Thought Leadership for the Innovative Organization

CEO pay 364 times more than other workers

2007-08-29T10:23:00.000-04:00

From CNN money, the average CEO of a large US company made $10M last year compared to an average of $29K for average workers. Most of us would venture to say that many workers don't really earn the value of their compensation, does your CEO? What value does a CEO need to bring a company to earn $10M in pay. How hard would it be to replace them - probably more challenging than replacing the average worker but is the compensation just over the top compared to what they bring in results and leadership?

CIO.com Annual Awards

2007-08-09T10:29:00.000-04:00

CIO.com has released their CIO 100 awards - great insight into what it takes to transform business through innovation including how to best enable IT as a change agent. Includes a quiz to see if your IT organization is innovative.

Does Six Sigma reduce coporate innovation?

2007-08-01T20:37:00.000-04:00

In a great article in Business Week (June, 2007) , the struggle between efficiency and creativity is discussed with a 3M case study - is focusing on quality management going to push innovation to the back burner or can you somehow still drive innovation as part of the culture of the organization while being focused on reducing defects in process and products? The key is leadership, focused on creating a workable balance between driving efficiency and fostering innovation - with that you can indeed accomplish both.

Leadership tips from the top

2007-07-11T13:34:00.001-04:00

Here is a great interview from the WSJ Startup Journal with David Brandon of Domino's Pizza. His insight on leadership and attitude that he picked up from Bo Schembechler, the former coaching great, is right on target - here is a snippet .... "Every company has a culture and a chemistry that makes that company go. Someone has to buy into the values and the philosophy and the environment that you've created. And if you get somebody who's uncomfortable and critical, they sap the positive energy out of the organization. So we work really hard to make sure that when people come to work for Domino's, they know right up front what is expected."

VC investment in rural India

2007-07-02T12:28:00.000-04:00

India is clearly within the sights of more than one US based VC - with 40 million potential households as targets by 2010 - investors are seeing the real opportunity that India poses. See the article in Business Week for more details.

The CIOs role in innovation

2007-06-21T10:13:00.000-04:00

Just how innovative is your CIO - from CIO.com, 89% of CIOs say innovation is part or a significant part of their role. Next of course is what does 'innovation' mean - more than likely there is a wide-range of definitions based on the maturity of your organizations leadership - is your organization focused on breakthrough innovation or are you focused on incremental continuous innovation.

Is your Innovation 'systemic'?

2007-06-21T08:28:00.000-04:00

At Intel, a new initiative on systemic innovation is focused on building Intel's industry leadership and competitive advantage by following some key steps - although these are great - the real value is in their implementation and adoption across the organization - that takes leadership, starting at the top - all the way down to every employee, every day...

- Fostering and encouraging innovation and creative thinking
- Challenging the status quo and embracing change
- Delivering innovative and competitive products and services
- Continuously learning, developing, and improving through incremental innovation
- Encouraging and rewarding informed risk-taking
- Providing a challenging work environment

Just how loyal are your customers?

2007-06-21T07:24:00.000-04:00

From entrenpreneur.com, a loyalty program is a great way to reward your repeat customers as studies have shown that repeat customers are 8x more likely to buy again than a new customer. What is needed to start a loyalty program? First, you need to understand your customer segments to align benefits with each of them. Second, you need to focus your advertising and effort on current customers to make sure they stay that way - so don't worry about advertising your new program. And third, offer exclusive promotions - sometimes something as simple as free shipping will keep a customer from moving on even if another product is a little cheaper.

Do you outperform your boss?

2007-06-11T11:28:00.000-04:00

Great survey from Korn/Ferry about executive perception regarding perception of boss performance. Best insight is at the end of article - mentions that "The challenge for management these days is really in the care and feeding of your best talent" ... does your organization do a great job at career development and succession planning? Why not, when the future of your company will be left to that talent.

