Skip to content
Tiatra, LLCTiatra, LLC
Tiatra, LLC
Information Technology Solutions for Washington, DC Government Agencies
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • IT Engineering and Support
    • Software Development
    • Information Assurance and Testing
    • Project and Program Management
  • Clients & Partners
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact
 
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • IT Engineering and Support
    • Software Development
    • Information Assurance and Testing
    • Project and Program Management
  • Clients & Partners
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact

CIO Guy Hadari on the management skills that set IT leaders apart

To Guy Hadari, CIO of Biogen, the most important, but often overlooked skill for a CIO is management.

“Most people consider the CIO to be a technology person, and they want to put them in a technology box, but technology should be only 20% of a CIO’s job,” says Hadari, who has been leading IT for the $15 billion biotech business since March 2021. “CIOs need to understand infrastructure, security, and business applications at a high level, but it is more important that they know how to manage a business function. A CIO with a half billion-dollar budget is essentially the CEO of a very complex business.”

As Hadari sees it, “The challenge is that most up-and-coming IT professionals are trained to be technology implementers and innovators, and so are ill equipped for the management aspects of the job,” something that he experienced personally. In his first few years as CIO, Hadari’s comfort zone was data, analytics, and statistics, and that was the lens he used to lead IT. “Although my early years focused on the application of technology to business problems, it was during my years in management roles with IBM that I started to see that technology depth was keeping me from being a good manager.”

With several CIO stints now under his belt, Hadari certainly learned how to manage, and today he places a premium on the management skills of his senior leadership team. Here are the essential management skills he looks for in IT leaders today.

1. The ability to think strategically — and focus on details

“I expect IT leaders to know their business, the details, the numbers, and also be able to step back and take a bigger look,” he says.

2. The savvy to run IT like a business

Hadari looks for managers who understand that good management is a steady cadence of activities you need to conduct in order to run IT like a business. “The most challenging aspect of management is the repetitiveness,” he says.  “It can be very challenging to create something with continuity and sustainability.” But that is what Hadari is looking for: someone who has created an organization that is so well managed that they can walk away without causing immediate disruption.

At Biogen, Hadari uses a management framework that functions as the drum beat of the organization. The framework, which every leader on the IT team uses, contains a regular schedule of IT town halls, meetings, and functional reviews. “The framework can seem ‘boring,’ but it keeps the business running,” Hadari says. “And it gives us credibility when we talk to the business, because we know all of the details. Is it sexy and transformative? No, it is management 101, but solid operational management processes have been critical to the last three transformations I have been privileged to lead.”

3. A knack for asking the right questions — before providing solutions

“Asking questions is difficult. It is easier to start with answers or just deliver a solution,” says Hadari, who considers asking questions before proposing solutions to be a state of mind. “You have to want to get to the heart of the problem by digging into the specifics,” he says.

For example, say that a sales manager asks for a new CRM tool to better drive sales. By asking the right questions, the IT leader learns that the sales people are losing time because it takes them an hour to enter expenses. The solution is not CRM; it’s a better process for expense management. “‘If we reduce expense management time by 30 minutes, will that help to drive sales?’ is a better question than, ‘What kind of CRM tool do you want?’” Hadari says.

4. The instinct to advance and protect your people

Have the courage to protect and develop the people who work for you. “Most companies still consider IT to be a necessary evil and a cost burden,” says Hadari. “When you sit in an organization where one measure of success is that nobody is yelling at you, you don’t always feel great about your work. That’s why it is so critical for IT leaders to advocate for their people and drive their advancement. Leaders who drive the advancement of others naturally gather great people around them.”

5. The ability to transform from data

Hadari encourages his team to use data, surveys, and conversations to understand the perceptions of IT, and the problems that create those perceptions. He finds that comparing how IT rates itself to how the business rates IT reveals a great deal about where IT needs to focus. “Collecting all of that information is not an easy process, but it is the beginning of change,” says Hadari. “It means that we can accept our challenges, bring them out into the open, and do something about them.”

At Biogen, Hadari’s extended leadership team, which is one level below his senior IT leadership team, owns the strategy and plan for IT improvement. “They build it, execute on it, and own it,” he says. “Once they have a plan, they can have constructive conversations with their business partners and hold their heads high.”

6. A willingness to grow

Coming full circle, Hadari looks for IT leaders who do not have a comfort zone bias. “If you are an expert in commercial IT, then commercial IT becomes your focus and holds you back from becoming a multi-disciplined IT leader,” he says. “The CIO’s comfort zone should be building and managing a high-performing IT organization.”

IT Leadership


Read More from This Article: CIO Guy Hadari on the management skills that set IT leaders apart
Source: News

Category: NewsOctober 5, 2022
Tags: art

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:Genomic Science Breakthroughs Are Happening Faster Than Ever Thanks to HPCNextNext post:How to Bring 3D Design Teams Together… Remotely

Related posts

휴먼컨설팅그룹, HR 솔루션 ‘휴넬’ 업그레이드 발표
May 9, 2025
Epicor expands AI offerings, launches new green initiative
May 9, 2025
MS도 합류··· 구글의 A2A 프로토콜, AI 에이전트 분야의 공용어 될까?
May 9, 2025
오픈AI, 아시아 4국에 데이터 레지던시 도입··· 한국 기업 데이터는 한국 서버에 저장
May 9, 2025
SAS supercharges Viya platform with AI agents, copilots, and synthetic data tools
May 8, 2025
IBM aims to set industry standard for enterprise AI with ITBench SaaS launch
May 8, 2025
Recent Posts
  • 휴먼컨설팅그룹, HR 솔루션 ‘휴넬’ 업그레이드 발표
  • Epicor expands AI offerings, launches new green initiative
  • MS도 합류··· 구글의 A2A 프로토콜, AI 에이전트 분야의 공용어 될까?
  • 오픈AI, 아시아 4국에 데이터 레지던시 도입··· 한국 기업 데이터는 한국 서버에 저장
  • SAS supercharges Viya platform with AI agents, copilots, and synthetic data tools
Recent Comments
    Archives
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • May 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    Categories
    • News
    Meta
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    Tiatra LLC.

    Tiatra, LLC, based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, proudly serves federal government agencies, organizations that work with the government and other commercial businesses and organizations. Tiatra specializes in a broad range of information technology (IT) development and management services incorporating solid engineering, attention to client needs, and meeting or exceeding any security parameters required. Our small yet innovative company is structured with a full complement of the necessary technical experts, working with hands-on management, to provide a high level of service and competitive pricing for your systems and engineering requirements.

    Find us on:

    FacebookTwitterLinkedin

    Submitclear

    Tiatra, LLC
    Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.