Navigating the Upside Down as a Technology Leader

CIOs have the hardest job in the C-Suite in 2024. The pace of change is eating your lunch, while the constant pressure to innovate within shrinking budgets makes the role particularly challenging. This pain radiates at every level of the organization.

I love Stranger Things, the era, the mystery, and the ability to watch reality break down in real time, right in front of our eyes. One day, you are a regular school kid with normal kid problems, and the next, you save the world from an extinction-level event. It's messy, and the laws of the universe no longer apply. As a technology leader, you are in transition from the ordinary to facing extraordinary challenges, pushing us into leadership trials we never anticipated.

In our real-life Hawkins, the technology world is a bit Upside Down. Things don't work like they used to, and success requires a band of friends venturing into the unknown. In this adventure, the technology leader's mission is clear: to illuminate a path through uncertainty using all the tools at their disposal: collaboration, technology expertise, leadership, experimentation, and placing effective strategic bets. Navigating through another cybersecurity threat while trying to integrate AI without a clear ROI can feel like confronting the Shadow Monster with nothing but a flashlight and a walkie-talkie.

Budgets are not keeping up with revenue growth or inflation. Organizations are playing catch-up with AI, dealing with human friction and sporadic ad-hoc investments diminishing future business cases. Business problems require increased capabilities and collaboration across the enterprise, requiring CIOs to relinquish control to marshal the resources and support required to succeed. How do we, as leaders, adapt when the playbook no longer applies?

If you are in a technology leadership position - here are four ideas that will help you think differently about your organization and provide areas to focus on to ratchet up your effectiveness. Over the next few weeks, we will dive deeper into each one.

1. Maximize Existing Investments - You don't need another tool. Before evaluating additional long-term contracts, ensure you get the most out of what you already pay for. Chances are, you are leaving value on the table. This is a good time to evaluate your "rental" agreements and make sure you need all of the compute resources, human capital, and SaaS licensing/features you are paying for.
2. Extend the Olive Branch - You can no longer meet your long-term objectives in the luxurious walled garden of the IT silo. To achieve progress toward the organization's strategy, you must mobilize resources from across the enterprise. Jim Hopper couldn't achieve his mission without a cross-functional team. Chances are, you can't either. You need your peers' resources, support, and budget to keep your job.
3. Capture Value from AI Investments - Your organization has likely over-corrected on the AI fervor with sporadic investments and suspect business cases. Now is the time to narrow your focus and place strategic bets on AI that will move your business forward. We don't need another low-code document summarization POC. Remember when everyone was creating their own social media platform? Let's not make AI our next Quibi.
4. Align Talent for Results - Organizations have taken their eye off the talent development ball. When the market heats up, capturing growth depends on your organization's capability portfolio. Instead of chasing the hottest trends in skillset - focus on productivity, throughput, teamwork, and work ethic. Joel Spolsky had it right - screen your talent for "Smart and Gets Things Done." We are already seeing benefits from this shift in the wild.

Just as the kids in Hawkins navigate the unknown with courage and unity, technology leaders can guide their teams through today's challenges with strategic insight, collaboration, and a focus on core strengths. Use the four trends above as your roadmap for change and exploration.