Self-Awareness
Are we self-aware in how we are shaping the profile of the tech workforce? Kathy Goss, Head of Inclusion Recruiting for LinkedIn, challenged the audience to think differently as they look to recruit and hire. One process she uses to create "aha" moments in recruiting (described below) helps hiring managers consider who they are looking to hire. Are we thinking differently as we hire or looking for more of the same? It takes self-awareness to understand the workplaces we've build and how we can change them for the better.

Self-awareness also struck a chord with Shari Aser, Director of Digital Sales for IBM at the Ipreo event. Aser shared how important it is for anyone in the workplace looking to move up to be aware of where they are at. She encouraged women in the audience to go for promotions and raises. However, she also reminded the audience to keep in mind that "if you ask for a raise after just three months, you might be disappointed." Her advice was to always gather facts and evidence of accomplishments when asking for promotions, raises and other career opportunities.

Vulnerability
Are you putting yourself out there? That was a key question at the Women Tech Connect in New York City where Bertina Ceccarelli, CEO of NPower, encouraged women to "get out of their comfort zones at least once a week." If you aren't vulnerable in your work, you aren't taking risks and you will not grow. The message for women: Don't be afraid to be vulnerable and uncomfortable. Be afraid of stagnating and staying only in your comfort zone.

Responsibility
Another important word I heard at both events was responsibility. Panelists and attendees reminded women to take responsibility for their career paths and for approaching the roadblocks and challenges they face on the job with facts. As one panelists told the audience, "no one can get mad at you if you have facts and figures on your side." It's your responsibility to argue your case and promote your ideas with reason and facts. Passion that is underpinned by powerful facts is inspiring. Emotion without facts might get you attention but it will not win support.

Mindset
Full disclosure. Mindset is one of the words I use a lot when coaching people in the tech sector. I think having the right mindset when you take on a role, enter a room, deliver a solution, lead a meeting or propose an idea is key to your success. A positive mindset that is open to growth and eager for challenge is a must in the fast-moving, disruptive tech environment. I have worked with many talented technology professionals who are staunchly set in their ways. They only advance so far before their rigid mindset limits them. My career in technology has spanned many companies, titles, solutions and industries. I have learned by experience how it takes an open and curious mindset to bend and grow with a changing industry and not break. Let's face it-- if you can change your mind, you can change the world.

EQ versus IQ
In studying these five words, what I see is the enduring importance of EQ (emotional quotient or intelligence). Women have proven they have the intelligence (IQ) and education (more women graduate college than men) to compete and contribute in IT. To continue to make strides in IT leadership and innovation, women in tech must also focus on the factors that shape one's confidence, leadership ability and EQ. Words have meaning. These words (faith, self-awareness, responsibility, vulnerability and mindset) have might.

Why did this night feel so significant? For me and many of the audience members I spoke with after, the panel of women was awe-inspiring not just because of the important work they are doing in the human capital and tech sectors but also because of the clarity they brought to questions about taking charge of one's career as a woman. I know Monica, Britt and Michelle will laugh to hear me characterize them as "women who walk on water" but getting good answers to tough questions about women in tech careers can feel almost miraculous at a time when progress is still so slow. So what advice did they share? Here are the highlights:

Want Work-Life Balance? Own It!
Are startups and small firms or large companies better able to deliver on work-life balance? After healthy debate that split the room, the audience and the panel agreed that gender determines the answer. A male-dominated team (at a startup or a large company) will have one way of thinking, which will limit flexibility. The panelists' advice to the audience was to own your own schedule. Established professionals of any gender should feel comfortable establishing boundaries that support better balance. According to the panel, you have to own your schedule. Ask for what you want, ensure other people are respecting the boundaries you have set and stay working within the limits you have set.

Negotiate in Total, Not in Piecemeal
To advance in your tech career, you have to be a strong negotiator and that begins at the start of any job. The panel advised job applicants to put all their desires on the table, from salary to benefits to work-life balance needs. Don't hold back thinking that it is better to try and get one thing at a time. A piecemeal negotiation wastes time, frustrates hiring managers and makes it seem as though you are not sure you know if your skills and performance will warrant what you are asking for. Know what you want and ask for it with clarity, a good case and clear confidence.

