PHIL JORDAN - SAILING CLOSE HAULED
without business is contextless , and these days , however well you understand the business , if you can ’ t see the opportunity of technology disruption , then you are a danger to it ! As a CIO you have to corral people and lead them on a journey – and to do that you have to be able to communicate well .” Sense-making is not what he set out to do . As far as he remembers , he came into IT in the footsteps of his brother , who seemed to be making a good living at it , and because it looked easy ! Starting out in the late 1980s as an operator on a big IBM mainframe for Clarks shoes has worked in his favour . “ Now that I am a global CIO I find that people quite like the fact that I grew up from the IT shop floor . It has given me a good overall understanding of all aspects of technology , particularly how they relate to the business . Two things struck me right from the beginning . One was the modernisation impact IT
11