Rich Horwath, CEO of Strategic Thinking Institute and best-selling author, shares strategies that help CIOs to elevate their strategic thinking—providing a roadmap for transitioning from technical leaders to visionary business executives. Drawing from his advisory work with top-tier technology leaders, Horwoth breaks down the critical skills needed to move beyond operational management and position themselves as strong CEO candidates.

About the Guest: 

Rich Horwath is the founder and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute where he facilitates strategy workshops to help executive leadership teams think, plan, and act strategically to set direction, create advantage, and maximize their leadership performance. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including his new book: STRATEGIC: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence. He’s published two articles in the Harvard Business Review this past year and has helped more than one million leaders develop their strategic thinking and planning skills over the past two decades in pursuit of his vision to teach the world to be strategic.

Timestamps:

*(01:35) - The CIO to CEO Journey

*(07:25) - Innovation and Competitive Strategy

*(28:45) - Future State Thinking for CIOs

*(44:05) - Transitioning from CIO to CEO

Guest Highlights:

“The great CIOs understand that it's not about copying. It's about creating and innovating by understanding the competition.”

"If you're really being strategic, you're going to tick a lot of people off internally and externally."

“What are we trying to achieve? And how are we going to do it? So planning can be too complex sometimes, but it boils down to those two questions.”

Get Connected:

• Rich Horwath on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/richhorwath
• Ian Faison on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ianfaison

Resources:

• Learn more about the Strategic Thinking Institute: www.strategyskills.com
• Hungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:
  • Ep 56 - Best Proactive Cybersecurity Strategies for CIOs
  • Ep 55 - Engineering Leadership for Scale, Agility, and Momentum
  • Ep 54 - AI Business Strategy for CIOs
• Learn more about Caspian Studios: www.caspianstudios.com

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