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With one eye trained over the horizon, Karaboutis is continually preparing to lead in a new direction, even as she oversees the pressing business at hand.

Adriana (Andi) Karaboutis, vice president and global CIO at Dell Inc., leads from the front lines of a digital ecosystem that’s expanding and advancing at a blistering pace—and where staying ahead pays premiums. In November, she addressed a group of IT executives at Deloitte University where she discussed her career path, the CIO role, and what CIOs can do to stay ahead in their own careers and industries.

An energetic and charismatic leader, Karaboutis has serious technology and business cred, earned over several decades. Prior to joining Dell in 2010, she spent over 20 years at General Motors and Ford Motor Company in various leadership positions in business operations and IT.

At one critical juncture during her 15 years at Ford Motor Company, Karaboutis was advised by a mentor that having a great career in IT would require working in multiple geographies and in a non-IT role. She took that advice to heart, and accepted a two-year assignment working in London on Ford’s finance systems. Subsequently, she spent six years back in the U.S. running production control for 100-plus stamping, power train, and assembly plants—initially for North America, and then globally. “It was the best IT training I ever had," she says. "It gave me a customer view, a business view, and a strong understanding of a streamlined supply chain, and it built my financial skills.”

In 2011, after having worked at Dell for just one year, Karaboutis found herself under consideration for the global CIO position. Following an initial period of reflection, she thought hard about what the company would need from its next CIO, and prepared a detailed plan. She presented her views on the organizational and financial structure, technology strategies, governance, and priorities. Additionally, she described how IT could help drive revenue for the company. That combination of vision, preparation, skills, and confidence landed her at the IT helm as Dell was accelerating its strategy of being a global technology solutions company—and just prior to embarking on the biggest privatization in U.S. history.

These days, staying ahead means investing the time to stay current on disruptive technologies and leading IT as an integral part of—not just an enabler to—the business. Karaboutis outlined how she and Dell IT do this:

Drive strategy and a 360-degree view of the customer. To help grow the business, IT needs to understand the overall strategy and financials of the company and work side by side with business partners to determine the blueprint to achieve that strategy across people, culture, process, and technology. This was especially important for Karaboutis as Dell made the move from a traditional computer company to an end-to-end solutions business (providing services, software, and hardware for enterprises and consumers). Karaboutis says, “rather than complaining about not having a seat at the table, or attributing IT failures to incomplete requirements from the business, it is critical to develop an informed point of view on the issues that matter and drive that point of view with facts.”

Stop chasing shadow IT and start chasing innovation. “When you work in a technology company and have 100,000-plus colleagues that understand technology, you have to be out there listening and determining how you can continually create new value for your employees and customers as opposed to defensively protecting your IT turf,” says Karaboutis. Of course, reducing complexity and offering an efficient, secure IT environment remain important goals, but it doesn’t end there. IT needs to innovate to create value and drive revenue together with traditional P&L business units. Karaboutis is also focusing energy these days on helping her customers make use of their own technology expertise. “CIOs must recognize the need to help their customers help themselves,” she says. In marketing, for example, Karaboutis has provided self-service in predictive modeling to generate insights faster and reduce response times.

Evolve from traditional messaging to social media. Dell IT recognizes the company’s need to engage socially to gain more and faster insights. Karaboutis herself is active on a number of social sites including Twitter (follow her at @AndiCIOatDell), which she uses to monitor news and discover what CEOs and other CIOs have on their minds. “Rather than going to search for information, social channels bring it to me. I can’t afford to not be social,” she says. Dell IT has even turned the process of addressing employee “trouble tickets” social. Where typically IT organizations have a six- or seven-step process for opening trouble tickets, Karaboutis is leveraging internal social media (Salesforce.com’s Chatter) to help people address IT-related issues through a mix of employee crowdsourcing and direct conversations with the service desk.

Embrace disruptive technologies and change. Cloud, analytics, the Internet of Things, and mobile—these are all very real and they aren’t just for other companies. CIOs must embrace the change that accompanies disruptive technologies and determine how they can help their companies apply them to create value, drive efficiencies, and build revenue. CIOs who shy away from change and disruption are effectively charting a path to their own obsolescence.

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Karaboutis is quick to credit others—from a Dell VP sitting at her elbow as she gave her talk at DU to the professional development she received at Ford—for her success. And while some busy executives may disregard an invitation to carve out time to share their stories with a group of aspiring leaders, Karaboutis views it as critical, because, well, that’s what good leaders should do.

Throughout her career, Karaboutis has continually prioritized staying ahead—by working hard, expanding her leadership skills and experiences, being prepared, and embracing the future. But despite her impressive career trajectory, Karaboutis has also managed to stay grounded—another sign of a mature and effective leader.