1. Which of the 10 declarations of The Mindful CIO Manifesto 1.0 resonate the most with you?
It’s hard to pick but I think #4: “We Promote Human Skills and EQ” And, in 2.0, it’s Human Skills over Technical Prowess. Especially: “Relationships are vital…”
2. Please elaborate on why do you identify the most with this declaration.
Human Skills and EQ enable us to consider and respond to many of the other factors. We need to understand ourselves and our colleagues before we can understand and respond to the diverse personalities, backgrounds, talents and blind spots that each of us have and to create psychologically safe – but also inspiring and challenging – environments that allow to do – and enjoy doing- our best work.
Also, IT people sometimes value and develop technical skills in preference to understanding the people they work with. Focusing on the human aspects of the way we work and interact balances that tendency.
This is the reason for me supporting the whole Mindful CIO idea, not just the Human Skills declaration.
3. What is your #1 Strategy (or Ritual) for Self-Care?
Daily (almost) mindfulness meditation is a starting point. It helps me to observe what’s going on in my head, my environment and my day and to decide what to do with it. I try to observe the people around me, the way I am interacting with them and the way they are responding through the day and be purposeful in deciding what to adjust.
4. What does Mindful Leadership mean to you?
To me, Mindful leadership means remembering that humans are both the enablers of and the reason for everything we do. Our role as leaders is to help other humans work together effectively to deliver something valuable for others (enabled by technology in the case of CIOs).
So mindful leadership means cultivating an awareness of the people we work with and being purposeful about how we interact with and aim to influence them.
This applies at three levels:
• Firstly, taking a mindful approach to my own work: cultivating self-awareness and awareness of the way I interact with others.
• Secondly, mindful people leadership: helping the people I work with to understand themselves and each other, their interactions and the impact of those interactions on people – and the outcomes they help to achieve.
• Thirdly being mindful (= awareness + purpose) in the way I interact with my peers, customers, stakeholders and partners.
5. Why do you think The Mindful CIO movement is important? In other words, why have you accepted to become a Champion of this community?
I have long thought that IT leadership as a profession could benefit from placing more focus on the human elements of the work they and their organisations do.
Leaders of IT functions in organisations have often developed careers as expert engineers, architects or developers and see that expertise as the most important in leading their teams and working with their colleagues.
(This is far from a new observation. It has been true at least since the early 90s. In 2024, many IT leaders already operate primarily as people and business leaders but I continue to be surprised that the tech-first (and only) approach to IT leadership persists quite strongly.)
Leadership of any kind is a challenge of bringing diverse people together to deliver inspiring products and services to our customers/clients/citizens.
IT leadership a challenge of “leading technology people” more than “leading technology” to deliver products and services – directly in some cases and that enable customer services in others.
To me, the Mindful CIO movement is an opportunity to help – and be helped by – IT leaders – with the language, perspectives, expertise and blind spots that accompany any profession – to understand ourselves, our colleagues, our partners and our customers and to use that understanding to achieve better outcomes and to enjoy our work more!