I thrive on the change. I just love it. I love it academically and I love it emotionally. I love the change. I love the dynamics of it. I love it in the market, I love it with clients and I love it internally. I think if you can’t summon that kind of passion, you can’t find that kind of commitment. In general, I tend to be a little bit more in the militant side of having high expectations of change, of transformation and of challenging people but I love it and that’s why I do it.
– Wes Johnston, COO, Dimension Data
What frustrates me is people who are so terrified of change, and I have to admit, I find it so alien that I struggle to help people make change.I can’t understand why people just don’t get excited about the next new thing that you hear about, like how Android (phones) could now replace iPhones. I mean whatever category it is, new things coming forward, it just excites me to see the incredible products of human ingenuity and to think that some people don’t want it, it just shocks me, especially when we’re oriented to kids.
– Ted Kaiser, CIO, Kids Help Phone
I think the variety, that’s where our life is headed. Every day is a different day, and I mean that sincerely. You find yourself having different conversations, facing different challenges, assisting with different problems and new opportunities. It’s just the variety, really, that is fabulous and fascinating.
-Sandra Hayes, CIO, Borden Ladner Gervais
I think with the pace, there’s never a dull moment. And in the middle of it all, personally, there’s this big sense of satisfaction of actually creating something, from the apps to virtualization. It’s wonderful being part of creation and making things happen, enabling business to create a great client experience. To me, the results, the end result, is a great satisfaction.
-Morteza Mahjour, CIOO, Royal Bank of Canada
I would take that ability to change as meaning you also get the chance to change people. In my group, I have some terrific folks and to some extent, I’m able to mentor them along and they’re able to mentor other people along. You stand back and see that you made it, some good change to the organization and to the people that you work with and those who work for you. That’s what drives me.
-Bruce Fleming, CIO, Aecon Group
Being at small company, I’ve seen it go from 10 people to 100 people or whatever your relative scale is. There’s something about the growth aspect, and the fact that we’re all doing it together, that is exciting.
-Omri Tintpulver, CIO, Brunico Communications
It’s about being of service to the organization and to the community. For every individual, there is a different way where he is good at bringing service or value to the community, and I like being around technology. What tickles me is to find out how this BlackBerry or other new device, the new technology, is working. That’s the best treat for me. Some people would like to find a different approach to how they can bring value but for me, it’s this area.
-Dan Blumenthal, IT director, VitalAire Canada
I probably shouldn’t say it but in this generation, change is ingrained into their brain. For me, it’s just my job. I’m enjoying it and that’s what I do. I always ask if there’s a better way to do something so that I am trying to improve it, one way or the other.
Ambles Kwok, CTO, Springboard Retail Networks
We need to get people to think more about what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and understand the whole interaction and influence of skills that they need to get their job done. I certainly am spending a lot more time with my group making sure they’re getting the right formal training they need. As leaders, we have to actually show staff that we also believe in this stuff. Quite often you throw them on courses and hope they come back completely transformed. Finding those courses is only the first part of that journey.
-George Semeczko, CTO, RSA Group
If one of our businesses feels they want to build a new room in our house, the basement is IT, from an application landscape and from the networking foundation. In our company, we are very cost sensitive but at the end, it’s a team who says “Yes, we need a strong basement, a strong foundation to innovate and to have the best house, the best place, for our customers to go to.” I’m happy and I’m proud of seeing that this is based on IT infrastructure and our conviction around that.
-Stefan Viehmann, CIO, Kuehne + Nagel Ltd.
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