🏆 The CIO Tribe
Fresh Ideas for Enterprise IT Leaders Thinking About Tomorrow
Hey everyone,
If you're new here, welcome to Tech Flavor—where I share what’s been on my mind professionally, along with breakthroughs in IT, AI, and Health.
Now onto this week’s issue…
The night before the Arizona #ORBIE awards two weeks ago, I decided to "ruin" my $1,200 Zegna blazer to put some smiles on the faces of Arizona's most impactful CIOs.
📷: very talented DeVonne Ryter from GMI
And it worked. People noticed what I wrote on the back of my blazer, took photos, and smiled.
Ed Dzadovsky from CircleK is snapping a picture smiling in agreement
But that was not my only mission that day.
While there, I also wanted to get a chance to ask the best of the best what their stance on AI was. After all, 80% of our work at Techery these days is AI-related.
After sharing a few stories on AI over the signature Starbucks "not impressive, but so comforting" coffee with five or six CIOs, I noticed a pattern.
They all acknowledged that AI was inevitable and transformative, and some of them had even started integrating it into their pilot projects.
But there was one word they all kept repeating that stood out. And it was a word that was as far from AI as Coke is from Pilates.
"Tribe."
From the outside, it may seem like a tech leader poised for success is the one who utilizes "the best and the latest" to advance their organization, like AI.
But that's just like staring at the Moon wondering how the "Dark Side" looks.
The main reason for these people being so successful was their shared feeling of belonging to the CIO tribe and trusting their teams completely.
This was new to me. In Silicon Valley, almost always the only type of technology leader you come across is the "cutting-edge genius" who is brilliant but is a solo player who refers to his team as "resources."
These Arizonians were different. They were humble, open, brilliant, and gave all the credit to their teams.
You could feel their absolutely non-technical humane message in their every sentence.
It's...
How Kris Singleton cheered the crowd, as if it was a sports game, not a technology award event...
How David Blake spoke about the truths of being a leader that get him grounded and allow him to influence his leadership towards positive results...
How Rob Hoyle thanked his CEO for letting him do "all kinds of crazy stuff," including managing his team through learning how to steer a plane: with two fingers rather than using his full hand grip on the wheel...
How Anish Jacob spoke of being laser-focused on his customers...
How Jim McCarthy thanked his team and his wife for being in his corner for 20 years, and how he learned to see the opportunity inside of change...
How Kevin Rhode, MBA, MHA, CHCIO, CPHIMS , PMP, CDH-E shared that sometimes the problem we are leaning toward is not the problem we need to solve...
How Steve Sharkey insisted on continuous learning and developing a positive team mentality through his daily "what's good today?" approach...
How Mike Goodwin hilariously highly recommended retirement to everyone in the room, and then shared a bunch of great life stories leading to him being proud of seeing the people he had coached become CIOs and CXOs in large companies...
How Alan McIntosh (Plexus CIO and friend, who we came to support that day) talked about trusting the team and helping its emerging leaders climb higher...
How Edward Dzadovsky masterfully led the keynote, showing his humility, open-mindedness, and humor with every question and reaction...
How Steve Reese opened with spreading his PetSmart dog bandana open and thanking the community...
How David Hopkins emphasized the importance of changing the lacking solution, despite the business's love for it...
How Joseph Pensiero mentioned perseverance being the key to the application of what you have learned...
How Joshua Lee talked about resilience being the backbone of his career...
How Bianca Lochner, Ph.D. gracefully explained her approach of simplifying complexity...
And finally, how Paul Schwartz emphasized how important it was to be courageous and take bold risks (which worked, since he won that night).
Yes, it was clearly a tribe. A tribe of doers, leaders, and change agents who know that delegation, trust, and risk-taking are essential for a modern CIO.
And AI... well, it is our future. Everyone understands that.
It's not just another blockchain, a technology without immediate utility. AI expertise and AI focus are a must for enterprises.
But as we get to know our AI assistants better and perhaps even develop some kind of dependency on them, the Next Big Thing will always be our Tribe, the people with whom we move this country, our companies and our lives forward.
That’s all for this week…but one more thing. If you’re enjoying this, can you do me a favor and forward it to a friend? Thanks.
-Alex
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Connect with me on LinkedIn: Alex Pshenianykov
What else was on my mind last week 👇
NEXT IN AI
I bought more Apple stock. Here’s why..
Apple has quietly released OpenELM, a set of small, open-source language models optimized for devices like iPhones and Macs.
This move hints at potential on-device AI developments for WWDC (just a few weeks away now). The open-source approach is a notable shift from Apple's traditionally restrictive and secretive practices.
I’ve been talking about this for a while now: Apple always acts last when all its competitors have made their mistakes.
FUTURE OF HEALTH
I wish they did this when I was 15
Some researchers at Pompeu Fabra University have come up with a cool new way to treat acne. They’ve engineered a skin bacterium called Cutibacterium acnes to produce molecules that help clear up acne. They tested it in skin cells and even on mice, and it worked!
What’s really exciting is that this could be just the beginning.
They’ve managed to tweak the DNA of this bacterium to make it do what they want, like producing specific proteins that reduce sebum and help with acne.
This means we might see new treatments for other skin conditions too. It’s pretty amazing how they’re using nature to come up with smarter, more targeted therapies!
🫠 THIS MADE ME SMILE
