Technology is changing the way every department, from marketing to human resources to finance, is achieving its goals. For that reason, now more than ever, CIOs need to become skilled collaborators. “Collaboration requires trust, credibility, shared goals and mutual respect. What do you as an IT leader and collaborator need to do to be invited to the party and be asked to dance?” That was the question a panel of C-suite executives from tech, marketing and operations at Toyota Financial Services posed yesterday to attendees at CIO 100 Symposium in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif: [Related: How CIOs Can Survive and Thrive in a Swirl of Change ] CIOs huddled in groups to come up with three-minute answers, with the best ones presented to the panel. Afterward, the panel deliberated and picked a winner. It’s an important question given the recent power struggle among top executives for the tech budget. Technology is changing the way every department, from marketing to human resources to finance, is achieving its goals. In actual dollars, the CMO’s tech budget is growing while the CIO’s budget remains largely flat. Unfortunately for CIOs, many business leaders don’t think much of IT. According to a Forrester survey, half of marketing pros do not firmly believe IT accelerates their department’s success. This number jumps to three out of four sales executives and four out of five customer service leaders. There’s no question CIOs have their work cut out for them to win over other C-suite executives. [Slideshow: 10 Biggest CIO-CMO Relationship Hurdles] Here’s the winning answer: “We came up with 7 habits of the highly effective CIO. No. 1: Understand the industry, the business and technology. No. 2: Be part of the solution, because if you’re not, you know you’re part of the problem. No. 3: Take risks, innovate and have a sense of urgency. No. 4: Dance on your toes, not on your heels. No. 5: See the same picture the business sees, just from a slightly different angle — and that needs to be the business outcome. No. 6: Don’t be afraid to lead. No. 7: Occasionally, don’t be afraid to crash the party.” The group with the winning answer also commandeered the slide projector to show a hand-drawn pyramid model — after all, they’re still techies at heart — illustrating these seven habits (see below). Seven habits of the highly effective CIO. The panel highlighted the answer’s theme of transparency as one of the winning characteristics. Toyota Financial Services CIO Ron Guerrier also applauded the marketing nature of the presentation, including the visual. “When you’re kinda selling this idea to the business, it has to be something that they’ll actually buy into; it has to have somewhat of a marketing feel to it,” Guerrier says. “It also talked about behavior for the leadership on the IT side. That’s very important. A lot of us have to shed the old ways, think differently, challenge the status quo and never be complacent.” Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP When natural disasters strike Japan, Ōita University’s EDiSON is ready to act With the technology and assistance of SAP and Zynas Corporation, Ōita University built an emergency-response collaboration tool named EDiSON that helps the Japanese island of Kyushu detect and mitigate natural disasters. By Michael Kure, SAP Contributor Dec 07, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business IT Skills Backup and Recovery Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe