CIO Classified

Yousuf Khan, Partner at Ridge Ventures, and Cathy Southwick, CIO of Pure Storage share how they handled the transition from Cathy taking over the role of CIO from Yousuf. They discuss the secrets to making a transition successful, how to maintain a positive relationship with your predecessor, advice for CIOs to be more effective earlier in their role, and much more.---------“Take some time to reflect on your previous role and ask yourself: Are there things in my previous role that I would not want to repeat because I could have done a better job? And actually, be honest with yourself.” -Yousuf Khan“The biggest thing that all of us have to do coming into a role is you have to seek to understand first. You want to respect the past and respect the legacy so that you can help the organization move forward.”- Cathy Southwick---------Time Stamps* (1:46) Intro* (3:24) How to start CIO transition process* (6:47) Building a relationship with your predecessor * (21:14) How to choose a new CIO role* (23:55) Finding great talent* (30:51) Advice for CIOs during a transition* (41:45) Yousuf and Cathy ask each other their burning questions--------SponsorLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best-of-breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.--------Linkshttps://ridge.vc/https://www.purestorage.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Paolo Negri, Co-founder and CTO of Contentful, and Martin Paton, CTO of Kin + Carta Europe, discuss the importance of no-code and low-code tools, the benefits of headless CMS, the future of digital experiences, and much more. Key TakeawaysImplementing no code and low code tools empowers users.Going headless will make your employees’ lives easier and workflows more productive.The more agile you can make your content the more effective it will be.Key Quotes“As soon as the lifecycle of your content differs from the lifecycle of your presentation, or you have multiple and different presentations of your content, the benefit [of headless] becomes huge. You really understand that the life of your content and where the content comes from and goes to are all things that you want to manage explicitly and deliberately.” - Paolo“Last year we did some research that showed that up to 70% of content didn't get utilized. I think it's really clear that we need to create quite a tight feedback loop between the overall content production and the end-user. And what we believe passionately at Kin + Carta is: speed up the experimentation process to ensure that the content is landing. And you need to do that really quickly because content can almost be out of date the moment that it's published.”- Martin“The principle of low-code is really: How can we make available an environment where people can only write code specific to their business? So it's business logic that is absolutely custom to what they’re doing–it stays in the domain of knowledge for which they are solving.” - Paolo“What we try and encourage people to do is really slash and burn the content that you're producing, really focus on the core messages you want people to read. And we’re quite ruthless about that schedule and cycle that you go through when you're actually refreshing your content--the ‘you ain't gonna need it’ principle really does apply here.” - Martin Linkswww.contentful.com/https://www.kinandcarta.com/en-us/ Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best-of-breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysThe best companies prioritize using the best software tools.Create communication flows that build your company’s culture and community.Having an advanced tech stack signals to your employees and potential hires that you are both forward-thinking and open to new ideas.Key Quotes“If you're going to adopt something horizontally, look for something where the internal champions are from a broad set of different teams that have to work cross-functionally by nature.” - Alex“Every company is becoming a technology company and, in fact, is going to become a software company, and developers are at the center of it.” - Abhinav"The intangibles really matter. They set up cultural norms where people feel like they can be productive and they feel like they're in a supportive atmosphere. If you only consider the outputs and the outcome, then you’ll burn people out." - Alex"When every year you hire a company's worth of people, you have to really think about ‘is this a new company or is this the same company?’ And you really have to put in the work to ensure it's the same company, and the culture is not getting diluted." - Abhinav LinksAlex Hood LinkedInAbhinav Asthana LinkedInAsanaPostman Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysThe more diverse your teams the better your products and services will be.Women, especially women of color, have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic. Prioritize bringing more women into tech and leadership positions.Engineers are critical to the corporate ecosystem. Be sure to give them support to be creative and innovative.Key Quotes"There's huge value in bringing diversity around the table. Diversity not just in gender or race, but points of view and diverse opinions." - Rathi“Being deliberate is really important, looking around the table and seeing who isn't there, and then making an effort to get them there.” - Leyla“Disrupt yourself. Otherwise, someone else is going to disrupt you.” - Rathi"If we really want to be a country or a corporate America where people do have a fair shot, then we have to be deliberate. We have to make space for everyone. " - LeylaLinksRathi Murthy LinkedInLeyla Seka LinkedInVerizon MediaOperator Collective Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysRemote work looks different for each employee. Ask them what would