State of the CIO

2007-06-11T06:29:00.000-04:00

With the need to align technology, strategy and operations being more important now than ever before, who in your organization is tasked to lead this? If you have a CIO, more than likely they are spearheading this focus for the organization. So what type of CIO is best to do this - from a CIO magazine article, CIOs can come in different types - what type is yours? the Business Leader, the Turnaround Artist, the Operational Expert, or the Innovation Agent. For best results, lets hope they are a little of each - of not, your IT/business/strategy alignment is probably not going to get you where you need to go.

Innovation means change

2007-06-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

In a CIO magazine article, Randy Jackson discusses what he see's as some common truths - insight into what leads to success or failure with innovative initiatives he has undertaken throughout his career - they include.... be ready for change... be ready for roadblocks... execution is critical... marketing is required... simple , yet excellent, insight.

Tech job growth

2007-05-22T20:52:00.000-04:00

Tech job growth in 2006 almost doubled growth in 2005 - is this a trend that will continue in 2007?

Considering outsourcing - what about Mexico?

2007-05-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

With only 3 CMM level 5 companies, Mexico is not even close to the same league as India as an IT oursource option based on size but proximity to the US and being in the same time zones should make Mexico an option to consider. Be cautious though - ability to deliver and product quality needs to be a priority focus to make it work.

Records retention

2007-05-16T12:12:00.000-04:00

CSO magazine (July 2006) provides 7 key mistakes for records retention - when having too much information or too little information is not quite clear: Know your records from your backup, don't rely excusively on your legal department, make record retention your job, be aware and responsive, have viable policies, have a records deletion policay, and do not under any circumstance delete records if there is a potential for those records being needed in the future.

Before you do anything else...

2007-05-11T14:46:00.000-04:00

As a CIO, there are a number of priorities pulling you in very different directions each day. From a CIO magazine article, before you embark on taking on the world - make sure your organization is secure - you should be regularly running IT security audits - both with internal staff and with an impartial third party. Don't be afraid of what you will find - in the end your organizations security is what is most important.

6 signs of trouble

2007-05-10T21:52:00.000-04:00

From a 2006 CERT study - 6 signs of potential security issues from the inside of your IT organization: Problem children, organizational disruption, bad attitudes, insecure systems, dicey downloads, and missing locks - if you know of any of these - take a closer look.

Are you lean?

2007-05-09T09:38:00.000-04:00

Are you hearing from your business areas leadership that IT is not meeting their needs. Before you start asking questions about what tools or IT solutions need to be put in place, ask your IT leadership a few questions to gauge how aware they are of their own issues. One area to focus is on quality management and continuous improvement - and the lean principles that helped the manufacturing industry improve their capabilities ... lean IT is possible - in fact it is a very possible methodology that delivers real results.

The growing role of the PM

2007-05-09T09:17:00.000-04:00

Companies are finally realizing that the role of PM is critical to both project and operational success. From PM Network magazine, a survey is reporting that 60% of firms report that PMs have much more responsibility beyond the traditional project management role to include strategic planning, marketing, BD, and QA - are you still keeping PMs in a box or are you letting them drive and execute across your business?

Are you on the way out the door?

2007-05-03T14:50:00.000-04:00

Management turnover, according to Business Week, was way up in 2006. Executive turnover from Director to VP was up 68% - is this a sign of the times with companies increasing the performance expectations of their senior staff?

Cheating scandal at Duke

2007-05-01T21:45:00.000-04:00

A disapointing story on the recent cheating exposed at Duke - worse news is from a professor at Rutgers who completed a survey that found that 56% of MBA students admitted cheating in 2005. After Enron and Anderson - it is a shame that the future leaders of business find the need to cheat - I wonder how they will function in the workplace - unfortunately the only way we may know is with another business scandal.

As a senior leader, how involved are you in leading your organizations projects?

2007-04-30T20:41:00.000-04:00

A Cutter Consortium survey found that of 100 organizations, only 39% of senior managers consider themselves very knowledgable of PM methodologies and practice - only 28% of non managers concurred. What should you do - some best practices you should consider adopting - get your senior management team aware and educated on the processes and practices most important; have an effective communication strategy; and be prepared to adjust your plans as things change.

