Episode 25 - The Next Generation CIO

State of the CIO

Dr. Ken Russell knows first-hand that the responsibilities of CIOs are evolving. With decades of experience developing and implementing organizational change, the fractional CIO is not only aware that innovation has become essential for organizations, but is what CIOs will have to understand for the next generation.

Chief Information Officers are transitioning into Chief Innovation Officers, becoming the leaders who will need to navigate through organizational structures. It’ll be important for these leaders to juggle between what Russell shares as “C” words: conversations, collaborations and community. Innovation officers will need to be able to have conversations with leaders and have those conversations turn into collaborations. In turn, these collaborations can turn into commitments and these commitments can turn into communities. The next-generation CIO will be more of a strategist that fleshes out ideas and be able to put them into motion.

Key Takeaways:

• If you’re going to be a technology leader, you have to understand the impact of technology and be willing to take a risk
• Chief Innovation Officers are the kind of leaders that will need to navigate through organizational structures
• In digital transformation, it doesn’t matter what you create but what you can consume

Dr. Ken Russell is releasing a book with co-author, Becky Scott, entitled Amplify, which shares the importance of not only innovating and accelerating but participating and translating.