×

Practical guidance informed by decades of experience from a notable veteran of corporate IT.

Bob DeRodes knows the CIO role better than most. Throughout his 44-year career, DeRodes has reported to CIOs, served as a CIO, had CIOs reporting to him, and sat on boards governing CIOs. At last count, there are more than 25 active CIOs who have worked for DeRodes at some point in their careers. Few industry leaders have a more informed, credible perspective on the role of CIO than DeRodes, who has held leadership positions at Home Depot, Delta Airlines, Citibank, American Airlines/Sabre, and USAA. He has also acted as a senior IT advisor to such U.S. government agencies as the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and Department of Justice.

While addressing an audience of IT executives at Deloitte University in November, DeRodes described the CIO role as “one of the most difficult and least understood jobs in corporate America.” Meanwhile, he pointed out, “IT is the horizontal engine that keeps most companies running.” He’s on a mission to help CIOs develop a better understanding of their role, and to bolster the credibility and success of CIOs everywhere. With characteristic passion and frankness, DeRodes spoke on a range of topics, from leadership and governance to communicating with Boards, C-suite peers, and others in IT.

On perceptions of CIOs: CIOs command the least respect of any executive in the C-suite, as many top leaders do not perceive CIOs as peer business executives. In fact, there is a perception that the CIO role is the easiest executive role to fill with a leader who is not a practitioner in the function they lead. Interestingly, DeRodes believes CIOs themselves are, in large part, to blame for this lack of respect for the role. His research suggests that—in stark contrast to CFOs, CHROs CMOs, and chief counsels—CIOs identify more with the company or industry in which they work than they do with their IT profession. Moreover, tech leaders have openly resisted efforts to establish professional skills and licensing requirements that would establish minimum standards of learning and knowledge that could enhance the credibility of individual CIOs and the role generally. If CIOs do not see their unique expertise as a profession, why should anyone else?

On CIO leadership: IT leadership is not just about the CIO, it’s about the entire CIO leadership team. DeRodes explained that when building a leadership team, remember the team is no better than the weakest leader, and one weak link can have an outsized impact on the reputation of the entire IT organization. It is equally important to recognize your personal skill or knowledge deficiencies and hire to fill any gaps. Above all, never compromise on individual performance standards. Make the personnel decisions you believe to be right and, over the long term, you’ll be rewarded for making the tough calls. Beyond that, encourage diversity of thought, recognizing IT teams require structure and process to function, but they also need flexibility to manage the unique risks and ambiguity associated with IT.

On CIO communications: Effective CIOs possess a range of communication skills to build consensus across the enterprise and also within IT—often using widely different approaches and languages. DeRodes encourages the use of analogies and stories to explain to other executives the choices, implications, and consequences of various decisions. When discussing operational performance, for example, CIOs often want to measure their success with statistics that are virtually meaningless to other business executives. Rather than talking about 99.9995 percent uptime, translate that performance into something meaningful to the other members of the executive team. DeRodes believes the best communication style is “straight talk, not happy talk.” Don’t describe the situation as others want to believe it, tell it like it is. And remember that IT is a team sport; CIOs must spend time with peers and higher level executives and boards, with the IT team, with partners, and with vendors (there is a difference). Most importantly, to effectively carry out their mission, CIOs need to be multidimensional, interesting, and charismatic leaders.

On board interactions with CIOs: Most board members do not have IT backgrounds and many are uncomfortable discussing technology topics. Some boards have relegated IT governance to a subcommittee established for that purpose—an underused approach that has merit. Regardless of the approach, boards invariably want assurance from the CIO in two key areas: 1) you are appropriately managing the risks associated with technology and are protecting the digital assets of the firm in the broadest sense; and 2) any major transformational programs are business-sponsored and business-led. It is encouraging to see that, as companies vet prospective board members, organizations are increasingly including IT fluency as a criterion for board service.

On innovation and risk: For most of the past six years, companies have focused their CIOs largely on cost-cutting and efficiency. In the last year, there has been an increased push toward innovation, and yet executive teams seem even less willing today to accept the risks that invariably accompany new major IT investments. For some, bad experiences with IT projects in the past remain fresh in their minds and have left them skittish about committing to IT investments. As this innovation pendulum swings, it becomes the CIOs' role to once again provide thought leadership. Explaining the art of the possible for new technologies is where CIOs can add significant value. Most importantly, CIOs need to convince leaders across the business to share the risk of new innovation along with the IT organization. These are not IT’s projects, it isn’t IT’s money, and it isn’t solely IT’s responsibility to deliver. Shared sponsorship, shared funding, and shared execution are critical to successfully delivering new innovation.

On IT governance: A growing list of C-suite leaders—CMO, CISO, CDO, CFO, and chief counsel—oversee domains that increasingly overlap with that of the CIO. In today’s environment, CIOs need to clearly define what is in their domain, and the processes governing technology decisions outside their domain. Operating stability, security, and total cost of ownership are far more important than which executive funds the technology. Many CIOs comment that their role is becoming little more than supporting legacy systems. DeRodes believes it is up to the CIO to leverage their influence, garner strong executive sponsorship, and make a financially-based case for the continued role of the CIO in governance of all IT spending.