Why Do CIO's Get Fired? By Joe Hessmiller

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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Why Do CIOs Get Fired?

A briefing by the numbers with suggestions for consultants

to share with their CIO clients.

by Joe Hessmiller


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Agenda

• Purpose of Presentation• Let’s Take a Look at the Numbers• Why DO CIOs Get Fired?• Why Do CEOs Get Fired?• Takeaways


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Purpose of Presentation

• At the end of this presentation you will be able to:– Discuss with CIOs the key career risks they

are facing– Present low-cost, low-risk ideas for

addressing those risks


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Agenda



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Computer Aid, Inc.

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CIO “Involuntary” Departures Not Out of Step with Other CxOs

Reason Top IT Executive Left Company

IS (148) HR (168)FINANCE

(183)SALES

(90)

Left voluntarily to pursue career opportunities elsewhere 40% 33% 29% 35%

Left involuntarily due to performance 23% 19% 23% 18%

Retired 11% 23% 20% 16%

Promoted internally 10% 8% 12% 16%

Left involuntarily due to restructuring / downsizing 5% 4% 3% 3%

Left involuntarily due to misconduct 1% 3% 4% 2%

Other 9% 11% 8% 10%

Source: One in Four CIOs Fired for Performance, Kim Nash, CIO Magazine, March 11, 2009


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Larger the Org, Greater the Risk

Reason Top IT Executive Left Company by Revenue

Total (148)

<$100 Million

(30)

$100 Mil-$999.9 Mil (69)

$1 Billion+

(37)

Left voluntarily to pursue career opportunities elsewhere

40% 47% 45% 24%

Left involuntarily due to performance 23% 23% 23% 30%Left involuntarily due to misconduct 1% 0% 0% 5%

Other 9% 7% 10% 8%



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Computer Aid, Inc.

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CIO = “Career is Over” is a Myth

Tenure of Current Dept. Head by Company Size (in years)

All Companies

<$100 Million

$100 Mil-$999.9

Mil

$1 Billion+

Human Resources 6.40 6.90 6.70 5.00

Information Systems 6.30 6.50 6.50 6.20

Finance 7.00 8.10 6.40 6.70

Manufacturing 6.60 n/a n/a n/a

Sales 6.30 6.30 6.20 6.10



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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Agenda



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Computer Aid, Inc.

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10 Reasons CIOs Will Get Fired

1. Failure to Attack 80/20“The tools are now available-the at-risk component is the will of the CIO to fight a long and grueling battle.”

2. Failure to Embrace Mobility“…the customers of HP and SAP are clearly telling them that mobility must be #1.”

3. Failure to Lead“Successful CIOs surround themselves with technologists and focus instead on leadership.”

4. Misplaced Priorities“I can give you our IT strategy in two words: it’s our business strategy.” – Dave Barnes, CIO, UPS

5. Revenue Involvement“Can you really expect to survive as a cost center that’s detached from the revenue that keeps your company alive?”

Source: Global CIO: 10 Reasons CIOs Will Get Fired This Year, InformationWeek Magazine, Bob Evans, June 10, 2010


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10 Reasons CIOs Will Get Fired6. Revenue Enhancement

“Can you show – clearly – that you know your primary job is to help the company grow and succeed rather than run infrastructure?”

7. Customer Engagement“…in the age of Amazon and iTunes and Twitter and apps for everything, you don’t feel the IT organization can be bothered with enhancing customer intimacy?”

8. Cloudy on the Cloud“CIOs must by now have a forceful and vigorous plan for how the cloud does or does not fit into their plans.”

9. Real-time Awareness“How would the ability to do real-time analytics feeding real-time decisions change how your business operates?”

10. Power of Transformation“CIOs need…a vision for how IT can become a profound engine for helping the CEO and the entire company create the future rather than merely replicating the past.”

Source: Global CIO: 10 Reasons CIOs Will Get Fired This Year, InformationWeek Magazine, Bob Evans, June 10, 2010


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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CIOs and Business Cycles

• CIO Tenure = Length of Business Cycle– Time Between Last Major Strategy and New One

• CIOs committed to LAST strategy are targets when new strategy is chosen.

“If CIOs’ let themselves be the wagging tail on this [organizational transformation], … then they deserve…the view…provided by the tail and its proximate parts.”

– Bob Evans, InformationWeek, June 10, 2011


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Agenda



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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Who CARES Why CEOs Get Fired?

• CEOs Get Fired for the Same Reason as Other CxOs.

• Helping the CEO Avoid Making These Mistakes is a BIG Part of the CIOs’ Job (whether they realize it or not.)

• So…


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Why Do CEOs Get Fired?

• Mismanaging Change (31%)– Failure to Sell the Need to Change Course– Failure to Follow-through to Solidify Gains

• Ignoring Customers (28%)– Failure to Develop Intimate Knowledge of Customers, Customer Needs and

Developing Trends

• Tolerating Low Performers (27%)– Failure to Improve or Discipline Poor Performers– Loss of Credibility (Suspicion of Something to Hide)

• Denying Reality (23%)– Far too insulated from frontline realities– “…rather have bad news and a plan to fix it, than…no news or sugarcoated news.”

• Too Much Talk, Not Enough Action (22%)– Grand Visions, But Neglect Tactical Planning and Evidence of Implementation

Source: Response to question, “So why did the CEO REALLY get fired or forced out?” in Global HR News, based on 4 year, 1087 Board Members, 286 Organizations.


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Agenda



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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Takeaways

• CIO’s get fired for the same reasons as other execs.– They ignored the future– They enabled waste– They alienated truth tellers– They promised a better future than they

could ever deliver

THEY WERE OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY(and their management teams were too weak to overcome their limitations.)


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McKinsey: Improvement Needed in Management Capability in IT

Source: McKinsey Quarterly, Nov. 2008, “IT’s Unmet Potential”, Exhibit 4


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Computer Aid, Inc.

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Takeaways

• Enable CIOs to predict the future, identify and eliminate waste, encourage truth telling and deliver the future they promised – on time, on budget and with high customer satisfaction.

• BY enabling the IT management team to acquire, manage and react to fact-based feedback from the ‘front lines’.

• Managers may need more training, but trained or not, they need the fact-based feedback – in the most relevant, critical areas - to make the right decisions in a timely fashion.

Why Do CIO's Get Fired? By Joe Hessmiller

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