The author proposes two meanings for the term "CIO Squared." First, it refers to a CIO that can bridge both the roles of chief information officer and chief technology officer, speaking both the "business" and "technology" languages to fulfill organizational needs. Second, a CIO Squared is one who is both a consummate professional dedicated to serving stakeholders, and also a "mensch" with integrity and empathy who considers the human impact of their work. The author argues a successful CIO must integrate these multiple facets of information, technology, business, and humanity to have a greater impact than just fulfilling individual roles.

1. The Meaning of ‘CIO Squared’ (Opinion) http://www.govtech.com/policy-management/The-Meaning-of...
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The Meaning of ‘CIO Squared’ (Opinion)
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Tech “CIO Squared” as “the
combination of chief information officer and chief
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innovation officer,” and goes on to provide examples
Products of CIOs who are both of these.
Transportation and
Infrastructure While I respect this definition of the term and think
innovation is certainly critical to the success of any
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CIO — and for that matter any organization in our Like 1822 likes. Sign Up to see what your
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Andy Blumenthal, division
Squared for a couple of years in Public CIO
chief, U.S. State Department
GT Network of Sites magazine and have other thoughts about what this
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Digital Communities really means.
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Moreover, I think the article in CIO missed the point of what "squared" really implies.
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Videos Like the notion that 1+1=3, CIO Squared is a concept that the CIO is not just multifaceted
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Photos and multitalented (that would be 1+1=2), but rather that the CIO integrates multiple facets,
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roles and synergizes so that they have an impact greater than the sum of the parts (i.e.,
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1+1=3).
Industry Perspectives I see CIO Squared fulfilling its potential in a couple of major ways:
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First, many organizations have both a chief information officer (CIO) and a chief
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technology officer (CTO) — breaking the “information technology” concept and
Contributed Solutions responsibility into its components and dividing the responsibility between two different
How to Guides people or different roles in the organization. One is responsible for the information needs
of the business; the other brings the technology solutions to bear.
However, I believe, fundamentally, a truly successful CIO needs to be able to bridge both
of these functions and wear both hats — and wear them well. The CIO should be able to
work with the business to define and, moreover, envision their future needs to remain
competitive and differentiated (that's the innovation piece). But at the same time, CIO also
needs to be able to work toward fulfilling those needs with technology and other solutions.
Therefore, at some point the role split between the CIO as the "business guy" and the
CTO as the "technology whiz" has to merge back into an executive who speaks both
languages and can execute on these.
That does not mean that the CIO is a one-person team — quite the contrary, the CIO has
the support and team that can plan and manage to both. But the CIO should remain the
leader — the point of the spear — for both.
Another way to think of this is that CIO Squared is another name for chief information
technology officer (CITO).
A second notion of CIO Squared that I had when putting that moniker out there for my MOST VIEWED MOST COMMENTED
column was that the CIO represents two other roles. On one hand, he or she is a
consummate professional and business person dedicated to the mission and serving This Section | Whole Site
customer and stakeholders. On the other hand, the CIO needs to be a “mensch” — a School Laptop Scandal Teaches Valuable Lessons
decent human being with integrity, empathy and caring for others.
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This notion of a CIO, or for that matter, any CXO — chief executive officer or the “X”
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representing any C-suite officer (CEO, COO, CFO, CHCO, etc.) — needs to be
dual-hatted, where they perform highly for the organization delivering mission results, but New York City to Mandate Open Data
simultaneously do so keeping in mind the impact on people and what is ultimately good 5 Tips for Managing Successful Vendor
and righteous. Relationships
Therefore, the CIO Squared is one who can encompass both the business and technology
1 of 3 3/8/12 7:04 PM

2. The Meaning of ‘CIO Squared’ (Opinion) http://www.govtech.com/policy-management/The-Meaning-of...
roles and synthesize these for the strategic benefit of the organization, but also one who is
mission-focused and maintains integrity and oneness with his people and “G-d” above
who watches all.
This column was reprinted with permission from Andy Blumenthal’s website.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
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