As a technology leader, what is the best complement you can hear from a CEO?
I have had the honor of presenting IT strategies to Boards, senior management teams and 1:1 with CEOs. At one nonprofit where I was CIO, I remember being invited to present to the Board of Trustees. The Chairman of the Board was a long-time CEO of a Fortune 100 company.
I remembered a Vice President who said early in my career how much he appreciated my describing the technology issues in business terms [1]. In fact, in my opinion being "Chief Translator" is fundamental to being a CIO. This is communications 101, putting yourself in your audience's shoes and speaking their language is hard to learn, especially for technology people.
When speaking at CIO events, I sometimes ask the question "how are you simplifying?" Technology is complex, but talking about it should not be.
I once had a consultant work with my team helping define IT projects for our business owners. He would start the discussion by saying "I'm from Mars; could you explain to me what you do." Most process owners are happy to talk about what they do. And he would listen and feed back to them what he heard, especially the pain points and what was important to them. He kept restating until he heard, "yes, that's it; you get it." Notice that a discussion about all the wonderful things the technology could do was not part of the conversation.
At the end of my presentation to the Board of Trustees, the Chairman said "that was the first technology presentation I've understood." As a technology leader, that was the best compliment I had heard. |