flight CIOs make critical decisions around strategy and IT to not only benefit their companies, but in some cases, to save them from becoming obsolete. Analyze their perspectives on managing people, crises and balancing the risks and rewards of their "bet the farm" strategies Confessions of a Successful CIO is the new playbook for learning how to take risks, respond to crises, and create more value from IT. Each chapter presents a different challenge, giving present-day and future IT leaders the chance to examine, analyze and learn so that they can be just as successful as the CIOs they're reading about.

CIO Survival Guide is a leadership manual for the emerging role of the Chief Information Officer. This book supports and guides CIOs in acquiring or enhancing their technical skills and leadership competencies to be a full and respected member of the Executive Team. It includes exposition and practice of the skills and competencies required to be a successful CIO.

Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State explores the breadth of Ohio’s past, tracing the course of history from its earliest geological periods to the present day in an accessible, single-volume format. Features the most up-to-date research on Ohio, drawing on material in the disciplines of history, archaeology, and political science Includes thematic chapters focusing on major social, economic, and political trends Amply illustrated with maps, drawings, and photographs Receipient of the Ohio Geneological Society's Henry Howe Award in 2014

What does it take to be a successful CIO? Studies have shown that the average CIO only holds on to the job for roughly 4 years - what can you do to have a longer career? It turns out that the answer to this question is simple: you need to find ways to work with the rest of the business. What You'll Find Inside: DO WE REALLY NEED CIOS ANY MORE? FROM PLUMBER TO PARTNER: HOW IT CAN BECOME PART OF A COMPANY'S SUCCESS TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING CAN KILL AN IT DEPARTMENT A NEW CIO JOB: PANNING FOR LEGAL GOLD What this means is that although your technical skills and your ability to work with the rest of the people in the IT department are what got you this far, it's not going to be what you need in order to stay in the job. You are going to need to develop a new set of skills. The key to a long-term CIO career is to understand the business that your IT department exists within. There are various other departments and people that all need what your IT department has to offer, but they may not know how to ask for it. They don't speak your language. As the CIO it's going to be your job to find ways to bridge the gap between the rest of the company and your IT department. It can be all too easy for the rest of the company to treat the IT department as a cost center and not realize the important role that you can play in making the entire organization run quicker, run smoother, and be more profitable. The purpose of this book is to provide you with real-world examples of how a CIO can work with the rest of the business. There is no one answer to this question. Rather it requires a different way of thinking. You actually need to take the time to fully understand what the other people in the company want to accomplish and then you're going to need to find ways for the IT department to provide that. The magic phrase that is used to describe an IT department that works well with the rest of the company is "alignment". In this book we discuss what alignment really is and we provide you with examples of how you can move your IT department closer to achieving it. It is my hope that after having read this book you will be aware of the additional job that you've taken on as CIO - working with the rest of the business. Do this correctly and your CIO career will last a long time...!

It's only after you become a CIO that you truly start to understand all of the things that you don't know. Your technical skills are probably what got you this job, but they are not going to be enough to allow you to keep it. You are going to have to decide if it's going to take getting an MBA to allow you to get a seat at the table with the company's other decision makers. What You'll Find Inside: CIO'S WITH NO TIME FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO AN MBA THE "R" WORD AND WHAT IT MEANS TO CIOS WHY IS THE CIO POSITION REPORTING STRUCTURE BROKEN? DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH PERSONAL ENERGY TO BE CIO? You want to become more than just a CIO, you want to become a high potential CIO who is known for going places. In order for this to happen, you are going to have to take action. You are going to have to find ways to make yourself valuable to your company. Ultimately it all comes down to just exactly how much responsibility you are going to be willing to accept. The more that you are willing to take on, the more valuable you will become to the company. However, you need to be very careful and not go too far - the authority granted to you as CIO can be abused and then you may find yourself in a very difficult place. The CIO job that you have today may not be your last job. If you are going to make a move to another CIO job, then you are going to want to make sure that you do it correctly. The last thing that you would want to do would be to make the wrong move. In order to make the most of the CIO position, you need to be listened to by your company. This means that you need to be part of the right type of reporting structure. Not every industry gets this right; however, right now the power industry is starting to realize the importance of the CIO and it's a good place for a CIO to be. To fully develop your CIO career is going to take a great deal of personal energy. This means that you are going to have to make sure that you have what it will take to be successful. No, you won't always be successful, but that's ok. Even the best of us stumble occasionally, but then we get right back up.

Successfully navigate the changing face of the CIO role Strategic Information Technology offers CIOs a handbook for engaging with the senior management conversations surrounding strategy. The CIO role is currently undergoing a massive transition from technology-focused expert to a more strategic mindset, and this book provides proven methods for taking your seat at the table. Lessons from high-performing CIOs and a wealth of leading-edge insight provide invaluable guidance for positioning technology as a strategic driver across the business, while a focus on building the necessary connections—for example, an alliance between IT and HR—provide a multimodal approach to navigating the transition. The evolution of the CIO’s role involves more than simply technical knowledge; the new CIO must be an influencer, an engager, and just as adept at the soft skills that become increasingly crucial as you climb the management ladder. It’s about changing mindsets, translating hard skills into strategic advantages, and demonstrating IT’s value to the strategic decision making process. This book provides best practices, illustrative examples, and up-to-date perspective for CIOs wanting to: Position IT as a critical driver of overall strategy Build on functional expertise with strategic insight Learn from the stories of successful tech-to-strategy transformations Engage C-Suite peers in shaping the strategic conversation Not long ago, the CIO occupied a unique place in the C-Suite. Executive by title, CIOs have nevertheless been seen as predominantly the “chief tech expert” with little input into strategy, as IT has historically been regarded as a tool rather than a source of competitive advantage. The truth is becoming increasingly apparent, with companies around the world turning to technology in order to gain a competitive edge, and CIOs are beginning to claim their place in strategy discussions. Strategic Information Technology offers much needed guidance for a successful transformation.