13 CIOs Share: My Big Mistakes 2
From tackling personnel problems quickly to not chasing tech fads, 13 CIO innovators share lessons learned the hard way.
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When it comes to making mistakes, CIOs like to talk about failing fast. This is the acceptable way to be wrong about an idea -- we tried something, it didn't work, but it didn't cost us a lot.
But fail-fast mistakes aren't the ones that haunt us. The ones we remember 10 years later are the strategies we followed for too long, the poor hires whom we gave too many chances, and the big vendor contracts that cost a bundle to escape.
What follows are 13 candid examples of decisions that CIOs wish they could do over. Top IT leaders shared these examples with their peers through our CIO Profile series. CIO Profile candidates are chosen because they rank highly in InformationWeek's annual innovation awards.
A few observations about these decisions CIOs would like to do over.
Several of these stories start with "Earlier in my career." Part of that's the reality of company politics -- don't scratch a scab that's just starting to heal. And we all prefer to put our mistakes in the "I know better now" file. But it also shows how deeply held these memories are. These were hard lessons learned, and they are not forgotten.
The fail-fast philosophy applies to personnel decisions, as well, since hiring mistakes rarely get better with time. We hear variations of this advice echoed often: If a person doesn't fit, take steps quickly to help that person, but if that doesn't work, it's time to make the hard call to part ways. We'll see a variation of that lesson again here.
Several lessons are about personal career choices. These leaders had to figure out what motivates and energizes them personally. Get that right, and even bad days at the office become a bit easier to take.
This is the fourth time we've gathered these do-over comments from top CIOs. For a look back, see our collections from 2010, 2011, and 2012. We highlight these so we can learn from one another. In fact, listening and learning better from peers is one of our first hard lessons learned.
1. Pick good people -- and listen
"Early in my career, I signed a contract that ended up being a bad business decision. I was confident I had gathered all the data I needed, but I failed to gain the viewpoints of my fellow workers, so I missed some key information. Now I surround myself with the best and brightest individuals, and I hear them out. Diversity and collaboration provide the forum for the best decision making."
CIO profile of John Schanz, Comcast Cable.
"In the past, I made the mistake of chasing technology. There's a balance between implementing new technologies that offer a competitive advantage and developing reliable, consistent systems."
CIO profile of Anthony DeCanti, UniGroup
"Years ago, I was involved in a large-scale divestiture deal with a big customer, and we committed to take on a logistics capability that we didn't have the systems in place to handle. The timeframe was too tight -- but rather than risk the deal, I signed up for commitments that couldn't be delivered on. The effort and energy to address these challenges we created impacted the customer and the team."
CIO profile of Vincent Melvin, Arrow Electronics
"There were concerns about our infrastructure readiness as we prepared for a major application upgrade. I accepted verbal assurances that everything was in order -- but the infrastructure collapsed, and we were unable to utilize core applications for 12 hours. I learned the meaning of President Reagan's lesson, 'Trust but verify,' the hard way. As a result, this was a one-time occurrence."
CIO profile of Edward Marx, Texas Health Resources
"Early in my career, I was faced with a tough issue that required confrontation. Instead of dealing head-on with the other parties, I asked my supervisor to get involved. In retrospect, I realize that the issue became much bigger than it needed to be, because I didn't handle it directly."
CIO profile of Greg Schwartz, USAA
"I've had a wonderful career and life, but it hasn't always been easy. I wish I'd focused more on emotional intelligence and figured out the importance of high-quality relationships and empathy earlier in my career. Soft skills really do matter."
CIO profile of Brian Lillie, Equinix
"While it's important to give everyone a chance to succeed, earlier in my career, I sometimes held on too long to underperforming staff. Having the right people is the recipe to ensure top-performing teams."
CIO profile of Brian Flynn, Crawford & Co.
"I took a CIO job for a manufacturing company that had a brilliant piece of software it wanted to take to market. Once I arrived, it became obvious that there wasn't enough appetite for the time, money, and resources required to do this successfully. This was a great learning experience and taught me to dig deeper into business plans and projects before jumping in."
CIO profile of David Rowe, Echo Global Logistics
"I administered the winding down of operations and sale of a former company. The negativity of that assignment made it starkly clear to me that my energy comes from creating and building. It took a while for me to shake off that experience."
CIO profile of John Tonnison, Tech Data
"Early in my career, I supported programs that tried to boil the ocean. Over time, I've learned the value of scoping projects to ensure progress isn't impeded; breaking deliverables into smaller, manageable pieces; and building upon successful components."
CIO profile of Suren Gupta, Allstate
"Turning all the keys of the kingdom over to one software vendor with the promise of integration that simply never occurred. As a result, I'm much more cautious now."
CIO profile of Kevin Zaffaroni, Acxiom
"I decided early in my technology career to get out of healthcare IT for a number of years to focus more on mainstream industries. After coming back to healthcare, I realized that I should have never left the industry."
CIO profile of Keith J. Figlioli, Premier
"In certain cases, I dealt with performance issues slower than I should have. It serves you, the company, and the underperforming associate better to deal with performance issues rapidly, balancing the benefit of the doubt with reality."
CIO profile of James Knight, Chubb
"In certain cases, I dealt with performance issues slower than I should have. It serves you, the company, and the underperforming associate better to deal with performance issues rapidly, balancing the benefit of the doubt with reality."
CIO profile of James Knight, Chubb
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