make them feel comfortable.Ensure your employees take care of their mental health while working from home to avoid burnout.Make sure leadership is ready to adapt to remote work, and not just the workers below them. They need to lead by example.Key Quotes“The hybrid worker requires radical flexibility.” - Gary"Don't assume everyone is comfortable coming back to the office. Make sure you're listening to their questions and concerns. Have that empathy." - Charlie"It needs to be labeled work from anywhere. It's not work from home. We should be prepared for people to work from wherever they're comfortable to be productive." - Gary“Your first team as the CIO is the executive team not the IT team. It's very important that the CIO makes friends with the executive team and becomes their go-to guy. ” - Charlie LinksGary Sorrentino LinkedInCharles Bonomo LinkedInZoomMSC Industrial Supply Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysCIOs provide a unique and invaluable perspective for boards.CIOs need to be bold and seek out board seat opportunities. Even the most accomplished CIOs can't just wait for the right opportunities to find them.Manage your board portfolio in a realistic and exciting way that makes you excited to get to work.Key Quotes“As a CIO, we see everything. We are the people that are between the people trying to do their job and their ability to get their job done. We see everything from a change management perspective, which gives us an awful lot of experience to then weigh in at the board.” - Diana"To be a good board member, you have to be a good listener." - Yousuf"Regardless of the type of board you’re on there's an element of humility and what they want is not only where have you seen things that have worked, but where have you seen things that haven't worked." - Diana“The best board members are the ones who don’t just listen and provide advice. They are the ones who can actually follow up and actually get things done.” - Yousuf LinksDiana McKenzie LinkedInYousuf Khan LinkedInWorkdayRidge Ventures Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysYou need to proactively analyze your systems and data to ensure they are secure.Make sure your employees networks are protected at home during remote work.Do not rely too heavily on black boxes. Key Quotes“Remote work has opened more windows and doors for the bad guys. And they'll just have a field day if we're not careful.” - Fleming"As the CIO, every single project you have needs to have a security component to it, period." - Raffy"Make sure high quality data and high ethics are being applied in your training models." - Fleming“There is a little bit of the danger in cybersecurity where they're building black boxes left and right. Nobody understands what they actually do and you make critical decisions based on them.” - Raffy LinksFleming Shi LinkedInRaffael Marty LinkedInBarracudaForcepoint Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysHaving an excellent employee experience is the first step to having a great customer experience.You need proactive support. Don’t wait for a user to come to you with a problem.Figure out what’s best to build versus buy. Key Quotes“If you get the best talent in and you get bad tools, then there is no way you're going to be successful.” - KC"Start with the business problem and business value that you're creating and who is the beneficiary. Then work backwards to see what you need to do to achieve that business outcome." - Prakash"Remove any friction that's there that comes in the way of employees being at their best." - KC“The key to frictionless experience to the users is understanding the user and giving them what they need rather than overwhelming them with 300 different tools.” - Prakash LinksArvind KC LinkedInPrakash Kota LinkedInGoogleAutodesk Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysHaving a fear of failure inhibits innovation.Ask your employees how you can best fit their IT needs, because some employees will be too shy to ask for help or assistance for more seemingly basic questions.Be proactive in approaching your users—don’t wait for them to come to you.Key Quotes“People who are playing a role of a CIO now are more business-centric and less technology-centric.” - Vipin"The CIO may not be the most technical talent in the company. What's very important is that they understand the business aspect of it or can relate to it. They can partner with the business side to provide solutions." - Srini"The CIO role is evolving as the technology is evolving." - Vipin“Invest in people. Invest in productivity tools. Invest in good whiteboarding tools. Invest in good collaboration software.” - SriniLinks:Vipin Arora LinkedInSrini Tanikella LinkedInHilmar CheeseSMART Global Holdings---Learn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Key TakeawaysThe path to growth is through excellent consumer experiences.In order to effectively solve business problems you need to work cross-functionally.Goal setting is key to creating successful business practices and achieving great outcomes.Key Quotes"Not every problem requires a technology solution. I think there are many cases where you can leverage processes or people in a thoughtful way to solve a lot of problems versus necessarily having to invest in a technology solution." - Sasha"You just can't separate the business problems from the technical problems. They all are completely intertwined and you can only do the best work when you have that cross functional team with a clear set of goals." - Nick"The better the customer experience, the better the business growth." - Sasha“It's completely fundamental to get good goals and good goal setting processes.” - NickSasha Siddhartha LinkedInNick Rockwell LinkedInThrive MarketFastly Learn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.