Timing for CIO's is just like London Buses
There is a famous expression about London buses that "you wait ages for one to turn up and then three arrive at the same time". It’s true, even with former Mayor Ken’s dramatic improvements to bus provision in the City. I remember when I lived in a converted warehouse in an old industrial hinterland in SE London - a nice 20 minute ’stroll’ from the tube station - and relied on the bus, or expensive London cabs every evening. You would be waiting at the invariably wet, windswept bus stop for ages for one to arrive and then three No 1’s would come simultaneously. (and anyone thinking living in a edgy, far flung warehouse district is cool, well it sounds good in theory and supposedly good for your street cred, just don’t expect anyone to come and visit you).
Musing over this phenomenon the other day I got to thinking that apart from buses, lots of things tend to come in threes: bad news, blown light bulbs, CIO departures (and associated recruitment assignments). Over the last 6 months there have been a number of high profile CIO departures and, some might say, a bit of musical chairs at the top... and musical chairs it is as somebody invariably doesn’t get a seat and disappears to be an interim manager, re-invent themselves in a different guise or live out their days on a ranch in the country (or a SE London warehouse depending on your persuasion - both good for a hermit lifestyle). It’s quite obvious that one person leaving creates a spot behind them but it is interesting to see how quickly that generates a flurry of movement - and this tends to happen for a more intense period once a year. It suggests, and our research supports, that most IT Execs are actively keeping their eye on the market and are ready to move quickly for the right role. In some industries they know that the top jobs don’t come around that often so they need to take the opportunities when they can - especially if not completely happy in their current spot.
So if you are a CEO/COO/CFO with a talented CIO, or a CIO with a leadership team you need to keep intact, make sure you are close to them and they are happy and appropriately awarded. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the good ones are keeping close to market changes and will be ready to strike out for a great opportunity... and that next game of musical chairs may come just at the time you can’t afford to lose them (just like you wait longest for the buses when you are in the biggest rush). Which brings me back to the London bus...
Discussing the above over a pint with a friend in my local the other week, a slightly intense looking guy sitting at the bar joined in the conversation (he works in mortgage backed securities I later learned, and is clearly feeling the pressure as evident by the intense look and velocity of his alcohol consumption.) "There is a good reason why buses come in threes and it’s easily explained". So for the price of a beer he explained this age old myth... If there is a slight delay to a single bus (bus no 1) then as it reaches the bus stop there are more people waiting for it than usual. At each stop it arrives at more people get on and off which further delays its progress and causes greater build up of passengers en route. The bus behind in the schedule (bus no 2) has less people to pick up as more than usual are on the first bus and the bus behind that (bus no 3) sails through with very few passengers so it catches up with the other two and at some point on the route, all may arrive at the same bus stop within moments of each other. Eureka! "But why does it happen on the day you are late to meet the in-laws?" I asked our new friend... he shook his head and turned intensely back to his pint.
Finally, the reason for a lack of blog postings in the past month or so also relates to three big projects falling on my lap at the same time (not unrelated to some of the above activity) so I hope to rectify with three (almost) at the same time over the next week, this being the first. The next two are:
* Talent is Your Best Business Strategy: what we can all learn from Pixar’s CEO.
* Lessons from the British ’Service Culture’ for IT/Business Relationship Management
August 1, 2008 10:12 PM | Permalink
