Paul Cassell, US CIO of NYSE Euronext, discusses his mass innovation movement The “I” in CIO stands for many things: information, integration, and with our somewhat obsessive focus on “data” of late, it even stands for intelligence. But for most CIOs, “innovation” is the word of the day. It is certainly a fun word, but it is easier to say than to deliver, especially when robust, secure and cost effective operations are still of the utmost importance. My favorite question to ask CIOs, these days, is “How do you build a culture of innovation into your IT organization?” Paul Cassell, US CIO of NYSE Euronext, gave me a great answer: “Innovation can be fostered, but it cannot be taught. If your people are process and execution oriented, and do not have a creative bone in their bodies, they will never be your innovators. Some IT organizations send their senior managers to a two-day innovative class, and then they try to think up the next big idea. The idea often winds up being too big to deliver, and the business never sees the value. “When we build innovation groups, we make sure that the team leads are not selected because of their title or status. We don’t just take the most senior managers and do a few think tank sessions with them. We take a bottom-up approach and start by identifying our creative problem solvers, many of whom are at lower levels in the organization. “If we use a baseball analogy, we go for singles and doubles instead of homeruns. This way, we can celebrate incremental innovative ideas, and then the word gets out. We encourage people to bring forward smaller ideas, and once these turn into successful projects, other people are less intimidated about sharing their own ideas. Implement a few collaboration tools that allow people to work together, and that’s when you see a mass innovation movement begin to swell. That’s how you change the culture. “Our people are not necessarily experts at innovation. We are not a company like P&G that has spent 20 years investing in project innovation. We have to start small.” Related content interview Accenture’s Penelope Prett on the predictive value of data The chief information, data, and analytics officer at the $61 billion consulting firm contends that the true power of data resides in the predictive capabilities that come from interconnections between different data domains. By Martha Heller May 17, 2023 7 mins Chief Data Officer Predictive Analytics Data Management feature New US CIO appointments, May 2023 Congratulations to these 'movers and shakers' recently hired or promoted into a new chief information officer role. By Martha Heller May 10, 2023 22 mins CIO Careers IT Leadership feature GlobalFoundries overhauls its process owner model to drive transformation CDO Brad Clay spearheaded a new global business process ownership model to help fuel the semiconductor manufacturer’s transformation from a high-volume commodity business to a high-value one. By Martha Heller Apr 26, 2023 6 mins Business Process Management Digital Transformation interview CIO Fletcher Previn on designing the future of work How can CIOs make their hybrid work culture a competitive advantage? At Cisco, Fletcher Previn leads with user experience and design. By Martha Heller Apr 19, 2023 8 mins Staff Management IT Leadership 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