The CIO Domain Conundrum: What Makes A Good Fit?
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If you ran a convenience store, and needed to call someone in to unclog the drains in the bathrooms, would you call a good plumber, with a variety of experiences under his belt, or would you leave the drains clogged up until you could find a plumber that has deep vertical experience (no pun intended) working within the convenience store industry? Of course not! Sadly, this is the lame cloud under which many CIOs are hired. Call me crazy, but I’d just want a good plumber. Someone who was a problem solver.
The truth be known, I entered the information technology industry to be a computer programmer, not a business person. Back in those days, computer programmers, operators, and other such technicians were the “doers”. We were expected to stay in our world, while the “business guys” sorted out what needed to be done next. When that miraculous decision was reached, it was “thrown over the wall” to the engineers. It was then that we got busy trying to live up to the expectations of whatever was actually sold to the customer. Techies and business folks didn’t co-mingle. That would have been the equivalent of the Hatfields and the McCoys having a lovely Thanksgiving dinner together. My how the times have changed.