Speak with Purpose
The panel feel like too many women alter how they speak in order to avoid conflict or to be sensitive to other perspectives. They say "I feel that..." or "I think..." which, according to one panelist, makes one's input sound more like subjective musings rather than thoughtful business insights based on objective data. Take out words that might be construed as emotional and subjective when you have a point to make. Be definite, clear and unapologetic about sharing valuable information.

Get Heard
When one audience member mentioned being "shushed" in meetings by a male counterpart, the panel was astounded. None of them could imagine being shushed. However, they did recall times when it was hard to have their voice heard. The advice to the room was to go into meetings where you have something to say prepared with good points to make and recruit an ally. The ally is someone who you recruit in advance who knows you have a point to make and can back you up if you try to make a point and are overlooked or quieted. Go into meetings well-prepped and well-allied and it will be hard not to be heard.

Be Supportive with Positive Speak
The panel agree that women aren't doing enough for each other when supporting each other's careers and growth. They speak of the importance of using "positive speak" to acknowledge the talents and successes of women colleagues and candidates. Look for opportunities to promote the success of your fellow female professionals so that people see and hear about the great work women are doing.

Get a Mentor, Be a Mentor
The panel advised the audience to stop waiting for a mentor to drop into their laps. If you want a mentor, go to your employer and ask for one. Few businesses have formalized mentor programs but are still happy to make these connections among employees. And, mentors can make a big impact on career opportunities and growth, which means women in IT should not only look for mentors but consider being one as well. We all have something to learn and something to teach.

Get Out of Your Head & Be Confident
The panel was clear that women in the workplace have to stop worrying about preconceived notions. You can't control the stereotypes people have about you, whether they are about your race, your gender or your culture. So what can you do? Get out of your head and stop trying to adapt who you are to what you think they want. Just be yourself, do great work and don't worry about it. Focus on winning their respect rather than being liked and that will propel you forward.

As you have read, ideas and advice flew from this ARA panel with cheerful fury. I invite you to follow these executives (Monica Pool Knox @monicapk, Britt Provost @BrittProvost and Michelle Perez) to hear their ongoing words of wisdom and remind you to take their sage advice straight to the workplace: to be yourself, own your career, ask for want you want and make sure you are heard.

Each year the Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey gets bigger, and better in my opinion. It's better because of the ever-richer tech leadership data we are gathering from around the globe. And it's better because our partner and sponsor, KPMG, leverages their talented network of business and technology analysts to dive deep into the findings and bring out powerful insights into the opportunities and challenges shaping the digital landscape for today's CIOs. While we have been conducting this survey, the largest of its kind, for 19 years, the 2017 survey is still full of firsts. One fitting example of these firsts is the focus of the webcast I co-hosted on November 1st with KPMG's US CIO Advisory Practice Leader, Denis Berry. and I not only had the chance to share the survey results with the audience, but also unveil what this year's survey data identified as four key pillars of digital leadership.

Within the data, we found clear markers delineating leaders who are embracing a digital approach in their strategies, environments and future planning. How does a digital leader lead? According to the 2017 CIO Survey, a digital leader...

1. Builds a stable and secure infrastructure
2. Makes aggressive investments in agile and disruptive technologies
3. Aligns business and IT strategy, from the front to the back office
4. Is focused on innovation and growth

CIOs Explain Digital Leadership
Not all CIOs are digital leaders but it's quickly becoming critical that CIOs embrace digital mindsets. Explaining what digital is or means is not always easy, but you know it when you see it. To give a clear picture of digital leadership in the webcast, Denis and I were joined by two pioneering CIOs who shared their digital approach to building and leading their organizations. Mark Maddox, Vice President & CIO of Apache Corporation, and Hagen Wenzek, co-Founder of tech startup CorporateHealth International, generously gave the audience real-world examples of how these four pillars shape their technology vision and work, and we are sharing their insights into strategic digital leadership here.

