The CIO Program CIO-in-Residence

Technology is at the heart of business strategy today—and organizations are looking to ‘blended’ CIOs to drive conversation, education, and impact. With an expanded remit, tech leaders are expected to go beyond operational efficiencies to drive organization-wide initiatives such as digital transformation, tech fluency, and strategic planning.

On WSJ.com, John and Tim Buckley continue their conversation from a recent Techfluential podcast episode with Deloitte’s Lou DiLorenzo. They share their experiences as c-suite leaders at Vanguard, highlighting the importance of 'Strategic Origination'—a concept where tech leaders imagine and create new opportunities by integrating their tech vision into the enterprise strategy.

Technology is at the heart of every business strategy today—and organizations are looking to chief information officers as the C-suite leader to drive impact through technology. Hear Tim Buckley, former CEO and chairman at Vanguard, and John Marcante, former CIO at Vanguard and Deloitte CIO-in-residence, describe how the C-suite and the board can lean on their CIOs to drive more effective strategic business decisions.

Where technology leaders report in the organization may matter less than the executive team's ability to envision a tech-forward vision for the business.

Many tech leaders are expanding the reach of their role and its responsibilities beyond delivering operational efficiencies. Tech leaders are now expected to own and drive organization-wide initiatives including digital transformation, tech fluency, and strategic planning. With this enhanced scope of duties, technology executives are expressing a strong desire to have “a seat at the table” with the CEO. While this mindset isn't exactly new—the question of where technology reports within a company's organizational hierarchy has loomed large.

In his series on the Role of the CIO, John acknowledges that while it's important for tech executives to have access to the CEO and board, it's even more critical to ensure their tech vision is ingrained in enterprise strategy to help propel the business to greater heights.

As technology's importance to business performance comes squarely into view, many CIOs are taking on the role of growth steward for the enterprise. Today's CIOs are often overseeing internal tech startups and running joint ventures. They're moving into more elevated and strategic roles beyond the technology function.

In this article, John Marcante is joined by Deloitte's Rich Nanda and Anjali Shaikh for a discussion on understanding the hallmarks of an elevated CIO, balancing the art and science of digital business cases, and meeting today’s tech talent challenges.

The evolving business and technology landscape is driving a new sense of urgency for technology leaders to drive transformational organizational change. So, how can technology leaders identify whether there may be a need for organizational transformation? Where should they start? And, how should they do it?

In his series on the Role of the CIO, John Marcante provides 5 steps for understanding, envisioning, and undertaking transformational change:

1. Build a Fact Set
2. Envision the Future
3. Understand the Magnitude of Needed Change
4. Articulate the Value
5. Develop the Road Map

What IT leadership lessons have you learned in your career? How have unexpected zigs and zags ultimately benefitted your growth?

Careers rarely, if ever, follow a straight line. Employees tend to dedicate a lot of time and energy to figuring out how to move up in an organization and, in doing so, sometimes undervalue the lateral moves that can help build the competencies and skills that can serve us well for the remainder of our careers.

In his series on the Role of the CIO, John shares the leadership experiences and lessons that helped shape his career to help technology leaders advance their own futures.