Do you have a confidential hotline for whistleblowers?

2007-04-27T06:59:00.000-04:00

An interesting sidebar in CSO magazine referenced a report analyzing more than 180,000 calls collected from 550 organizations found that in a majority of the cases - 65% - the callers reported somthing that warranted an investigation. What mechanism or process do you have in place to surface issues in your company?

How secure is your software?

2007-04-24T21:05:00.000-04:00

From the Computer Security Institute - here are some numbers on techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of security on software - has your CIO presented your companies security practices? If not, you may be vulnerable to having your data or applications compromised :: internal security audits 82%, external security audits 62%, email monitoring software 61%, and web activity monitoring software 58%.

Impulse-control challenged managers

2007-04-23T21:30:00.000-04:00

You probably have a few of these managers at your company right now - the type that start the fires that end up wasting time and resources for really no reason at all. Harvard's Michael Watkins has an interesting Blog that provides insight into this issue and what you can do:

http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/watkins/

Government contractors paying/receiving kickbacks

2007-04-20T09:13:00.000-04:00

US DOJ joins 3 lawsuits alleging that HP, Sun, and others paid and received kickbacks from partners in exchange for preferential treatment on gov contracts - if this did indeed happen - how far up in the organization could management be aware of this practice. In today's regulatory and governance based environment it is amazing that some companies still try to work deals that are so short sighted and irresponsible.

Ready for Web 2.0?

2007-04-19T12:14:00.000-04:00

From McKinsey, a good article on how business is focused on web 2.0 - with 75% of survey responses from execs indicating that they plan to increase investment in tech trends that encourage user collaboration, P2P networking, social networks, and web services - are you an early adopter or are you waiting to prove business value before you make a move?

Latest on Job Growth

2007-04-18T17:50:00.000-04:00

From Business Week (April 23, 2007), good/bad (?) news for some segments of the business world - the area of greatest resilience in the labor market is the service sector, which accounts for 84% of all payrolls. Over the past year, job growth in services has slowed but not as sharply as overall payrolls - the slowdown has been focused mainly in business services such as legal, computer and management consulting, and financial services.

Telecommuting

2007-04-17T22:16:00.000-04:00

Do you allow employee's to telecommute? if no, why not. More than likely because you worked your way up the old school way where managers felt the need to see their employee's in the office to feel that they were getting a days worth of work in - whether they actually were or not is sometimes not even a priority. As of 2005, the federal government supports telecommuniting, while just 2% telecommute in the private sector - imagine the positive impact to the environment and employee quality of life is telecommuting was made a part of daily worklife. The challenge with this will reside with the manager as simply seeing the employee is not enough - a manager will actually need to know what work is actually being performed. If you went to work today, does your manager know what you did today? would you or your employee's be more productive without the distractions and unproductive meetings usually found in every office environment.

Are your internal controls really effective?

2007-04-16T05:48:00.001-04:00

Some companies find themself in a dilemma. They implement an internal control structure that they believe will effectively ensure that they are protected against fraud and errors being introduced into their business processes. In many cases these internal controls do the job - in other cases though a company becomes too reliant on internal controls and will be ill-prepared to see beyond their comforable process framework. Are you planning and managing to ensure you will catch all potential issues?

The leadership dilemma for innovation - collaborate or compete

2007-04-12T08:08:00.001-04:00

One of the most challenging dilemma's facing today's leaders is how to position their internal organizations to foster both innovation , creativity, and productivity. (From an article on CIO.com from Michael Schrage) On one side, competition can create an effective rivalry that can lead to breakthrough results - at the same time it can also lead to a point where collaboration and communication cease to exist. On the other side, creating an environment that is based on strongly promoted collaboration, those involved may be afraid to innovate as it might impact the culture that exists in the organization. Leaders today need to strike a cautious balance to ensure that both innovation and collaboration and promoted and supported.

Do you know where your used computers go? If not, you should.

