The Chief Information Officer role must go beyond transactions and even digital. What does it mean for the Chief Information Officer to be a transformational leader? We explore this topic with innovative and outspoken Chief Information Officer Jay Ferro. Topics include culture change management, leadership, organizing a transformational information technology department, and more.

In this conversation, you will learn about these topics:
-- What is a Chief Information Officer Today?
-- Executing Against Transformational Goals
-- Customer-Facing Activities and the Chief Information Officer
-- Building a Transformational IT Organization
-- Budgeting and Investing
-- Obstacles to Transformation
-- Maintaining the Transformational Process
-- Technology vs. Business Leadership
-- Selling to the CIO

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Read this brief excerpt:

Michael Krigsman: Jay, when we talk about transformational Chief Information Officer, let's begin with transformation. What do we mean in this context?

Jay Ferro: It's interesting. The word is so overused, today, that it's lost some of its meaning, I think, what we talk about today in 2019. We used different language in the past, continual improvement or whatever. To me, taking the digital out of it and just talking about transformation, it's going from one state to another and constantly looking for opportunities to deliver higher quality to more customers, internally and externally, and always challenging yourself to stay one, two, three, four steps ahead of where you need to be.

My team looks at it. [Laughter] I always tell them. I say, "We will always have the bar set for us higher than our customers have for us." Now, that's not always true, but the way we do that is constantly challenging ourselves to get better in all aspects of our roles and it has very little to do, often, with technology and a lot more to do with transformational leadership first.

Michael Krigsman: The essence, then, of what we're talking about is the idea of CIO as a business leader. Is that fundamentally it?

Jay Ferro: I think that's spot on. I think you've heard me say, and I've said many times, that the CIO is a business executive or business leader first and then he or she is a technologist second. Now, they're closely related, clearly, but I hear so much bellyaching and questions about how we get seats at the table. It's amazing that, still, in 2019, we're talking about that.

To me, one of the keys is that you operate and are constantly thinking of yourself as a business leader who happens to have a domain of expertise in technology. You always have an understanding and you're always seeking to learn more about the business that you're in. I've spent enough time at Quikrete already to understand that the best way I can be effective is to understand our business and what we do, how we produce our products, top to bottom. I don't know that there's a better role to learn that than the Chief Information Officer.

Michael Krigsman: Jay, here's a dumb question. That seems pretty obvious to me. You're in business. You have to know what your company does. Why are we having this conversation at all?

Jay Ferro: I think we're stubborn. I think CIOs are stubborn. To me, it seems obvious. To you, it seems obvious. It's a common thread, I think, with CIOs, and I'm certainly not throwing myself into that category but, when I meet world-class CIOs, they always seem to understand that they work for a company that's in business for a reason.

When I was at ACS, we were not a technology company. Now, I know we always say every company is a technology company and, to a point, they are, but we existed there to end the pain and suffering from cancer. Here, we are the largest concrete and concrete products company in North America and we want to continue to grow, excel, and be the market leader, not the best IT company that happens to be concrete.

Michael Krigsman: How pervasive is this issue among CIOs, in general, would you say?

Jay Ferro: I think it's 50/50. You and I talk a lot. We run in a lot of the same circles. I still see arguments. "Argument" is probably not the best word, but vigorous debate around technologies, around those types of philosophies. Amongst ourselves, I think that's fine because we're still being called on to be technology leaders. You expect that your CFO is going to be at the top of her or his game in the financial arena. The same thing with your chief accounting officer, head of talent, or whatever.

Jay Ferro is the Chief Information Officer for Quikrete, the largest manufacturer of packaged concrete in the United States. Previously, he served as Chief Information Officer for a number of other companies including Earthlink, the American Cancer Society and AIG.

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