New skills and understanding needed to lead technology in 2024. Utility?
Despite this being a time of unprecedented change in our world, the core attributes of leading technology change in 2024 are an evolution of the skills always needed. This is probably no surprise and the core skills are probably familiar.
So you need to change leadership....is that all?
It’s a statistical phenomenon that an unequal percentage of senior technological roles begin to be changed in the New Year period, Maybe this is because some organisations tend to defer changes until after Christmas or because they start thinking about new directions with the new calendar year or the impending financial year end.
Another year over and what have you done?
Driving back home after a meeting I was listening to Radio Two and following a news article featuring Rishi Sunak discussing UK productivity, on came The John Lennon classic featuring the line “another year over and what have you done?”
What CIO's can learn from the UK economy?
We all have a place in the economy, usually miniscule but there, nonetheless. Very few of us can actually do anything that materially impacts the economy directly and in a short period of time as well. At best we may come up with, say, a new drug or a new vaccine but that is rare and would normally take about 5 years at a minimum. Why do I raise this?
2020 to 2021 and beyond
2020. A lovely round number to remember easily, but how could we ever forget it? It’s been a very weird year for sure. There has been some great recruitment work to do amongst the often silent markets, but not “full-on” like it has been in the past.
Nobody knows
So here we are supposedly coming out of COVID-19. Thank God for that. But wait – without a confirmed working vaccine then we may not be – life may have to go on like this with limited interaction with each other at limited venues. Nobody knows for sure until either a cure or a vaccine is developed. Even them COVID-19 may mutate – it is in viruses nature to do that.
Gaslighting & the IT Leader
Just learned a new word – “gaslighting”. Apparently, it refers to an activity that some use to manipulate others’ view on reality and make them doubt their own memory of events. Just look out to the USA to find “Gaslighter in Chief”. I cannot believe how the American people are letting him get away with it, but they are, so I set about wondering why?
Wifi to the Four Horsemen, a course on Citizenship, and a trip in a time machine.
In some respects, Lockdown has been a subtle extension of past life for me anyway as I home-work from deep in the Wiltshire countryside normally. The only difference recently is the number of cancelled or deferred contracts rather than active cases. Time as well. More time. Time allows thought. Quiet and peace allow thought. No wonder Monks abound out in the wildernesses of our country. Here are some random but connected thoughts to maybe engage you.
CoronaVirus - 19 things to consider
How do we find out exactly how this virus occurred and how do we behave to stop this happening again?
Idle Year-End Advent Train of Thought. Musings on nothing and everything
It is that time of the year again when I put down my headhunting gear and reflect on another year gone and what is to come. This year that reflection is especially fuelled by taking leave of my work for all of December to enjoy some new treats such as English truffle-hunting and hedge-laying.
Branding Oneself to Succeed
Next week I am at CIO Watercooler gathering in London talking about Branding Oneself. This doesn't apply just to CIO's but anybody who has to influence to make things happen . I shall publish the synopsis with feedback received on the day so see if you can make it to Merchant Taylor's Hall on 20th November 2019.
At Last – Agents of Change!!!
I think we have all collectively got there. Technology deployments are now actually generating real change and impact. For several decades since the advent of organisational computing in the 1950’s there has been perennial promise of changing the world for the better and really making a difference.
Current technology thinking
WiFi, Thomas Cook, Domestic Mesh Network, Oxford Alumni weekend, technology driving the demise of democracy. Here are some current observations that all relate to how technology is changing our world.
A Leadership life-cycle in 2019
After 30+ years in IT leadership, either as a practitioner or as a head-hunter, I am wondering if I will ever see a people market that is fully aligned in its understanding of the role of CIO, CTO, and even CDO. Back in the 1980’s the dialogue started to be about, broadly speaking, commercialism above technology. Roll on 30 years and that dialogue is still kicking around with some differences.
Circles of Life
No, it’s not a mawkish Disney tune, but an observation that may help some technologists short-cut career advancement by forecasting the next “big thing” in IT leadership.
When I started my life in IT in 1981 it was a very hierarchical, highly specialised environment. Mainframes had several teams to nurture them and the interface with the business was highly proceduralised and not very rich.