The Challenge of Becoming a Third Generation CIO
Chris Potts
Corporate Strategist, Speaker, Writer
The role of CIO is pivotal to the worldwide IT market. As the market evolves so does the strategy that each CIO is leading, and with it the value of CIOs themselves and the IT professionals that work for them.
From time-to-time, about every decade or so, that evolution includes a major inflection. The central focus of the strategy changes, a new generation of strategic conversations begin, and executives look at the value of their CIO and IT leaders in a whole new light. This is more than simply a change in direction or running faster along the same road. It means taking a different position in the strategic landscape, and continuing to lead the journey from there.
To sustain and grow your value as a CIO or IT professional you need to keep pace with the market, and having a clear sense of where it is evidently heading. Right now, the market is demanding third generation CIO strategies, focused on the value that consumers and enterprises create from innovating with technology. The previous generation of CIO strategy was focused on efficient IT delivery, so this is a major inflection. It is also the opening to the end-game of corporate strategies for IT, and to the ultimate destiny of the CIO role.
In this focused briefing, Chris Potts will explore the strategic journey that we are all on together, and what it takes to be a third‐generation CIO. He will also discuss the end‐game — the fourth and final generation of CIO strategy — that needs to be shaping the decisions and actions of CIOs and their boardroom colleagues, both in the US and around the world.
About Chris Potts
Chris is a hands‐on corporate strategist, a mentor to CIOs, executives and senior IT managers, an award‐winning speaker, and a writer. He specializes in strategies for investing in change and exploiting information technologies. Called "the world's leading thinker on IT investments," he works with people around the world in a diverse range of industries, cultures, and corporate strategies.
Chris is the author of two business novels: FruITion: Creating The Ultimate Corporate Strategy For Information Technology (Technics Pulications, 2008) and RecrEAtion: Realizing The Extraordinary Contribution Of Your Enterprise Architects (Technics Publications, 2010).
He also contributed a chapter to the recent book State of the eUnion: Government 2.0 and Onwards (AuthorHouse, 2009). In it, Chris explores how to energize the public into maximizing the value of investments in government-led change.
Potts has written a series of “think‐tank” columns for CIO Magazine in the U.S., which have been syndicated around the world. In 2008 he was presented with an honor award in Europe, the previous recipient of which was Niklas Zennström, co‐founder of Skype. Potts is a judge for the CIO of the Year Awards in the U.S. and the Middle East.