Pillar 1: The Stable, Secure Infrastructure

For Mark Maddox, leading the global IT operations of an international oil and gas company has been an exercise in uncertainty over the last several years. To create the stable infrastructure needed to support innovative digital strategies and tech advancement, Maddox has focused on simplifying the IT infrastructure at Apache Corporation in ways that will allow the company to be more digitally agile and also more efficient. "Our focus is on trying to create as predictable a cost structure as possible in order to continue to deliver innovation in a reliable and efficient way to our business partner. How does that look? We are moving from 11 data centers across the globe to 3 in order to consolidate our footprint, reduce security exposure, increase efficiency and reduce costs. We are creating a hybrid environment, moving workloads to public and private clouds, and looking for opportunities to make smart, aggressive investments in agile and disruptive technologies," said Maddox.

Pillar 2: Invest in Agile, Disruptive Technologies

For Hagen Wenzek, who spent many years in tech innovation at IBM, his startup healthcare technology firm is all about disrupting norms. Wenzek spoke to the fact that years ago the automation and cloud movement he was leading at IBM was in response to the market demand to automate the simple, repetitive tasks people do. "Now we are looking at sophisticated, error prone human work and how we can automate it away to robots," said Wenzek as he explained his company's technology for transforming traditional colonoscopies through capsules, video, automation and AI technology. Wenzek explained how in healthcare, where mistakes put human life and health at risk, is a place where agile and disruptive AI technologies and neural networking are presenting opportunities to reduce costly mistakes and change patient outcomes in important ways.

Pillar 3: Aligns Front to Back Office Strategy

Maddox has created a set of guiding principles for his entire organization, designed to unite the tech vision and strategy from the frontlines down to the core foundation. "These principles (scale for the future, innovate, maintain security and reliability, minimize complexity and optimize costs) act as guardrails for the overall tech effort and strategy," said Maddox. They are uniting his IT organization, from front to back office.

Pillar 4: Is Focused on Innovation and Growth

To stay focused on innovation and growth, Wenzek is an IT leader that walks the innovation walk as much as he talks the talk. "The CIO today needs to figure out what automation tech can really do and then go forward and implement it. That means you have to go back to school a bit. That's what I did. I went back to learn how neural networks work. If you understand these technologies, you can use that knowledge to your advantage to drive the business agenda. This allows you to drive innovation and allows you to create certainty for you and your staff," said Wenzek.

We at Harvey Nash and KPMG are thrilled to see how today's CIOs and digital leaders are driving the business agenda of today and tomorrow. If you would like to learn more, you can download the 2017 Harvey Nash KPMG/CIO Survey here or download the webcast replay here.

The second annual Harvey Nash Women in Technology Survey has just been released, and once again the most important takeaway is "We have to start early!" Early introductions to STEM/STEAM and strong STEM/STEAM education are powerful ways to foster a strong IT workforce according to this year's survey takers, 69% of whom said the key to getting more women in tech is encouraging them to pursue technology in high school or college. That belief likely comes from experience. The survey found that 59% of men and 44% of women entered IT through a STEM track in college. As we look at younger years, the gap between men and women who are bitten by the IT bug in even earlier years grows. The survey found that almost half of men (44%) but only 26% of women become interested in technology in high school or earlier. The difference in early tech interest is also pronounced. Twice as many men as women (20% vs. 9%) reported their tech interest began in elementary school.

For Employers Seeing Talent: One Answer to the Shortage of Grads
It's very hard to change the number of women in computer science fields in the near term because there is a lack of applicants with computer science degrees. Organizations like Girls Who Code, Girl Develop It, Ladies Learning Code and many others are working to change the math, as are STEM/STEAM learning programs in schools across the country. The only problem? Time. We have the jobs now. The lesson for those of us in businesses that need a lot of IT talent today is that we have to look past the degree in order to bring women in now.

If a computer science degree is an on-the-job requirement, consider taking it off or, better yet, opening it up to other STEM and social science degrees. Look at candidates whose degrees might not scream tech but whose work experience includes technology. More and more jobs today require technology skills and more and more young people are getting them in various ways. As the survey shows, not all IT professionals--men or women--arrive in the tech field via computer science or STEM degrees. So I say, look for more outliers and focus on skills and experience versus degree.

