IT Executive, with a success track of development and delivery of technology portfolios under complex matrix organizations, aimed at shaping and realizing disruptive business strategies. Success record as a business-technology strategy leader includes the use of business acumen, influencing and negotiation skills combined with enterprise architecture principles, application portfolio development/management, scaled agile portfolio management skills, and deep technical knowledge to increase firms’ competitiveness.
Summary
• Proven IT Strategy leader, who combines IT expertise, program management, and business acumen to define and execute technology portfolios, achieving outstanding business results.
• IT Executive who uses negotiation to reach C-Level executive agreement.
• Defines, transforms and executes innovative product roadmaps.
• Effective delivery of technology products using scaled Agile approaches and waterfall methodologies.
• A transformational leader, who instills collaboration, ownership, and commitment to large multi-cultural and physically dispersed teams to achieve business objectives.
Professional Experience
Director - IT Leader EA GE Capital Americas - Eden Prairie, MN 2014-active
Role: Create the reliability engineering team of GE Capital Americas, by working with C-Level executives, leading multiple technology teams, to increase the resiliency, availability, and service-ability of the most critical business applications. This resulted in a
There are many components to being a leader; a strong leader has to be able to clearly communicate, to intensely inspire others to collaborate in bringing the vision to fruition. James MacGregor Burns a leadership expert introduced the transformational leadership concept he suggested that “the transforming leader as one with the ability to create visions and employ charismatic behaviors, they are purposeful and seek to understand the motivation and needs of their followers (Crowell, 2016). Not only does a transformational leader have the ability to empower and motivate others “transformational leadership emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, and the goal is to generate employee’s commitment to the vision or ideal rather than to themselves” (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). According to Smith, (2011) the ultimate goal of transformational leadership is the leader and the follower to discover meaning and purpose in relation to their work, in addition to growth and maturity. There are four I's of transformational leadership " individualized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation" (Riggio, 2014). The transformational leader causes changes in both the system and the individual. Creating positive and valuable changes in the followers with the result creating followers who will
A transformational leader is a person that lays his/her goals out and takes extraordinary measures to accomplish them. Their goals usually focus on the well being of the situation and their people. They strive to change the views of others and convince followers that the ethical behavior is morally correct of the leader's. An example of an exceptional leader would be Steve Jobs, the current CEO/co-founder of Apple Inc. Jobs is considered a leading figurehead in both the entertainment and computer industry. "Steve Jobs is listed as Fortune Magazine's most powerful businessman of 2007 out of twenty-five other top businessmen" (Wikipedia). Steve Jobs has made a large impact on our contemporary society due to his contributions, accomplishments
As recognized by leading research and consulting firms with knowledgeable, skilled management, advanced state-of-the-art IT affords extraordinary opportunities for greater efficiencies, cost reduction, higher productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability. Sophisticated IT applications realize their full potential with highly specialized technical knowledge and management skills readily available only in smaller firms focused primarily or exclusively on such applications.
Transformational leadership is the inspire, motivate and communicate to employees the vision and goals of the organization which leads to greater efficiency and productivity. D’Alessio had characteristics of a transformational leader because she worked with talented nightclub owners to organize an exclusive themed event honoring the well-known artist and icon Andy Warhol. (Brusseau, 2012) This set the tone for the beginning of Studio 54’s future as a notorious nightclub which leads to several decades of
A Transformational Leader is a person who assesses a country, or organization/company, and recognizes the need for a change in the entity and is able to envision what this change should be. The transformational leader not only envisions the necessary change but has the required personality and strength of character that will enable them to influence others to buy into their vision and make it their own, and hence be willing to follow the leader in the quest to bring about the vision.
The transformational style of leadership focuses on the team’s performance as a whole, it encourages everyone to think of the group as a whole and rather not just themselves. Transformational leaders aim to make their team members better people by encouraging their self-awareness, it’s all about moving forward in a team and not just several individuals in one group. An example of transformational leadership would be within the army where as a team you all have to move forward and stick together in a group
Transformational leadership describes a leader moving followers beyond immediate self-interests through idealized influence (charisma), inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation, or individualized consideration. Transformational leaders are change agents. They influence the mission and objectives to make way for a brighter future for the organization. Followers are motivated to do more than is originally expected because of their feelings of trust and respect for the leader.
The sheer volume of information of all types is ever increasing, making the job of IT manager more difficult. To remain competent, IT managers must keep up with the latest trends and new technologies. The evaluation of new technology is another skill related to information literacy, since the information describing such technology can take many forms. The best IT managers are highly skilled in such evaluations. These effective managers seem to be rare, as found in Li (2009). That study found that to deal with the difficulties of IT management, many organizations used encroachment, to save face for executives by simplifying and deflecting harmful results and analysis. This spreads the managerial blame and deals with the well documented fact (every computer science student is taught this) that over 60% of all technology projects fail and software development projects in particular fail even more frequently. The reasons for the failure of such projects include the incompetence of IT management (Toader et al., 2010). This is increasingly exemplified by the inability to communicate effectively with workers of foreign origin and incorrect evaluations of technology.
Not only manage the IT department but also is also seen as the executive who can lead the organization in its efforts to apply IT to advance its strategy
That also relates to the leadership style of the transformational leader. They focus on the people as the key elements to bring change to an organization.
In the market today, business is showing growing interest to partner with IT to make sure they get the value for investing huge in technology. But, still there is a gap between the two departments and the IT folks think that they do not have enough support from the business to ensure the value is realized for the organization. A good example of deep integration of IT and business is the recent firing of the Apple maps chief. The ill-fated Apple maps was the failure of both the IT folks who couldn’t develop an efficient app for maps and also the business who couldn’t gather all the requirements and couldn’t manage the project to achieve the desired output. As a result, the Apple exec Richard Williamson was blamed and fired for the disastrous project and humiliation for the organization.
Transformational Leadership can play a role in creating a successful team. It can also be the process that changes and transforms people dealing with emotions, values, ethics, and standards. Transformational Leadership is the process whereby a person engages others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower (Northhouse , 186). This applies to a team because you always have to be able to connect and motivate others
Leadership is a construct used to define the relationship between leaders and followers including the skills and behaviors that make an effective leader. Transformational leadership is an approach to leadership that focuses on the emotional and social interaction with followers; it is categorized as being influential, inspirational, and intellectually stimulating. (PSU, L1, P5.). Transformational leadership is the desired approach to being an effective leader. Like any skill, the way to obtain and improve them is through a development process. Leadership development requires an understanding of human nature, including personalities, ethics, and motivations. At its core, leadership is about human interaction between leaders and
A TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER is a person who stimulates and inspires followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes (Robbins, 2007)It has been shown to influence organisational members by transforming their values and priorities while motivating them to perform beyond their expectations (Rowold, 2007)Increased levels of job satisfaction & reduced turnover intentions are consequences of transformational leadership. It is all about leadership that creates positive change in the followers whereby they take care of each other’s interests and act in the interestsof the groupas a whole (Warrilow, 2012)
Therefore, IT managers need effective management systems and processes to help them deal with the issues and challenges inherent in their responsibilities. Feeny and Willcocks (1998) suggested that core IS competencies are needed to assist the development of IT, measurable in terms of IT activities supported, and resulting business performance. Figure 1 shows the 9 core IS competencies. The research carried out indicated that in order to have a successful IT function there are four major tasks which need to be accomplished. These include: co-ordination and leadership; ensuring technical capability; managing the external supply; and meeting the business’s requirements.