A recent article in Strategy+Business which started off by noting that today’s Chief Information Officer must enable the organization to meet its strategic goals and to envision goals that were never before possible caught my eye. The article, which quickly quoted Michael Giledman who said that you (need to) spend a lot of time listening and fixing things in the background because you need to prove yourself if you want to be taken seriously, really emphasized why today’s CIO needs to be The Practical Visionary.

Moreover, not only is the article packed with great advice for CIO’s – but it’s also packed with great advice for CPO’s! The article noted that today’s CIO also trains her focus on the demand side of the business, becomes a serious contributor to business results, and harnesses powerful new technologies that make (real-time) information attractive and accessible. This is because a strategic CIO has much to offer the organization with her specialized knowledge of the capabilities, requirements, and costs of new technology – capabilities that uniquely position the CIO to help the organization set priorities that affect each and every one of its operations.

Replace “CIO” with “CPO” and add “product” to the above and you get Today’s CPO also trains her focus on the demand side of the business, becomes a serious contributor to business results, and harnesses powerful new (on-demand) technologies that make (real-time) information attractive and accessible. This is because the strategic CPO has much to offer the organization with her specialized knowledge of the capabilities, requirements, and costs of (new) products and technology – capabilities that uniquely position the CPO to help the organization set priorities that affect each and every one of its operations. That’s one of the best descriptions you’re going to find anywhere on what today’s CPO needs to be!

It’s a long article, but like many of the articles on Strategy+Business, it’s a good read. The article also stresses the importance of openness, intelligence, and interoperability – which are also key to supply and spend management success. And of course, just like the CIO has to manage the information life cycle, the CPO has to manage the product and service life cycles. The guidelines it gives for strategic leaders are also very well thought out and worth the read. So check it out.