Earl Newsome, CIO of Cummins, has built a remarkable track record leading transformations of global IT organizations into world-class centers of innovation and operational excellence. A highly intentional executive, Newsome is also a master at leading with clarity, a key skill in world where change is constant, generative AI is rewriting the rules, and the pace of disruption continues to accelerate.
On a recent episode of the Tech Whisperers podcast, Newsome gave a masterclass in leading, adapting, and inspiring, drawing from his playbook of leadership principles tailored to the real-world complexities of IT today.
Afterward, we spent time exploring the essential mindsets, behaviors and skillsets Newsome has defined in his “8 Habits of Highly Effective IT Organizations” and “7 Habits of Highly Effective IT Leaders.” Together, these 15 habits form a pragmatic, actionable roadmap for anyone looking to build a future-ready IT organization and to become a leader who not just reacts to change but creates it. What follows is that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Dan Roberts: The habits that you highlight clarify excellence in a way that makes it easy for people to understand where the bar is and what the expectation is. What was the thought process behind defining them?
Earl Newsome: As a leader, you measure people by your own yardstick, and often people don’t know what that yardstick is if you don’t write it down or share it or express it. Then you’re in your head, measuring this person against this yardstick, but they don’t have any idea what it is. This gives you the ability to set forth what your measurements and yardstick are. That way, when you measure people from the only frame of reference you can, which is your own, you’re all on the same page.
What’s the value of putting it in writing? Why is this kind of communication such an important aspect of leadership?
It starts with the power of the pen: He who has the pen has the power to control the narrative, and therefore they have the power to rewrite the past and influence the future. As executives and leaders, our words are strong, but our pen is stronger, because our pen is there when we’re not there. If we capture our thoughts and words in writing, it will represent us when we’re not there. The power of the written word and the media from which it’s shared gives it durability, expansiveness, and the ability to spread. This is also why we need to be very careful about what we say in writing.
There’s also what we put in writing about ourselves. There’s your CV, which speaks to you, as well as what I call your enhanced resume, which can speak about you and advocate for you. And then there’s this notion of your digital twin, or the digital version of you. You have an ability to control that digital twin a bit by putting yourself out there, and part of that is through your writings. Thanks to the power of the pen, you can be your own advocate by talking about yourself, and if you’re doing that, you’re also now managing your digital twin.
One of your ‘8 Habits of Highly Effective IT Organizations” that emphasizes this point is ‘storytelling — don’t be silent.’ How has today’s environment amplified this need among IT leaders?
There’s an old tape we listen to that says, ‘Sometimes the best thing that can be said about IT is nothing.’ We have to abandon that old tape and tell our story, because in a world where ‘software eats everything,’ as Mark Andreessen famously said, IT executives have to be really great at storytelling and not be silent. We have to pivot to being upfront and blunt and bold, to tell our story, use our power of the pen, be our own advocates, and create our own digital twins of what we’re doing so people know the contributions we bring.
After all, we are now the cool kids. IT is making hardware cool again. We’ve made an intelligent thermostat and smartphones and self-driving cars. Back in the day, we were the geeks with our pocket protectors. Now we are the big kids on campus, so let’s leverage our storytelling and talk about our cool-kid-ness.
It needs to be both a verbal and a written exercise, because while putting it down on paper is important for crystallizing the thinking, telling it crystallizes it even more. The exercise of repeating it helps you synthesize it and make it even more palatable on the page. That cyclicality of the verbal and written exercise helps you fine-tune and hone your message over time. The more you tell your story, the better you’ll get at doing it.
What role does being clear-minded about your own purpose play in all of this?
As part of our leadership culture at Cummins, we define what our life purposes are and write them down, and I think it provides two things: First, it gives you clarity on why you do what you do. Once you understand your life purpose, you can put your own words, deeds, and actions into perspective about why you do certain things and what the underlying impetus is. My purpose helps me figure out why Earl is Earl — because I want to build a world without limits so people can be all they can be while creating some magic along the way.
It also gives you a reason to generate followership. I don’t think your purpose, in and of itself, creates followership, but I do think expressing your purpose in life in words, actions, and deeds increases followership because it gives people the chance to be clear about why you do what you do and why they would want to follow you.
It’s very powerful if you can be clear about why you do what you do. Doubt goes away, bravery replaces doubt, and encouragement replaces reluctance. All those things move you from point A to point B. This is also where self-motivation comes from. You know the model: Here’s where you are, here’s where you want to be, and in the gap between those two lies discomfort. But that discomfort creates motivation. Having a clear mind about your purpose gives you the additional motivation to move from where you are, because if you’re doing things that aren’t associated with your purpose, that creates discomfort and should encourage you to be more in line with your purpose.
