| | FEBRUARY 20209CIOReviewa few different ways to answer this question. The shortest is to say that one needs to be well rounded, with all the required skills and an unquenchable thirst for learning. A solid understanding of the business of one's organization is very much a basic need. Advances in technology are rapid. A significant portion of what we had mastered gets renewed, replaced, or rejected for the new each year. A CIO needs to stay on top of these and sort out the relevant and ready from those that may hold promise for the future. The complexity is compounded, as it is, for most of us who operate in industries and business environments that are experiencing fast paced changes. The changes in legal, regulatory requirements and customer needs, combined with the threat landscape and methods contribute to the complexity as well. These are just the first few.The CIO's role and responsibilities, when executed well, can have great impact for an organization on multiple fronts ­ customer experience, value creation, productivity, growth, and more. On the other hand, when systems are unreliable, are not high performing, or provide a poor user experience, these can break anyone's day since customers and colleagues depend on the services we offer every minute of the day to get their work done or transactions completed.Successful CIOs have developed a nice blend of strategy, execution and client focus skills, and wear multiple hats not one after the other, but often simultaneously, throughout each day ­ to be a visionary, a great problem solver, a teacher, a protector, a counselor and healer, a juggler, a motivating and inspirational leader, a change agent, a finance specialist to efficiently manage all the spend, a marketer, a people leader, a good communicator, a people oriented person, among other technical and business skills.What we do does not go unnoticed or unrecognized. Almost daily I hear about the good work we do and the value we add, in different flavors and forms. Our global leader recently summed it up in a nice communication, expressing how important my leadership, the outstanding work my colleagues and I do are to the success of our firm. Recognitions like these reinforce for us the value and need to understand the work of the firm continuously, to excel at what we do and to be a positive force to help the Firm to serve our clients well, to grow, and be even more successful. Equally, if not even a more rewarding part of a CIOs role is the impact we get to have in people's lives, both customers and colleagues. Any time our colleagues develop, grow and scale greater heights, take on challenges they thought were beyond their capabilities and do well as a result of the opportunities we create, our mentoring, leading by example, the support we provide, itis very satisfying, always encouraging us to extend and expend ourselves to enable the same for more and to elevate our impact to the next levels.May all of our journeys, both professionally and personally, be fulfilling and rewarding in all possible ways. For all that rests on the CIO's shoulders, for the value we create, and broad based impact we have in countless ways, this is truly a special calling and this is our time to lead and let our contributions make a positive difference. Vince Marin is not a lawyer, and this article should not be attributed to any lawyer or law firm. The views expressed in this article are exclusively those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sidley Austin LLP and its partners. This article has been prepared for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. Readers should not act upon this without seeking advice from professional advisers.
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