I realize it might be somewhat outré (and very circular!) to reference a post that is referencing one of my own posts, but I’m going to do that. Espen Andersen picked up my post The New IT Role: From Problem Solving to Opportunity Creation and made some important expansions on the inherent ideas, in his post The Opportunity-creating IT Department.
I really believe that with the confluence of a weakening global economy, widespread social and political upheaval, and the emergence of a whole slew of “2.0″ information technologies, it is now more important than ever to find creative and constructive ways to drive growth and innovation by whatever means. I made a personal vow when I started blogging almost a year ago to stay out of certain topics – politics being one such taboo. I am prepared, however, to state my position that I believe a major driver of an economy is psychology and mindset. With FDR’s words ringing in my head, “The only thing we have to fear Is fear itself” I do believe we can depress ourselves into (or further into) a recession, or just as easily inspire ourselves into an expansion.
I talk to too many CIO’s who have gone into hunker-down mode. These are the problem-solvers. They see the problem as IT costing too much, so they try to help solve that problem by doing less. Of course, the real result is fueling the vicious cycle and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy about the role and cost of IT. Thank heaven for the visionary CIO’s who are the opportunity-creators. They see the opportunities in the emerging technologies and capabilities. They don’t know exactly what that all means to them and their companies, but they are actively involved in finding that out through action and experiments – through bringing leadership and inspiration to their organizations and their companies.
What kind of CIO are you, or do you aspire to be – problem-solver, or opportunity-creator? What do your actions tell about you? What can you do to become more of an opportunity-creator?
Filed under: IT Management, IT Maturity, Next Generation IT, Web 2.0 | Tagged: CIO role, innovation, Web 2.0
A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks
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[...] The Economy, Information Technology and Opportunity CreationI realize it might be somewhat outré (and very circular!) to reference a post that is referencing one of my own posts, but I’m going to do that. Espen Andersen picked up my post The New IT Role: From Problem Solving to Opportunity … [...]
[...] current economic climate and its implications for IT leaders. I posted back in early September in The Economy, Information Technology and Opportunity Creation that it is now more important than ever to find creative and constructive ways to drive growth and [...]