The Crossover CIO

by David T. Gordon

April 9, 2001 —

JIM NOBLE, CIO AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT of Warner Music Group in New York City, clearly enjoys variety. The native Scot's career has spanned a striking range of industries. Before joining Warner in April 2000, he was, variously, global head of IT strategy at General Motors, chief of IT consulting for management consultancy CAP Gemini, and CIO for the engineers Trafalgar House and for General Electric (U.K.). Early experience as a military jet test pilot and a professional race car driver helped form Noble's IT motto: "fast and flexible."

CIO: What advantages does a CIO have moving across industries?

Noble: In the honeymoon period, a newcomer can ask seemingly naive questions and can suggest out-of-the-box approaches to great effect -- what they would call in Scotland "playing the daft laddie." The ability to challenge accepted wisdom, particularly with IT development projects that are not well-conceived, is a very effective tool.

What drawbacks come with changing industries?

You always encounter people who say, "We tried that before, but it just doesn't work in this business." The challenge is to earn confidence that you're going to succeed in implementing your vision. A CIO needs to get connected with everyone so he's not just thought of as the new sheriff in town.

So how do you connect with everyone in a new company?

The old methods work best. Not memos and e-mails, but one-on-one -- and whenever possible, outside normal business hours. If you have a significant number of people to work with, calling a town hall meeting can help people get the right attitudes.

You've written that a CIO should be a benevolent dictator.

It's a good compromise between two [management] styles. If you start out as the benevolent dictator, you can become more collegial or more controlling as the situation requires. In the auto industry, a controlling style is expected. People see a collegial style as weakness. In music, the opposite is true.

Are people the most important element in an IT organization?

That depends. A lot of companies try to build a comprehensive team with the best people they can, then discover they cannot adapt to changing business conditions. I suggest building a small team of senior, high-caliber people who are generalists and leverage third parties as much as possible. That allows you to form and dissolve relationships according to your immediate needs.

How does the relationship to other executives change as you change industries?

In any industry, the CIO has to engage the hearts and minds of the executive team. But CIOs are ultimately judged by execution. [Companies] can find great thinkers anywhere; it's really hard to find the people who can get stuff done.

CIO