The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership

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The Global Paradox

I remember the first time I wrote about global IT leadership, and I came across the word “glocalization.” I thought to myself, when you need to invent words that sound like you are choking on a chicken bone, you probably have a paradox on your hands.

As each of you has no doubt experienced in your careers, IT leadership is hard—not impossible, but challenging to the point where you need to be incredibly talented, energetic, and committed if you are going to get it right. Add multiple countries, time zones, languages, and currencies to your purview, and your challenges only increase. A CIO’s traditional approach to communication and alignment often fails under the scope and complexity of a truly global enterprise.

Before ...