(2 votes, average: 8.5 out of 10)
Loading ...Tips for talking to top dogs?
I’ve been able of late to spend a greater portion of my research and reporting efforts on examining the issues facing CIOs, and one of the most prevalent concerns (as it has been whenever I’ve covered the CIO universe in the past) is that of effective communication of tech-heavy ideas to other C-level executives, most notably the CEO and CFO.
One CIO recently told an audience of which I was a part that the best way to communicate complex concepts was to tie them to recognizable examples. She used Lego blocks to describe service-oriented architecture (SOA), for instance. While having to employ visions of childhood toys might not always be necessary, you get the picture.
And many CIOs I’ve spoken with have opined that you have to stay away from any kind of tech-speak to get your message across. Leave the gigabits and gigabytes for discussions with your IT crew.
Anyone else out there have some good tips for effective communication with the top corporate dogs? We’d love to hear them.
Posted on July 26th, 2007 by Greg Enright and filed under Best Practices | No Comments »
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(3 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10) Loading ...Gartner must be watching ‘Dragon’s Den’
A story on Silicon.com mentions how Gartner’s latest report, the Seven Levers of Growth, compares CIOs to their counterparts in the investment community.
”Gartner vice-president Dave Aron said CIOs must understand where the planned and likely growth will come from, and ensure IT assets can accommodate each area of growth,” the story says. “Aron added there are opportunities for CIOs to take a greater part in enterprise top-line growth and said CIOs must focus on ‘exploiting these opportunities just as a venture capitalist makes investments’ – by applying scarce IT assets, staff and resources based on value.”
I came to the same conclusion after recently watching (for the first and probably only time), CBC’s Dragon’s Den on TV and writing “If there be Dragons” for ITBusiness.ca.
Posted on July 19th, 2007 by Shane Schick and filed under Best Practices | No Comments »
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(3 votes, average: 9.33 out of 10) Loading ...“Don’t worry be crappy”
- By Joaquim P. Menezes -
“Don’t worry, be happy,” sang Bobby McFerrin.
A key guiding principle of the would-be-innovator should be: “Don’t worry, be crappy,” according to venture capitalist, success coach and Mac evangelist Guy Kawasaki.
He delivered the keynote at a recent event I attended in Orlando. Fla.
At first blush that seemed pretty weird advice from a success coach – until Kawasaki clarified what he meant.
This is not an invitation to create crap, he said. “I’m saying create revolutionary things that jump curves that may have elements of crappiness. There’s a big difference.
“The reason, he said, is that if you wait to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ – if you wait for “the perfect world where everything is cheap, completely debugged, the engineers say all the features are in there” - you will never ship.
He cited the example of the Mac 128K that Apple shipped in 1984.
“It was a great computer, but had elements of crappiness to it. For example, thanks to my contribution, there was no software. There was also hard disk, no slots, no colour, no chips – piece of crap. But it was a revolutionary piece of crap.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 18th, 2007 by Joaquim Menezes and filed under Apple, Best Practices, Innovation, Social media, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
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(3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10) Loading ...A wiki for your thoughts
- By Joaquim P. Menezes -
With their proven effectiveness in building brand, enhancing communications and even boosting revenue, why isn’t use of Web 2.0 tools – such as blogs and wikis – becoming more pervasive among enteprises?
The answer to that was provided by a recent study by The Nemertes Research Group.
Only 37 per cent of enterprises surveyed by Nemertes were using wikis.
Those that weren’t cited three key challenges to adoption: management, security and compliance.
CIOs also expressed concern about the way wikis are introduced into organizations – outside the control – and sometimes even the knowledge – of IT.
Okay, so there are undoubtedly risks to deploying social media tools. So what should enterprises do? Should they: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 17th, 2007 by Joaquim Menezes and filed under Best Practices, Innovation, Social media, Web 2.0 | 2 Comments »
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