The global business unit is meeting within the next two weeks.  The business unit leadership wants to be educated on IS strategy and services.  There are a number of factors that limit a drive toward tranformational strategy (in my thinking) including: local project funding, limited shared-services (leading to local hosting), non-standard business processes.

What would you advise to bring the business from 'don't know what they don't know' to 'know they don't know?'

There is significant organizatioinal learning required to move from local => regional => global.  We all know it is easy to say global -- it's not so easy to behave global.

Thank you.  Sal

The Practical CIO and other books are now available at iomoonCommerce. Visit the site and you can purchase a book copy signed by me.

In the book The Practical CIO I stress the importance for CIOs -- and managers at large-- to build a winning team. A CIO without a great team is nothing, will not accomplish much and may not be able to manage the basics of the IT function, let alone use technology to transform the business and contribute to the business success.

Conversely, there are no limits to a team where team members work together and trust each other. A winning team feeds on its successes and uses the success to self-motivate to accomplish even more.

When I say that it is not the technology, but the team, I know I am saying nothing new. Like many things in life, it is much easier to deal with technology than with people. Because of that CIOs tend to pay more attention to technology than their teams. Changing a person’s behavior is not like changing a computer program. If you want to change a program, go to the code, make the change and the program will start to behave differently immediately. Changing a person’s behavior is complex, challenging and takes time. Some, like my wife for example, may say that it is impossible. I know that she is referring to me when she says that.

Building a great team requires change people’s behavior. A team building CIO should start by having a critical look at him/herself and then build a team that to take advantage of his/her streghts and to compensate for weaknesses. How you do that?

Look for future posts on this topic, here on The Practical CIO.

We all know we should not trust e-mails we receive, particularly the ones that are forwarded from someone else. This story however is interesting.

Luís Fernando Veríssimo a very famous Brazilian writer, has written many books and is a master in writing short, funny stories. His father, Érico Veríssimo, also a writer, has produced work considered classic Brazilian literature. Here you can find information about these two incredible authors: Luís Fernando Veríssimo and Érico Veríssimo.

Recently Luís Fernando Veríssimo visited the US and participated in an event sponsored by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (BACC) in Miami. I could not resist attending, since I am a fan and read most of his books. During Q&A, Luís Fernando was asked about short stories circulating via e-mail on the internet carrying his name. He said that most of the e-mail stories are not his and you can tell because the author signs Luíz (with a z instead of a s) Fernando Veríssimo. He went on to say that some stories are pretty good and people compliment him on them, stories that he did not write. Apparently there is nothing he can do about it.

Why someone would produce work using someone else name? If the stories are good why not produce under his/her own name? Add a comment below.

Here is a translation of the latest story I received from a friend: More...

I recently come across a video from Ted, featuring Eli Pariser, that discuss how web browsers and web sites filters information. The video called "Beware of Online Filter Bubbles" is excellent and a must see to all. Eli does an excellent job making the point that web browsers and some web sites are locking users in a bubble of information relevance.

Watch the video here: Beware of Online Filter Bubbles

A presentation titled "The CPA and IT: A Chief Information Officer Perspective" was delivered to USF's The Accounting Circle Conference. This is a conference sponsored by major consulting companies that takes place once a year in Tampa, Florida.

You can find information about the conference here.

A presentation based on The Practical CIO book was delivered today to the Tampa Bay Technology Leadership Association and was well received by the association members. TBTLA membership consists of senior IT executives from the Tampa bay area. You can find more information about TBTLA here.

This event, directed to CIOS, took place early on October 2010 at the Cranfield University in Cranfield, UK and covered topics such:

• Frameworks for Innovating: Creating the Innovation Eco-System, Managing the Innovation Portfolio, Seeking Emerging Technologies, The Innovation Lab
• Innovating for Business Impact: Leading Business Growth through Innovation, An Innovating approach to Business Process Offshoring
• Leading the Innovation Opportunity: Innovation Self-Funding

Kenny MacIver and James Lawrence are recommending "The Practical CIO" book in the Global Intelligence for the CIO blog. Post describes the publication as a Global CIO Masterclass and provide a short but excellent review of the book. Access the Global Intelligence for the CIO blog by clicking on image below.

I Magazine a UK publication ran an excerpt of "The Practical CIO" on the August, 2010 issue. Read the article by downloading it here: 

The Art of the Deal.pdf (394.85 kb) [Downloads: 441]