For Women Interested in IT: Sharpen Skills & Increase Confidence
Another bonus of early exposure to technology revealed in the survey is confidence. The survey found that only 12% of female professionals who first became interested in IT in high school or earlier listed technical skills as an area of weakness. Women whose tech interest started after their first job were far less sure of their skills with 28% listing their technical skills as a weakness. Women who became interested earlier also rank themselves higher on confidence and delegation skills. While we as women cannot turn back the clock to middle school to search out more confident footing, we can take a lesson from those women in tech whose confidence is higher. If you have done something from childhood, you have more practice and experience. The more practice you have, the more confident you are. My advice to those feeling unsure of their skills is to stop worrying about your skills and put them into practice. Take on more opportunities to hone your skills in the workplace. Ask to shadow a colleague whose skills are sharp. Look for development opportunities in your workplace. Take a refresher class.

While it might not feel like it sometimes, more people than ever are recognizing that it has been hard for women to thrive in tech and many are rooting for you to succeed. The Harvey Nash Women in Tech Survey recorded a powerful change in the number of men who say an "unwelcoming environment to women and minorities" is one of the greatest challenges when it comes to working in IT. That number rose from 7% in 2016 to 13% in 2017. That's an 85% increase in men recognizing a roadblock, which also means there is opportunity. Look for chances within your company and community to sharpen and add to your tech skills (and any other skills you feel could be limiting your growth, from communication to management). Practice and test your skills as much as you can and let increased competence fuel your confidence.

What have we learned in our fifth year at this? First that Australia's epic growth streak, which has resulted in 26 years without a recession, continues to foster a culture of positivity and possibility that we see and hear each year in Sydney.

The passion for innovation, action and entrepreneurialism is always in the air at these annual gatherings, and this year was no exception. Despite the fact that this year's Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey is titled "Navigating Uncertainty" and reveals underlying global concerns around cyber security and political, economic and business uncertainty, CIOs in Australia are embracing the digital opportunities of today. They are case studies in how to steadily adapt with constant change. The leaders on our CIO/executive panel for this year's event included Anastasia Cammaroto, Chief Information Officer for Consumer Bank, Westpac Group; Michael Priddis, CEO, Faethm; Jamila Gordon, Director and Global CIO of GetSwift Limited; William Payne, Chief Information Officer, Boral Australia. All of the participants embodied this spirit of possibility and positivity and you can hear and see that in a few of the video interviews we conducted with at this year's CIO Survey event and shared here:

• Anna Frazzetto chats with Michael Priddis, CEO of Faethm about automation and artificial intelligence
  
• Anna and Guy Holland, Partner, KPMG's Digital Consulting, Tech Strategy & Performance practice talk about digital strategy and big data
  
• Bridget Gray talks with William Payne, Chief Information Officer, Boral Australia, about the relationship of the CIO with the Board, Executives and their peers
  
• Bridget and Anastasia Cammaroto, Chief Information Officer for Consumer Bank, Westpac Group, about diversity and inclusion, and advancement of women in IT

From left to right: Anastasia Cammaroto, Chief Information Officer for Consumer Bank, Westpac Group; Michael Priddis, CEO, Faethm; Jamila Gordon, Director and Global 7CIO of GetSwift Limited; William Payne, Chief Information Officer, Boral Australia; Anna Frazzetto, CDO & SVP of Harvey Nash; Albert Ellis, Global CEO of Harvey Nash PLC.; and Bridget Gray, Managing Director of Harvey Nash

All of them saw today's toughest challenges (demanding customers with high digital expectations, colossal data sets, security concerns, boards focused on near-term results, etc.) as great opportunities for CIOs to lead and make positive change. To honor and spread that spirit, we are sharing a "Top Seven" list of the most striking lessons and takeaways from this year's event. If you attended and have more to add, please share them in the comments.

