Warner CIO: cultivate open minds to drive innovation

"We should hire annoying people"

Neon Kelly in Lisbon, Computing 12 Jun 2008

Chief information officers must learn to listen to free thinkers if they are to boost business innovation, according to the head of IT at the Warner Music Group.

There is a vast array of good ideas both inside and outside of most companies, said chief information officer Maggie Miller. The important thing is to open the door to those considering difficult or challenging concepts.

“We owe it to our organisations to hire some really annoying people,” said Miller, addressing the attendees of Forrester Research´s IT forum in Lisbon.

“Every IT leader needs people on their team who are smart and brave free-thinkers, who challenge us. We need to listen to what they say – and not how they say it – if we are to innovate.”

The CIO recalled her previous experiences working for Dell in the early 1990s. Upon discovering that engineers were slowing down systems by sending large files – something that was still relatively uncommon at the time – Miller brought the matter to the attention of her boss, Michael Dell.

Rather than restricting the workers, Dell told Miller to purchase more bandwidth, allowing staff the freedom to explore new practices. It is this kind of open-mindedness that CIOs must embrace, said Miller.

“Through over-analysis and ROI calculations, most organisations are capable of talking themselves out of good ideas very rapidly,” she said.

“IT managers have a vital role to play in creating the right environment for innovation, identifying which ideas have real business value, and then being the voice through which these concepts can gain support.”

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