| | DECEMBER 20199CIOReviewAs CIOs, we need to be able to share our vision in a way that helps others understand why a certain technology will be impactfulthrough the noise, truly understand the megatrends, and be the trusted partner that helps navigate the digital disruption and hype cycles that are coming not just at us, but everyone--including the CFO, the CMO, the CRO. It means having the wisdom and grounding to know when something is vaporware--and not being afraid to say it. And that's where we have to be comfortable in our role as technologists.Becoming a true technologist means being a continual learner, being curious, looking at emerging and existing technologies with a child's eye to understand what they mean, what they can do and how we can use them. Take, for example, machine learning. The technology's been around for decades, but it took visionary CIOs--technologists at heart--to study it, uncover the possibilities and see how they could apply it to solve real business problems. OperatorIn all of our efforts to look into the future, we can't lose sight of the fact that the day to day still matters. And this is perhaps the most humbling aspect of the CIO role. Part of being visionary is not forgetting the basics, the foundation, the genesis of the job itself. We have to be pragmatic and prudent. We can have all the enterprising ideas in the world, but at heart, we are responsible for operating a business, and the entire organization relies on us to execute-- because vision without execution is a hallucination.We know that the natural tendency--sometimes of the organization, sometimes our own--will pull us back to the old norms, back into this operator role. The key to being the visionary CIO that these inspiring times demand is to honor the value of the operational while challenging yourself to go beyond it, to see yourself as a catalyst, a strategist, a technologist, and even a tightrope walker. Because yes, it's a balancing act. You can't let anything drop. But if you can do it, you can defy gravity.
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