7 Striking Lessons from Sydney's Tech Leaders

1.Tech Needs Automation Optimism & Action
CEO Michael Priddis was the first on the panel to share both realism and positivity when it comes to the reality of growing automation of work and jobs in IT. Priddis conceded that there will be and needs to be automation because it drives efficiency and companies that don't automate will no longer be relevant. However, he also shared that within technology there is an answer: the data. Data can be used to get ahead of where IT jobs are going away and where new and different IT jobs are going to be needed.
"Computers are good at the jobs we find hard, and bad at the jobs we find easy," explained Priddis as he discussed how humans aren't great at routine processing, repetitive and dangerous work but computers are. Humans are excellent at work that requires intuition, communication, synthesis, imagination, collaboration and curiosity and computers are not. If business and government can use data and forecasting to identify both opportunities for automation and jobs where humans are most needed, we can begin to build better ways to work and adapt talent for digital realities.

2.CIOs Need to Satiate Hunger for Digital Context
CIO William Payne spoke about the fact that his role has become one of digital translator of sorts, helping different business groups understand their role in the company's greater digital transformation and growth. While the CIO Survey addresses the important of the CIO engaging with the Executive Board, Payne's point was that he is spending a lot of time helping Executive Directors and General Managers (the leaders just under the c-suite) on addressing their real business problems with digital tools and solutions. CEOs and the Board are keen to know that IT and CIOs are supporting the digital transformation for all business groups.

3.A New Role for Tech: Agile Ambassadorship
Business groups that are looking to work faster and more effectively are looking to IT and tech for lessons in Agile success. The panel in Australia and CIOs attending the event shared how they are helping other business organizations beyond IT adopt more Agile ways of working in order to more effectively operate and collaborate in the digital work of ever-changing tools and skills.

4.CIOs Need to Teach Boards to Think Long Term
The audience of CIOs was quick to applaud the idea that today's Executive Boards need to have a better understanding of the time required for digital change to have business impact. Several panelists counseled the audience that it was a critical part of their jobs to educate their Boards to understand the complexity of the work being done and the long-term vision and opportunities of the digital transformations. If CIOs do not make the business case for the time needed to make transformational changes, they will continue to face resistance from Boards that expect returns on investment in 12 months or less.

5.Welcome to Digital's Second Wave
Guy Holland, National Lead Partner -- Digital Consulting and Technology Strategy and Performance for KPMG, also joined the panel of CIOs and shared how businesses have now entered the "second wave" of digital transformation. Where early digital efforts and investment focused on buyer channels and shaping the customer experience up front, businesses are now realizing that they have to adapt the rest of the organization to deliver on the digital promise. The digital transformation focus is shifting to middle and back office operations that need to operate with accurate real-time data and require multidisciplinary teams of people who can think and operate digitally.

6.Tech Skills Matter Less than Tech Smarts
In terms of IT skills, CIOs in Australia at the event and on the panel talked about the importance of recruiting for adaptability and intelligence rather than for specific skills. The pace of technological change is constantly accelerating, which means the skills sets needed in today's IT environment will be different for those needed next year. CIOs and IT leaders need to shift recruiting away from skills and look more broadly at experiences, talent, aptitude for learning and comfort with change.

7.We Can't Control Customers
One of the many highlights of the event was when Anastasia Cammaroto agreed with an audience member who questioned how we could possibly control how and when customers want to engage. Her response is "you are absolutely right. We can't control consumers and their habits. They are as digitally native as we are now." Her advice to CIOs was work to understand the motivations of their customers and clients and to be where they need you to be. There are customers that want to bank, buy or browse with Alexa or Facebook. How can we as providers adapt with the tools these digital natives want to use? CIOs will have to meet customers and clients where they are.

And these were only seven of the many lessons gathered in one powerful day in Australia. We invite you to gather more lessons by watching interviews and videos from the event here. You can also download the CIO Survey and learn more about how today's CIOs are shaping tech and our changing business world.

The struggle to find and hire skilled tech professionals is holding at fever pitch for most businesses today. Around the world I have seen employers take inventive and sometimes aggressive approaches to finding the data, UX, cloud, security, Web, mobile and AI experts their busy IT organizations need. Most recently, a client of mine hosted a global hackathon focused on new product and service development. While the technologists who came to the event focused on the issues and innovation at hand, recruiters and hiring managers were also out in force looking to identify candidates in the unusually target-rich environment.

