Doing Digital Differently

How many tech chiefs does it take for a company to succeed? CIO CTO CDO—and now CAIO: are companies really building the leadership team they need for the digital age, or is this alphabet soup of roles just making things more complicated?

In this episode, Joe and Martin talk with Janet Sherlock, CEO of Org.Works and former CIO, CDO & CTO at Ralph Lauren, about the proliferation of technology roles in organizations. 

Janet has been in various tech executive roles throughout her career and studied “The Organizational Impacts of Executive Technology Leadership Role Proliferation” in her doctoral dissertation. 

Dr. Janet Sherlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janet-sherlock/

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Links:

• IBM study mentioning 76% of organizations having a CAIO: https://tinyurl.com/IBMCAIO
• Janet’s dissertation: https://tinyurl.com/JanetDiss
• Study of CIO role, tenure: https://tinyurl.com/CIORoleTenure
• Survey highlighting the “confusion problem”: https://tinyurl.com/TWTechTitles
• Janet on “The Chief AI Officer Isn’t the Answer”: https://tinyurl.com/CAIONotAnswer
• WSJ on the FDE role: https://www.wsj.com/cio-journal/the-hottest-job-in-tech-isnt-very-glamorous-dc29ab3e, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ai-startups-have-a-new-old-secret-weapon-forward-deployed-engineers-d18ee609
• Research on the implications of who CIOs report to: https://tinyurl.com/CIOReportingStruct
• Galbraith’s STAR model: https://tinyurl.com/GalbSTAR
• “Designed for Digital”: https://tinyurl.com/D4DMITPress
• “Clarifying the Ambiguous Role of the CIO” in MISQE, identifying different types of CIOs: https://aisel.aisnet.org/misqe/vol10/iss1/3/
• “SuperTech Leader” definition: https://tinyurl.com/bdkdpya3
• HBR article showing a decline in CDO role titles, but an incline in combined tech roles: https://tinyurl.com/4xu6s25c

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Doing Digital Differently is a podcast for leaders, changemakers, and curious minds who believe that digital transformation isn’t just about adopting new technologies — it’s about rethinking how we work, lead, and create value in a rapidly changing world.

Doing Digital Differently is produced in association with MIS Quarterly Executive, your source of practical insights for digital leaders. https://www.linkedin.com/company/mis-quarterly-executive  

Joe Peppard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-peppard-5868513/

Martin Mocker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-mocker/

Podcast License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

Study after study reports that most organizations are not achieving the expected returns and business outcomes from increased investment in digital technologies.

In this episode, Joe and Martin talk with Pablo Ciano, CEO of DHL eCommerce, about the role of business leaders in (not) getting value from IT or digital investments.

Pablo has a background in business, was appointed as CIO, and is now CEO. What did he learn from having been on both sides of the business-IT divide? And what can you learn from that experience? If anything, what do business leaders need to know about IT? What do they need to do differently when it comes to digital?

Pablo Ciano on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablo-ciano/

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Links to resources mentioned:

• Key arguments are based on Why it’s safe to bet that most companies will not benefit from AI investments by Mocker and Peppard in California Management Review Insight
• Joe mentions Judo Bank, which doesn’t own or operate its own IT systems. More information in How Everything-as-a-Service enabled Judo to become a billion-dollar bank without owning IT by Breidbach et al. in MIS Quarterly Executive.
• Staple yourself to an order by Shapiro, Rangan, and Sviokla on understanding your company’s processes by following a customer order (it’s an old one, but still very relevant!) in Harvard Business Review
• The transformation of DHL Express is written up by Mocker, Ross, and Ciano in, DHL Express: Implementing and Maintaining a Global Process Standard, published by the MIT Center for Information Systems Research
• The concept of an operating model is explained by Ross in Forget Strategy: Focus IT on Your Operating Model from the MIT Center for Information Systems Research

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Doing Digital Differently is a podcast for leaders, changemakers, and curious minds who believe that digital transformation isn’t just about adopting new technologies — it’s about rethinking how we work, lead, and create value in a rapidly changing world.

Doing Digital Differently is produced in association with MIS Quarterly Executive, your source of practical insights for digital leaders. https://www.linkedin.com/company/mis-quarterly-executive

Joe Peppard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-peppard-5868513/

Martin Mocker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-mocker/

Podcast License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0

In this trailer, we're introducing our new podcast, Doing Digital Differently.

Doing Digital Differently is a podcast for leaders, changemakers, and curious minds who believe that digital transformation isn’t just about adopting new technologies — it’s about rethinking how we work, lead, and create value in a rapidly changing world.

The data doesn’t lie: ever since organizations began investing in information technology, most have struggled to really get to grips with its potential. Despite more than 70 years of experience running data and technology projects––including those under the guise of digital transformation––failure rates of 70% or more are consistently reported. The current acceleration of AI spending, with its lofty expectations, has so far shown dismal returns.

Why does this situation persist? More importantly, what can be done about it?

Doing Digital Differently is a podcast for leaders, changemakers, and curious minds who believe that digital transformation isn’t just about adopting new technologies — it’s about rethinking how we work, lead, and create value in a rapidly changing world.

But it's also about doing IT differently, challenging a dominant orthodoxy that has long guided how IT is led and managed in organizations.

In each episode, we go beyond buzzwords to explore what it really takes to deliver meaningful digital change and positive business outcomes. Through candid conversations with business and technology leaders, innovators, and transformation experts, we unpack the strategies, mindsets, and lessons that drive results — and avoid the common pitfalls.

Whether you’re leading a digital initiative, advising others, or simply looking for fresh ideas and perspectives, Doing Digital Differently offers practical insights and inspiring stories from people who are challenging the status quo — and getting it done.

Why this podcast? We want to focus on the experiences of digital leaders with a view to drawing out lessons and actionable guidance. Each episode will feature a conversation with a digital leader. It will have a short preface with JP and MM introducing the guest, and conclude with JP and MM discussing the conversation and drawing out insights and lessons.

Target audience? Anyone trying to effect change in their organization using the capabilities of digital technologies. Crucially, they won’t necessarily have the words “data,” “information,” or “technology” in their job title.

What will be different about this podcast? Each episode dives into real stories, bold strategies, and fresh thinking from people reshaping how digital gets done. It is more than a conversation with a digital leader; it is focused on eliciting insights and lessons, as well as practical guidance. Conversations will also be framed in the context of current research and findings. The cumulation of all these exchanges will also contribute to a valuable resource for master's and MBA students, as well as those engaged in executive education programs.

What about the hosts? Although so-called academics (well, they do work in business schools!), Joe Peppard and Martin Mocker have always had practitioners in mind with their research and strive to help the busy executive and board member to be successful when it comes to digital.

Doing Digital Differently is produced in association with MIS Quarterly Executive, your source of practical insights for digital leaders.

Podcast License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0