When the CIO Blogs

With all the fuss about CEO blogs, sometimes other “C-level” bloggers get short shrift. Another rarity in the blogging world, according to this fairly recent article from Information Age, is the Chief Information Officer, sometimes also called the Chief Technology Officer.

To quote (extensively) from the article:

While some CEOs and employees lower down the food chain have readily embraced the concept of blogging, the upper echelons of IT still remain, perhaps ironically, behind the blogging curve. “CIOs aren’t on the leading edge of culture and are often late adopters of technology,” argues Will Weider, CIO of US Ministry Health Care and Affinity Healthcare Systems and a frequent blogger. “It’s probably a bit of a stereotype, but that’s what I see.”

Conservatism when it comes to technology is one explanation. But the other is simpler: CIOs have so far failed to recognize how their involvement in blogging can deliver significant value to their organization. Moreover, many fear the practice will raise their profile higher than they might desire. According to professional business blogger Dennis Howlett, the situation reflects the cultural and political issues that surround the positions at the top of IT management as a whole.

“Too many CIOs see their jobs as ‘how do I avoid getting fired’. It’s only in the last couple of years that they’ve been able to return to the boardroom table with a degree of respect, for the simple reason there was so much overspending, plus a lot of over-promising.”

Overburdened with expectations and project backlogs, CIOs often claim they simply do not have the time to devote to an online journal, which could land them in trouble. Jeremy Wright, author of the book Blog Marketing, and former CIO, argues however that such perceived obstacles are more a matter of delusion than reality.

That last sentence pretty much sums up a lot of the blowback to blogging in the corporate world, at least in my personal opinion. But as a professional, I can understand the trepidation. As with any professional who blogs as part of her job, CIO’s need to exercise good judgment and go in with a game plan. With proper planning, they need not fear.

Thanks for the article go out to Pablo Molina, CIO of Georgetown University’s Law Center.

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