Continue reading Anna Frazzetto's CDO at the Center blog, "What is the tech industry's responsibility to talent in the age of automation?" featured on CIO.com.

Since then I have presented the survey results numerous times, and the word "uncertainty" now feels like the fact it is. That was undoubtedly true at the inaugural Washington DC CDO Summit on July 26, where I presented the survey's data as part of a keynote address. Was the atmosphere of uncertainty, and even fear, in DC strong because of our proximity to the heart of our country's political turmoil? Was it because the tech leaders in the audience are so used to disruption that uncertainty is how we live? No, it's because we are on the precipice of the next major evolution in technology, and it's got everyone a little uncomfortable.

The next big leap forward for the tech industry is AI and machine learning, but few CDOs and business leaders have a clear idea of exactly what that means. We are trying to figure it out. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are arguing publicly about what it means for technology and humanity. Neither of these tech mavericks knows exactly what's ahead and that was true for the brilliant minds at the CDO Summit as well. Big changes are coming with rapid advances in AI, but it's very hard to predict how autonomous, self-learning computers will change how we live and work.

At the CDO Summit, I shared how the CIO Survey revealed that internal culture can be a barrier to innovation and advancement and that same resistance was reflected in our live poll. I asked the audience of CDOs if they came up against resistance to digital initiatives and innovation in their organizations and 76% of them do, with 41% facing strong resistance.

The fear of change, tech change, is a consistent reality IT leaders today are facing. For CDOs and other IT leaders, it can make the case for making changes and tech investments a challenge.

The Fear Is Personal

What I heard at the CDO Summit and continue to hear is that AI and machine learning poses much more than a simple business question. It poses a personal conundrum for us all and a personnel conundrum for the tech sector. Gerrit Lansing, former White House CDO, who presented at the CDO Summit, gave an impressive illustration of one reason why we may fear technology advancements now more than ever. He shared how social bots with the ability to learn and pivot their message and target now have the power to shape elections, giving insight into how much influence technology has today in political discourse and results. When societal norms, like how elections work, change so quickly and almost invisibly, fear and uncertainty are natural results.

Smart Phone As Illustration

I think the rise of the smart phone is a good example of how a big technology revolution changed how we live as much as how we work and shape our lives and environments. It was a transformative moment for people personally as much as it was for industry and markets.

Similarly, AI will also be transformative at all levels of work and life as well, but the fact is we can't see around that corner yet. What's ahead is still a mystery. Industry leaders and visionaries are working to understand AI's future but it's not clear yet, which is making the uncertainty palpable. What is clear is that advancing automation and breakthroughs in AI will continue to impact jobs in all sectors, including technology.

Engagement Is the Key

For CDOs and other tech leaders, it's important to recognize that people are worried. To drive technology issues forward, you will have to answer more questions. You will have to be ready with a strong case for investments and changes. And you may have to work harder than ever to win support for innovation initiatives. Another good piece of news from the 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey, which you can request a copy of here, is that businesses are looking for CIOs/tech leaders to play a more strategic business role.

Fittingly the winner of the Chief Digital Officer of the Year award at the CDO Summit was Thomas Hjelm, Chief Digital Officer at NPR--a media organization that can only succeed if it can nurture an audience that is engaged enough to not only to tune in but to also invest in its mission. How can we as IT leaders get decision makers to invest in our mission and colleagues to support it? Engagement is an essential part of the solution. As IT leaders and CDOs, these uncertain times will require that we engage our colleagues and staff with a new level of vigor and transparency so that, despite uncertainty, we can embrace what's next with enthusiasm, ingenuity and collaboration.

The best part of my annual CIO Survey tour--I cross the country sharing the findings of the Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey--is the questions I get. Surprising, challenging, thorough, spontaneous, bold and smart, the audience questions take the discussion to unpredicted places every time. My recent Seattle 2017 CIO Survey kickoff is the perfect example.

