Behind the Firewall: Notes of a Punk CIO

There’s something uniquely corrosive and despicable about corridor talk.

You hear that someone said IT is waaaay too bloated. That someone else thinks our people are blockers, incompetent, difficult to work with, not understanding business. That yet another voice called technology tools “ too much overcomplicated.”

No names. No context. Just… smoke. And smoke, as we know, makes it hard to breathe.

As a punk CIO, I’m not naive. I know when something’s in the air., times when whispers become narratives, and narratives start to shape decisions. The dangerous part? This is not feedback, specific feedback I very much welcome. This is fog, that undermines trust, impacts careers, undermines true efficiency — without ever being traceable.

So here’s how I (try to) deal with it:

1. I name the fog

In leadership meetings/meetings with leaders, I call it out directly:

“I’ve noticed there’s some shadow criticism about IT flying around — vague comments about inefficiency or that certain people are like this and that. If there’s real feedback, I’d like to hear it directly and with full specificity. More than this – they should be first to know about this directly. Otherwise, it’s just background noise hurting everyone’s trust.”

Conflict feels bad (unless one’s a psychopath), but according to my taste discomfort is a small price for honesty.

2. I protect my people

It’s my job to shield the team from anonymous sniping. Not to pretend we’re perfect, we are far from that (and BTW no organization can probably even afford perfect) ! but to make sure everyone is judged on facts and understanding full context, not based on rumors and/or fraction of reality extrapolated.

3. I ask for honesty, not compliments

I don’t want applause (all the time), not at all; but I want reality to be the minimum standard (I don’t think I’ve put the bar too high). I expect mature people to be brave enough to say what they think to our face, not behind our back. Courage is a core leadership trait. That includes the courage to have difficult conversations (even if it feels bad, see above).

4. I ambition being radically transparent

I communicate what we’re doing, what’s working, and what’s not. Where we are spending every single eurocent. I never try to hide our messes — I show we’re fixing them —> in their order of priorities (remember the above hint on context?).

I believe the best antidote to fog is transparency.

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All in all, the truth is this:
Every transformation — especially the kind that shakes legacy thinking and disturbs the comfortable status quo — triggers resistance. Some of that goes underground. Like it or not (I don’t) that’s our reality.

If you want to lead real change, you can’t let hallway gossip shape perception — because perception quickly becomes reality. You may not be able to stop the whispers, but you can kill them with facts, transparency, and — most importantly — results.

Now to finish it in a positive tone, imagine this:

What if every leader — business, tech, ops, risk, you name it — pulled in the same direction?
What if feedback wasn’t filtered through rumor but surfaced through courageous conversations?
What if we spent less time decoding whispers and more time solving real problems together?

This shouldn’t be utopia. This is the real alignment I not only just dream about, but what I work for.

Can a CIO make it happen alone? No — it’s deeply cultural. But a CIO can absolutely contribute with adhering to some (very high) standards in how she/he operates. And while we may never get it to 100%, I’m a big believer, that every step in the right direction fuels real progress.

So keep showing up and calling out the fog!