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Confessions of a Successful CIO: How the Best Cios Tackle Their Toughest Business Challenges
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.
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.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
17 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Dan Roberts
2 books1 followerDan Roberts has authored and is a contributing author of numerous books. His latest, Unleashing the Power of IT and Confessions of a Successful CIO, were on Amazon's list of top rated books for months, and are being leveraged by IT Leadership Teams as a model for moving IT up the maturity curve.
Dan is also a frequent contributor to and often quoted in leading industry publications. Collaborating with co-author Brian Watson, their latest article series on CIO.com continues to profile the "confessions," the game changing philosophies and the proven practices of the top CIOs across all industries.
Dan is considered one of the best connected thought leaders in the CIO space. He is a keynote speaker and panel moderator at frequent industry conferences and corporate events. Dan has a passion for bringing CIOs together to learn and benefit from one another's experiences. Each year, he works and meets with more than 100 CIOs and IT Leadership Teams across the globe.
As the CEO and President of Ouellette & Associates Consulting, Inc. (O&A), Dan leads the firm known since 1984 for "Developing the Human Side of Technology." His team, along with a cadre of strategic partners, have helped more than 3,500 IT organizations build high performing world class cultures, assess and develop the new core competencies necessary for success, and manage talent risk through knowledge transfer.
Dan works tirelessly to help our military veterans through his work on the non-profit group Darkhorse Benefits. Here he achieves two important missions; one to help our veterans leverage their core competencies and unique experiences to successfully transition into IT careers. Second, to provide CIOs with another source of talent to help address the talent crisis. Additionally, through Darkhorse, O&A's "One-for-One" program provides Veterans with free access to its IT Skill Builder competency assessment and career builder platform.
Dan has been married for more than 30 years and is the proud Dad of Kristina, a doctor on the Big Island of Hawaii, and Kelly, a retired Army Ranger who is now pursuing his MBA in South Florida.
droberts@ouellette-online.com
Twitter: @roberts_dan
603-623-7373
Dan is also a frequent contributor to and often quoted in leading industry publications. Collaborating with co-author Brian Watson, their latest article series on CIO.com continues to profile the "confessions," the game changing philosophies and the proven practices of the top CIOs across all industries.
Dan is considered one of the best connected thought leaders in the CIO space. He is a keynote speaker and panel moderator at frequent industry conferences and corporate events. Dan has a passion for bringing CIOs together to learn and benefit from one another's experiences. Each year, he works and meets with more than 100 CIOs and IT Leadership Teams across the globe.
As the CEO and President of Ouellette & Associates Consulting, Inc. (O&A), Dan leads the firm known since 1984 for "Developing the Human Side of Technology." His team, along with a cadre of strategic partners, have helped more than 3,500 IT organizations build high performing world class cultures, assess and develop the new core competencies necessary for success, and manage talent risk through knowledge transfer.
Dan works tirelessly to help our military veterans through his work on the non-profit group Darkhorse Benefits. Here he achieves two important missions; one to help our veterans leverage their core competencies and unique experiences to successfully transition into IT careers. Second, to provide CIOs with another source of talent to help address the talent crisis. Additionally, through Darkhorse, O&A's "One-for-One" program provides Veterans with free access to its IT Skill Builder competency assessment and career builder platform.
Dan has been married for more than 30 years and is the proud Dad of Kristina, a doctor on the Big Island of Hawaii, and Kelly, a retired Army Ranger who is now pursuing his MBA in South Florida.
droberts@ouellette-online.com
Twitter: @roberts_dan
603-623-7373
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 23, 2018
There is an old saying that there are never any new problems, just new people placed in the same problems from yesterday. I believe in that saying and always look for opportunities to learn from those before me. This book was a great way to do that professionally as it captures 9 successful CIO's in their own rights sharing the lessons of success and failure. I found myself reflecting on the commonality in some of their lessons and eagerly highlighting other parts for situations I am bound to face. Overall a great read for any current or aspiring CIO or leader in technology.
June 4, 2014
Confessions of a Successful CIO looks at various CIO’s and gives their perspective on how to be successful in the changing world of IT. The role of CIO has undergone many changes from being a C-Suite position run by businessmen then technocrats and now running on the proverbial funky tech. Several lessons were apparent regardless of which CIO you read about.
1. A focus on people and assembling the right team was prevalent in every case. The ability to read people, network and make connections was crucial for all of their successes and when failed to do so many of them were looking for new work taking that lesson to build upon.
2. In addition the need for IT to serve a customer service role and not be a soiled island was important to project success.
3. The idea that technology should serve the business and not drive the business was present in many of the cases.
4. Although not in all clear data management is another valuable lesson to take away from this book. Whether it is big data or small data the need to organize and accurately represent was crucial to success for all of these companies. It was also clear that process maters although not at the expense of the project. These CIO’s were successful because they found the right balance of when to break the rules and when to adhere to a consistent and logical process.
Each CIO tells a unique and thoughtful story that will keep the reader moving throughout the book. As someone who works with a lot of CIO’s across a number of businesses I found each of their stories relatable and intriguing with something to take away and learn from. This book is at a high level and does not get lost in technical jargon but provides clear examples of ways to be successful as a CIO. Well worth the time to read for those who work in a technological management position.
1. A focus on people and assembling the right team was prevalent in every case. The ability to read people, network and make connections was crucial for all of their successes and when failed to do so many of them were looking for new work taking that lesson to build upon.
2. In addition the need for IT to serve a customer service role and not be a soiled island was important to project success.
3. The idea that technology should serve the business and not drive the business was present in many of the cases.
4. Although not in all clear data management is another valuable lesson to take away from this book. Whether it is big data or small data the need to organize and accurately represent was crucial to success for all of these companies. It was also clear that process maters although not at the expense of the project. These CIO’s were successful because they found the right balance of when to break the rules and when to adhere to a consistent and logical process.
Each CIO tells a unique and thoughtful story that will keep the reader moving throughout the book. As someone who works with a lot of CIO’s across a number of businesses I found each of their stories relatable and intriguing with something to take away and learn from. This book is at a high level and does not get lost in technical jargon but provides clear examples of ways to be successful as a CIO. Well worth the time to read for those who work in a technological management position.
April 13, 2014
This book retells the stories of nine exceptional CIOs as they navigated their organizations through specific business transformations. Through these passages, we gain direct lessons in situational leadership that cover the various facets of the IT organization - people, process, technology across multiple industries. We learn from these leaders - both from their successes and equally from their failures. A recommended read for any IT leader.
May 10, 2016
This excellent book gave a wide variety of success stories and how information technology has revolutionized many industries. This book also gave the reader the understanding of the versatility that a chief information officer can experience in today's job market. Thank you for a well-balanced insightful look into the exciting world of a CIO.
February 13, 2015
This is a collection of mini biographies of some prolific CIOs giving stories of the big events in their careers and what lessons they want to share. There was some good insight in this read.
October 24, 2015
Not great, but not bad...this book does just what it claims to do: tell you abbreviated stories of a number of different CIOs.
It's worth the read, but don't expect it to change your life.
It's worth the read, but don't expect it to change your life.
November 30, 2015
I did not find the book very interesting. Would not recommend this to practicing IT Managers/CIO's. Skip.
April 30, 2017
Successful CIO's share their experience!
Learning from the collective experiences of different, highly successful CIO's is what drew me to this book and I wasn't disappointed!
Learning from the collective experiences of different, highly successful CIO's is what drew me to this book and I wasn't disappointed!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews