What CIO's can learn from the UK economy?

We all have a place in the economy, usually miniscule but there, nonetheless. Very few of us can actually do anything that materially impacts the economy directly and in a short period of time as well. At best we may come up with, say, a new drug or a new vaccine but that is rare and would normally take about 5 years at a minimum. Why do I raise this? Well because just now we appear to be in an economic storm that we can and must all learn from, since it appears to be a result of a failure of past and current leadership. Here are some random thoughts about what we can learn from today’s UK economy as leaders of business functions..

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Strategic thinking. There does not appear to have been any effective strategic planning or thinking in the UK for decades. We have lost our independence in food production; steel production; energy supply; defence; security and a plethora of other activities. None were identified as “strategic” by any government since the 1960’s. It’s a chronic failure occasioned by short-termism of the markets sated on globalisation,?democracy and a lack of courage from our leaders. Now, occasioned by a confluence of external events – we are found wanting. Nothing to fall back on and dragged down by external forces. Nobody thought further than the next election date. Its almost criminal. Most companies still have some sense of strategic direction even though the time horizon for future looking gets shorter and shorter. If you lead you must remember where you are going to!!

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Contingency planning. There does not seem to be a lot of practical contingency planning going on. Most projects, even domestic ones carry only a broad sense of contingency planning. The problem in the UK is that its never enough. Is this optimistic forecasting or weak contingency or talentless accounting or a fear of not “getting the gig”? ?Who knows but we don’t seem to ever get into and hold our contingency limits.

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Project Planning. OK I surrender on the 2012 Olympics – that was good. Masterminded by some real talent from outside of government originally. But Crossrail? Border control systems? High Speed rail? We seem to be a country of hopelessly optimistic planners. Can we cope with large scale ? Do we have an integrated view of where we are going and the role of each element? No. This is critical to success.

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Expensive operations activity. Too much change upon incomplete prior change. Irrespective of the vast talent in the NHS, and the cash we seemingly pour in,?we conspire to “bugger it up” (Northern UK?colloquial “cock it up”!) fastidiously. Why is this? Too much change seems to be a key aspect. Smaller increments of a concrete plan (dare one call it a rolling strategy?) and shorter, smaller projects would seem to be a better idea. Things might get completed. BUT we have a habit of changing our political masters before anything material can be delivered or strategically agreed, DO NOT BE DEMOCRATIC AT WORK THEREFORE. JFDI.

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Weak Leadership. Nothing reliable to guide a team other than fleeting charisma. Substance is needed and charisma is good as well, but not by itself. Lead on behalf of others not just for oneself. Should we train for leadership?

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Integrity. At some point people will stop following the duplicitous or the erroneous. It may not be immediate departure, but integrity will hold things together longer. This will occasion less stop/start impacts.

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Transparency. Like integrity, transparency will at least prevent gainsaying. In an era of fake news, at whatever level, transparency keeps one ahead of the line between fiction and truth. It holds an agenda better. We must find a way to get to the real truth. Whilst propaganda has been alive for millennia, the preponderance of people now able and willing to lie using modern tools is shocking. Its not politics, its just barefaced lying, and cheating. The worst is when the fake news generators accuse the truth of being fake news. We lose so much by not knowing what a truth is and what is a fiction. Trumpism and Putinism are a moral collective sickness, not just personal peccadillos.

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Resources. ?Do not assume the resources you have today will be available tomorrow. Let us look at what we have gone short of this year; Silicon chips, gas, energy, people, Suez transit, containers, shipping freight capacity, food. So called globalised supply chains. We must have strategic stocks ; buffer stocks; more inventory; and yes, that may make today marginally more expensive, but it means greater security and less costs of disruption. What we have been doing is trading without insurance and that has turned out to be very expensive and inflationary. Getting resources in place to carry out a course of action, be it short-term or long term is rational management.

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All of these facets of life today impinge on the CIOs responsibilities and illustrate how life today brings a set of contemporary challenges that span our world. It is the accountability of the CIO not just to de-risk technology but to assess and act on wider risk management.