10. A Leader understands the
business and can communicate
how to transform it.
A follower provides a support
function and takes instruction.
A Leader influences the business
and enables it to gain a competitive
advantage.
16. What will this cost?
What competitive
advantage will this
bring to the
business?
17. 17
1. What time is it?
2. Did you take a shower?
3. What is a solution to this problem?
4. What possibilities exist that we
haven’t thought of yet?
18. LEADING WITH QUESTIONS
1. Assess Your Current Situation
2. Discover the “Big Questions”
3. Create Images of Possibility
4. Evolve Workable Strategies
Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to be here to speak to such a distinguished group.And so it is perhaps it is undiplomatic of me to open with a challenging question;Are you a Leader or a Follower?
If you qualify to be in this room then I have calculated that you are in the top 5.8% of the Indian CIO population.This is perhaps not as profitable as being ranked the 16th highest paid athlete in the world, like Indian Cricket Captain, MS Doni.Who would have thought Usain Bolt would have had to follow anyone?As a CIO you are constantly challenged to by business needs to:Increase capability but cut costCustomize and standardizeBuild open systems but secureStrategic but execute flawlessly
So are you a Leader or a Follower?Imagine a large chess board. A game invented in India.Now consider you are a piece on this chess board.Are you a porn; moving slowly forward with little choice and at the mercy of other more powerful pieces? Are you a Knight, able to take risks and attack, but with little concern for your own safety?Perhaps you are a bishop, able to move rapidly but constrained to a diagonal path from which you may not deviate?Or you may think of yourself as Rook, solid and safe but not very adventurous?A King? Very important but requiring other pieces to serve and defend you.Which leaves the Queen; Highly flexible and adaptable, able to move in any directions?You know what you shouldn’t be, a piece of wood being pushed around by someone bigger than you.This simple metaphor of a chessboard gives helps us to consider whether we are fully utilising our Self-leadership.
This years theme is astute. Which can mean artful.An astute chess player reads the board and his or her opponent.So what qualities should an astute CIO have? And do you have them?In challenging times can you influence your team and the business to create a competitive advantage?
I believe leading and winning start from the inside out.From my early career working with athletes to my work as a coach and consult to leaders and leadership teams, I have found that before we can lead others, we must first lead ourselves.My latest book, which I co-authored with Dr Anna Kazan, explores how we can lead ourselves and positively influence others to be more efficient and effective.
So to be astute we must start with our selves.Does the old identity of CIO's are being too IT orientedThe “Techie”, “The engineer” serve you?(And I know about 85% of you here are trained as engineers).As part of the C suite shouldn’t you be leading business processes for competitive advantage rather than just taking orders?
Stephen Fry, an actor, a writer, a person who does things suggest you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun, like CIO, or engineer.You can change, you can grow, you can lead yourself, your team, your business, your country.
You must be aware of the immunity to change.Whilst we may want to be astute, agile and a leader. We may also want to be liked and to play it safe..Change is often like we have one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake peddle.
Dad’s hardware story?Do you want to be right or rich?Do you, like me, sometimes think you have the right answer which may prevent you serving your customer or seeing new possibilities.
So the secret to leadership is influence, but what is influence?Demonstrate. Influence versus manipulation.
Demonstration that you influence yourself and others when you have a big enough “why”.
It’s hard to speak about technology, influence and leadership without referencing Steve Jobs.Jobs new what it meant to know “Why” you are doing so that you can deliver the “What”The astute CIO can read Why the business needs technology and show them the WHAT that enables them to need to do things better, faster, and cheaper than the competition.
In contrast followers believe that they are being paid for fixing problems rather than for fostering breakthrough thinking.
Leadership is about asking questions…
Astute leadership is about asking the right questions.
How would you rate the following questions?
In the work I do with leaders and leadership teams, I help them to step back from just looking for a solution.I help them to discover the big questions, which are often the assumptions that have put our foot on the brake peddle.Like Albert Einstein’s thought experiments, when we open our mind to possibilities and formulate the question, we can then find workable strategies that make a difference.Do you know how to frame strategic questions that open the space for thinking about possibilities rather than solving problems?
Having shared the stage with Sir Richard, he is a geometric thinker who dares to dream with Virgin Space.
As I bring my sharing with you to an end, I want to talk about the power of making a decision.A surgeon makes an incision, as humans to say “Yes” to what we want, we must first say “NO!” to what we don’t wantSometimes the “NO” is our own programmed thoughts. So let’s see how good you are at saying “NO!”Now “YES” to what you want. Yes to being a leader.Now give yourselves a hand.