People of sure persona varieties are likely to gravitate towards sure careers. Such is the case with CIOs, and this offers us perception into their widespread behaviors and thought patterns. For at present’s CIOs, self-awareness of persona points which have served them effectively, and people who might maintain them again, is essential.
A examine from researcher Joe Peppard discovered 70 p.c of CIOs exhibit the ‘ISTJ’ persona sort. Each letter on this Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) framework represents a choice for considered one of two reverse poles:
Introversion/Extraversion: Do we are likely to give attention to the surface world of individuals and exercise (Extraversion) or the interior world of ideas and emotions (Introversion)?
Sensing/Intuition: Do we belief info gathered by the 5 senses (Sensing), or extra summary patterns and potentialities (Intuition)?
Thinking/Feeling: Do we base choices on goal logic (Thinking), or our values and priorities (Feeling)?
Judging/Perceiving: Do we want to stay decisive and in management (Judging) or will we wish to maintain our choices open, remaining spontaneous and versatile (Perceiving)?
ISTJ, the commonest persona sort amongst CIOs, prefers Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging. This sort focuses on the interior world of ideas and emotions, trusts info gathered by the 5 senses, bases choices on goal logic, and prefers to stay decisive and in management. In my consulting work I’ve discovered that this orientation has many benefits, but additionally some blind spots.
Strengths and blind spots
Consistent with the ISTJ preferences, I’ve discovered that CIOs have a tendency to love timelines and closure, are goal- and deadline-oriented, take pleasure in analyzing knowledge, suppose systematically, and base choices based mostly on prior expertise. These preferences have benefits for CIOs, whose jobs require pondering tasks by from begin to end and understanding the sources and stakes in a brand new initiative.
However, ISTJ ‘blind spots’ can maintain them again. They might not deal with change effectively, might have a tendency towards black-or-white pondering, and might get set of their methods. If they don’t test themselves, they will start to suppose they’ve all of the solutions – an angle which makes it troublesome to adapt to market adjustments, new management, or a brand new place.
We noticed this as cloud computing emerged as a viable different to on-premises and required rethinking many assumptions. CIOs that held to the notion that knowledge is inherently much less safe within the cloud typically discovered themselves sticking to insurance policies that put their corporations at a drawback with extra progressive-minded rivals. Now, because the cloud panorama evolves to incorporate extra advanced fashions akin to distributed cloud, and because the value of cloud internet hosting rises, CIOs should stay versatile.
Understanding the C-suite
As CIOs are more and more requested to drive income, understanding how you can talk successfully with the C-suite is essential. Peppard noticed that the commonest CEO persona sort is ENTJ (Extroversion, Intuition, Thinking and Judging). One notable distinction between the commonest sort for CEOs and CIOs lies within the Sensing (S) /Intuition (N) dimension of persona. Whereas CIOs lean on concrete info, many CEOs give attention to patterns and potentialities.
CIOs who’re conscious of those variations could make a persuasive case for his or her suggestions by emphasizing the way it helps the ‘vision’. Or they could determine to look previous among the murky particulars to embrace a CEO’s wider view of what’s potential. For occasion, a CIO may want to think about changing a legacy logistics system that works completely effectively with a more moderen, mobile-enabled system that – whereas requiring heavy…
