Nielsen's Mitchell Habib on Leading Change, Outsourcing and "The Art of War"
At Citigroup and General Electric, Mitchell Habib won praise for his ability to manage change, and criticism for his outsourcing moves. Now CIO at The Nielsen Company, Habib explains his views on tackling a new role, communicating with employees and the role of outsourcing.
CIO — Our annual “State of the CIO” analysis is underway and already we’re uncovering surprising trends in how CIOs work, strategize and view themselves in the corporate landscape. We surveyed hundreds of IT leaders about expectations for themselves and for their peers regarding technical and managerial issues. We’ll publish our full analysis on Dec. 15, but between now and then we’ll bring you excerpts of the data and of our conversations with CIOs wrestling with tough issues.
One theme emerging this year is how CIOs instigate and manage change—sometimes unwelcome change. Is there a more delicate issue in today’s IT world? Our survey finds that 63 percent of CIOs are leading and effecting organizational change. Fifty-one percent are engaged in transforming their IT groups, and therefore how business units get their work done, plus another 12 percent of CIOs are focused mainly on using technology to differentiate their companies from their rivals. It all adds up to change management.
And is there a CIO more famous for shaking things up than Mitchell Habib? Habib’s deep experience leading IT groups through change has earned him both loyalists and detractors.
The 46-year-old executive is known among executive recruiters and colleagues as a turnaround CIO who helps companies blaze through major organizational transformation. Others resent Habib’s quick moves to make aggressive changes and outsource IT work. They think he’s a hatchet man. They’ve told us so in posts on CIO.com’s Movers & Shakers blog. Critics have outlined grievances at other blogs, too.
After two-and-a-half years at Citigroup and seven years at several General Electric business units before that, Habib joined The Nielsen Company in March as executive vice president of global business services. It’s a new position at Nielsen that combines operations and IT, and in it, he’s overseeing major reconstruction of how Nielsen manages technology. He’s introducing new software platforms and outsourcing, and in the process is changing the work lives of over 4,500 technologists worldwide.
Habib says he’s aware of what Movers & Shakers readers have written about him and he cites the blog as one reason he started his own inside Nielsen—to help clear the air. (That blog is not public.)
Recently, Habib talked with Senior Editor Kim S. Nash about his style, his reputation and his approach to changing IT at Nielsen. The conversation reveals Habib as a thick-skinned executive focused on getting the job done.
