The Quotable CIO: Wit and wisdom from top technology leaders, 10th edition

We have been collecting and posting a “CIO Quote of the Day” on social media for many years. Enjoy this latest collection of our favorite CIO bon mots, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to see future CIO quotes as we post them.

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"My advice is to find a company where the executive team is curious and has a point of view about how to leverage technology to benefit customers.”
- Kirsten Garen, former CIO, CDK Global

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"CIOs need to understand infrastructure, security, and business applications at a high level, but it is more important that they know how to manage a business function."
-Guy Hadari, CIO, Biogen

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"Diversity hiring only increases our chance of bringing diverse people in the door. We also need to look at what are we doing to develop and promote diverse employees."
- Diane Schwarz, VP & CIO, Johnson Controls

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"Digital transformation is all about spirit, so your change management program has to be successful in rallying the organization."
- Sanjib Sahoo, EVP & CDO, Ingram Micro

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"Good CIOs transform IT from inside, but great CIOs use design thinking and inclusivity to transform IT by changing what happens outside of IT."
- Vipin Gupta, Chief Innovation and Digital Officer, Toyota Financial Services

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“When people come to me for a decision, I want to make sure they really can’t make it themselves, so I ask them, ‘Why are you asking me?' The more we empower people, the faster we can move and the more fulfilled our teams are.”
- Wafaa Mamilli, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Zoetis

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"Sometimes governance is a dirty word, but it is the key to transforming IT from a cost center to a value center."
- Shannon Gath, CIO, Teradyne

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"We believe it is in our best interest to move our assets to cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Our cloud strategy says to the team, 'Zebra is the place to learn the skills of the future.'”
- Deepak Kaul, CIO, Zebra Technologies

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“IT exists to drive the business forward, so we have to have the empathy to make our business partners’ challenges our own.”
- Praveen Jonnala, CIO, CommScope

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"I look for CIOs who have a technology background, but they think like a business unit leader, which is different from business acumen. CIOs of PE portfolio companies have to think about running a business, not running a department."
- Eash Sundaram, Operating Executive, Tailwind Capital

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"Our leadership program not only drives a strong connection between individuals and our mission...they are part of something larger...That culture is as important as any technology strategy.”
- Diane Comer, CITO, Kaiser Permanente

“I am not sure what the CIO role will look like in five years .. but it’s the nature of the way people work that will be most different.”
- Stewart Douglas, CIO, AMETEK

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"If you are a CIO tapped to be a Chief Digital Officer, create an integrated team with people from across the enterprise to make sure you have a pulse on your customers."
- Mike Clifton, CIDO, Alorica

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"I can get into the weeds on any technology, but my most important role is to ensure that the work we are doing in IT  is connected to our overall strategy.”
- Madhuri Andrews, CDIO, Jacobs

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"At the heart of improving speed is empowering product owners to make decisions about the backlog, and to execute. Having to wait for steering committee meetings can really slow things down."
- John Hill, CDIO, MSC Industrial Supply

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"Success means that the company is never waiting for IT to be able to execute on its business plan. Instead, IT is enabling and enhancing the business strategy."
- Kellie Christensen, CIO, Gray

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"Digital is a very broad term, but one way I use it is to apply it to client operations. Digital is about creating better client engagement, better client intimacy, and doing things for clients that, without digital technologies, are not possible.
- Jorge Elguera, CIO, RTI International

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View the previous installment of The Quotable CIO