Of course, these lines move. Once you’re over here, the next thing comes up, another point of discomfort happens, and you move again. You’re always going to be in a state of discomfort, but that’s not a bad thing, because it’s the motivation to change and do better. It’s a constructive discomfort.
When we talk about how to become more adaptive, resilient, and change-savvy, it seems like that is the outcome of constructive discomfort.
Constructive discomfort is the impetus to continuous learning, adaptability, agility, and anti-fragility. The concept of anti-fragile means designed for change. How do we build anti-fragile humans so they are unbreakable and prepared for tomorrow’s world, whatever it brings? We have these fault-tolerant designs where I can unplug a server and the system adapts and you don’t even know it. We want to create that same anti-fragility and fault tolerance in the human beings we train.
We’re living in this ever-changing, accelerating VUCA [volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous] world, and there are two responses when you are presented with the unknown or the unexpected: You can freeze and be fearful and have it overcome you, or you can improvise, adapt, and overcome it by being a continuous learner and continuous adapter. I think resiliency in human beings is driven by this constructive discomfort, which creates a path to being continuous learners and continuous adapters. That’s where the muscle to improvise, adapt, and overcome comes from.
Looking across all 15 habits you’ve come up to be effective as an IT organization and IT leader, what advice do you have for up-and-coming IT leaders and those who aspire to C-suite positions?
One of the things I talk about is the 360-degree aspect of leadership: being technically, tactically, and strategically competent. Strategic competence is knowing what hill to take, tactical competence is knowing how to take that hill safely, and technical competence is rolling up your sleeves and helping along the way. The leaders I admire have all three. The person who doesn’t have technical competence may set forth an objective and even chart the path to get there, but then they go have coffee. That leader is probably not going to do well. The leader who’s afraid to get their hands dirty is going to get dirtied.
There’s also the quad deep model of intelligence: Business intelligence is how we make money. Industry intelligence is how we compete and win. Social intelligence is how people think and feel. And technical intelligence is being a master at your craft. I think one of the most important things you can have as an IT leader is deep intelligence across all four.
During your career, the percentage of time you spend in each of the four is going to change over time. For example, when you graduate, you’re going to spend a lot of time on technical intelligence, but as you move up the executive ranks, you’re going to spend much more time on social intelligence. You have to realize that these are not all equal, and depending on where you are in your career journey, you are going to need to invest in different levels of building up these different IQs. You may not know, so you may need to ask, ‘Where do I need to invest now? Where’s my biggest gap? How do I close that gap to give me the chance to move forward?’
Ask questions; apply frameworks. Methodology and frameworks will give you the ability to frame problems in a different way and have a more consultative mindset. Think boldly and challenge the business and functions. Have that business mindset, but don’t just believe the PowerPoints and the analysts and the salesperson. Be a professional skeptic and challenge them on what they ask you to do rather than just being an order-taker.
Your job is to be the ultimate arbiter of truth between what your business is asking for,what they need, and what the analysts and vendors are telling you they can do. The way you become that arbiter of truth is by building your skeptical muscle such that you challenge everything in a professional way, do the right due diligence, and then pick the right solution, knowing that if you’re wrong, you’ll be willing to pivot based on new information.
You talked about the importance of being a continual learner. What can IT leaders do to make their own learning and growth a habit?
Be curious. Don’t walk away from any learning opportunity. Learn something from everyone, even if it’s what not to do. Build your network both inside and outside your company, and at the same time, make sure you give more than you take from the networks you operate within.
Build a personal board of directors — those people who will give you the unvarnished truth. They don’t have to know they’re on your personal board; just put them on your list and ask them questions they can answer.
Engage in the circles you are able to, and don’t worry about being perfect; just follow those people you admire and do what they do. You don’t have to be a comedian. You don’t even have to be a great storyteller, but you can learn to tell your version of the story and be effective at that. Be provocative, but most importantly, be authentic.
And lastly, be scrappy — by doing things faster and at a lower cost than others, by setting high goals, and by never resting on success. That’s where you can be unique, because you do more with what you have than others can do with it.
The ‘WorkSpace’ habit of effective IT organizations emphasizes creating an environment where people can thrive. I know that’s something you are extremely purposeful about. What drives that intention for you?
Everything is a people business. Your knowledge capital is contained within people. That’s how you grow and drive your business. When you recognize that every company is just an organization of people, then you want to create an environment where everyone can thrive.
And it extends even further: Your family is an organization of people. Your community is an organization of people. Your country is an organization of people. They’re all just organizations of people, and when you come to that realization, you want to create an environment where all of them can thrive, because when we all thrive, we all win.
For more wisdom, insight, and advice from Earl Newsome, one of the most intentional leaders in our profession, tune in to the Tech Whisperers podcast.
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