It was a pleasure interacting with this panel of CIOs organized and moderated by Dan Roberts. CIOs Vinny Ferrari of Edward Jones, Don Imholz formerly of Boeing and Centene, Jim Swanson of Monsanto, moderated by Dan Roberts. It sounds like the CIOs did a great job of unleashing the power of IT in their organizations. It is encouraging to hear leaders like this talk about some of their experiences.

There was a diverse wide range of questions and discussions, and I found some informative themes. An important one was how important it is to focus on team building when you are in an IT leadership position. Sometimes a leader can get lost in the day to day of IT, but we need to be careful to remember that it is the people within IT that often really give the organisation the power to stand out.

Finding employees that will help your organization stand out, and being a good leader after they join your team as an essential part of leadership. Whether it’s the leadership of “…having the courage to sit down [with your team] and listen.” as Jim Swanson put it, or “…accepting confrontation.” so a team can grow, as Vinny Ferrari said. Finding and sustaining a good team is paramount. In when leading that team, as Don Imholz put it -“Credibility is your most important asset as a leader.”.