Two new podcasts are joining the IT World Canada family: Deeper Dive and Leadership in a Digital Enterprise. Both are hosted by ITWC CIO Jim Love.
Leadership in a Digital Enterprise
Leadership in a Digital Enterprise addresses topics that CIOs frequently bring up during gatherings, Love explains.
“When the pandemic struck, it accelerated a curve that I think we’d been dealing with going into digital transformation, and what we know, entering that era, was that real leadership was needed to move into an uncertain future, to be able to bring people along into a new area,” Love said. “And technology was playing a real role in that. And so the CIO, who for so long asked for a seat at the table, was suddenly thrust there because we knew technology, we knew how to make it work.”
But things have changed since many CIOs entered the industry. They began when the IT management model was command and control; CIOs grew up in structures very much like that of the army.
“We’re now thrust into a place where not only can you not command and control, but you have to be authentic,” he said. “And I think the pandemic did that for a lot of people. It accelerated a trend that was very much there. But now CIOs are struggling with leadership, and so I invented the podcast to try and get the authentic conversations going on with leaders.”
He wants to have conversations with leaders about who they are, what they learn, and talk to them about both successes and failures. He wants to get to know them as people, learn about what changed their lives and who mentored them.
“I’ll be successful with this podcast if people listen to it, and they actually come back and say, ‘I learned something’,” he said.
Deeper Dive
The second podcast, Deeper Dive, is just that – a detailed look at a topic that is often skimmed over, something that people may not understand but need to.
“I think the thorough understanding of something is something that you need to have; you need some foundational thorough understanding of things,” Love observed. “I have had so many people in this business who’ve tossed terminology at me, and I’ve asked them ‘What does that mean?’ And people say, ‘You don’t know what that means?’ I say ‘No, educate me.’ And then they’ll start stumbling and do what a colleague used to call the be-dup, be-dup, be-dup. They’ll give you a definition and you go ‘You don’t know either, do you?’ So that’s what I was trying to get to; I’m trying to put together something where people can get a deep foundation in something and an exploration of it.”
This podcast will provide that deep foundation and exploration, with Love and guest experts delving into the subject and looking at what it is, how it’s useful, how it’s applied, and how listeners can apply it themselves. Love says that podcasts will be accompanied by downloadable assets.
The first topic, scenario planning, is examined in a five-part series by Love and Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business lecturer Doug Sparkes, with case studies provided by Amit Majithia, vice-president and country head, Wipro Limited Canada.
Stand by for the next Deeper Dive, coming soon, this time into 5G, which will look at the technology right down to the radio spectrum, where it fits, how and why it works, and how to apply it, as well as exploring the many myths around it.