2007-04-04T22:35:00.001-04:00

When storage rooms fill up with used computer equipment (which of course involves a cost for leasing the space) what should you do? If you considered asset disposal and recycling during the acquisition process you already have a plan. More than likely though you don't, especially if the old equipment is left over from an merger or from a department that used to order and manage their own equipment. Asset recycling involves risk in data security, compliance, and environmental impact, while maximizing investment value recovery.

Will your management skills scale up?

2007-04-02T06:55:00.000-04:00

Many managers may just assume that their skills will scale up if they are promoted to a higher position or move to a larger company. Some may be able to effectively make the transition, others will need help. Martha Heller, in CIO Magazine (March 15, 2007) describes 4 things to focus on if you are making the move or you are doing the hiring - Sharpen influencing skills, shorten focus on time horizons, upgrade communications skills, and be prepared to adapt to a new culture/management style.

Please step away from your email!

2007-03-29T13:18:00.001-04:00

What is your first response to an issue or problem that you find out about? if it is to fire off an angry email blasting the person responsible, maybe even copying others involved, then you might want to reconsider your approach to handling conflict. You need to remember that confict is going to be part of daily life, especially in the workplace. To be effective in dealing with conflict, you need to accept that it will happen, be proactive in dealing with it, don't react from your gut - get the facts first, and most important - address it face to face, not in an email.

Is your CIO leading the Green IT charge?

2007-03-28T06:34:00.000-04:00

No? why not. Whether your goal is to be a better corporate citizen, or the need to ensure compliance, your CIO's primary domain (the data center) is consuming 1.5-3% of all the power generated annually in the US - with that - making them more environmenally responsible sounds like a no-brainer. Get them to go Green before it's too late...

How much should be spent on search tools?

2007-03-26T18:28:00.001-04:00

From Forrester research, here is a breakdown of what can expect to spend for an enterprise search tool - Entry Level (less than $20K) to include Google Mini, MS Sharepoint, and IBM OmniFind Yahoo Edition; Mid level (between $20K and $80K) to include Google Search Appliance, Coveo, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle; High-End (start at $80K) to include Autonomy, Convera and Endeca Technologies. If you are asking yourself why is it necessary to pay for a search tool - keep in mind that your managers are spending on average about 2 hours a day looking for information - a search tool may help if accessibility to your data and information is improved.

Security gap at mid-market companies

2007-03-24T07:59:00.001-04:00

In CIO Magazine (March 1, 2007), Allan Holmes talks about the challenges small to mid-market companies face as they work to improve their security position. With about 4,000+ mid-market companies, about 43% have annual budgets below $100K while large companies spend closer to $1M. How big is your company and what is your security budget? Do you have a security expert on staff? If you are a mid-market, the chance of that is 20% versus a larger company with a 50% likelihood.

Are you a public leader?

2007-03-23T06:48:00.001-04:00

From McKinsey Quarterly and CIO.com, a survey of CEOs and Board Members say 44% of execs should take on a leadership role on societal issues like education, health care and foreign policy. Are you working and thinking beyond your workspace - other innovative leaders are - although with only 14% saying they personally take a leadership role - not enough are truly using their position and resources to make a difference.

Did your company patch for daylight-savings to avoid potential issues - they should have.

2007-03-22T18:02:00.001-04:00

With the change last month in daylight savings time moving up from April to March, some IT systems were expected to be impacted. The major vendors provided pretty simple patches, some could even have been automated. Unfortunately not all IT organizations were proactive - was yours? If not, they should have been - I suggest you take this as a lessons learned - your IT organization might not be prepared for other move complex future challenges. Ask why they were not proactive - you might be suprised by what they have to say...

Instant Data Center

2007-03-20T23:10:00.000-04:00

What options does a company have if it needs to add or reconfigure capacity on short notice at a minimal cost? One option is a modular data center, a pre-configured collection of servers, storage, power and cooling equipment, that can be setup quickly with a lower overall investment than a custom-made data center. The catch - power capacity and telecom pipes may not be available - with that, a modular data center may still be a viable option.