Can Tech Be Cool Again?
The tech skill shortage data from the survey sparked interesting conversation and questions from the audience. As I wondered how we can compete with countries like Vietnam where 85% of degrees achieved right now are in STEM fields, I said "we need to make IT cool again." One member of the audience challenged me: "What makes you think tech was ever cool?" And she was right. The benefits offered and workplaces of tech companies may have tried hard to bring the "cool factor" to the workplace but the work itself, coding, testing, developing, doesn't feel cool when you are in it. Some of the wonder of taking something apart and finding how it works is lost as technology advances and we see less and less of what's behind it. We need to get back to the wonder. Her point made me think of the stories we read today of people wanting to get back to hands-on work (building bespoke furniture, opening hobby farms, attending a Maker Faire) and wonder how we as a tech industry might work together to capture this passion for discovery, experimentation and tinkering in our own workplaces.

Do We Really Think Cyber Threats Are Coming from Bad Guys?
As we talked about rising cyber security threats, one audience member pointed out the fact that the IT industry needs to consider that security breaches and risks are not only coming from outside entities. Her point was that rapidly changing regulations are reshaping the tech and business landscape. As we rush to catch up, security flaws and gaps are increasing. The challenge for us as an IT community was to go beyond one dimensional thinking when it comes to cyber-attacks and threats. Yes, there are outside and nefarious threats but we can't create blind spots for ourselves as an industry by only looking outwards. Security issues arise if we don't examine all the ways security flaws, gaps and breeches come to be.

Diversity Hopes and the Challenge of Inclusion
As I shared both some of the frustrating diversity data from the survey as well as my favorite women in tech anecdote of the summer (my two-year-old granddaughter Lexi is in a STEM class at preschool), the Seattle audience shared how their communities are working to make tech more diverse. One woman shared data from a study that revealed how girls who are not introduced to STEM between the ages of six and eight (just prior to a large confidence drop in most young girls), the chances of getting them into STEM studies and careers down the road drops precipitously. I think it's safe to say it was a keen reminder of how important early STEM exposure is for our entire workforce.

As time ran down, we also talked about the challenges of defining diversity and inclusion as a team when diversity can mean so much (race, religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation, etc.). What is a truly diverse workforce? How do you make sure diversity is something that adds value and is not something a company is doing to check a box?

Did we answer all the questions that arose in Seattle? No, but we started important conversations about issues that are shaping our industry. We will be asking even more questions at CIO Survey and ARA events, this summer and fall across the U.S. Please join Harvey Nash, KMPG and me for a discussion near you. I can't wait to hear your questions.

If there is one thing the last year has shown me in my global travels and work, it's this: now is the time for CDOs to determine their grand vision for artificial intelligence and machine learning and how it will shape their business strategy. Why? Because the robots are not coming. Right now, businesses are already leveraging the cognitive abilities of self-learning and self-correcting, software-driven robots. Their arrival is not a few years or months down the road. They are already in the workplace and in our lives. For businesses to compete, now is the critical moment to both explore how AI and machine learning can take their business to the next digital level and build a plan of action.

Continue reading "Robots are not coming - they are already here" as featured on CIO.com.

The tech industry has done a lot of soul- and talent-searching in recent years to try and improve upon its dismal track record of hiring and promoting women.
According to a McKinsey & Co. study, "only 37% of workers in entry-level positions are female... and women make up only 19% of tech senior vice presidents and 15% of CEOs." Findings like those have many of the male-dominated boards and leadership teams at tech companies asking, "What should we do?"

Continue reading "What would a woman in tech do about the gender gap?" as featured on CIO.com.

Recent years have elevated the profile of IT leaders who have seen their roles at executive tables grow in prominence. Never before has technology -- how it's implemented, managed and engaged -- mattered more to business success. The good news for IT leaders is that their businesses are benefiting in big ways from the technology knowledge and insight they bring to business strategy. The challenging news is that their technology remit continues to grow, and fast. The more the business relies on technology, the more technology there is to manage. Continue reading Anna Frazzetto's full blog, "If business is great, what's keeping you up at night?" featured on CIO.com.