1. IS THIS YOUR STORY AS A CIO, Director or VP?
I ran from this fire to seventeen others today, and that was before lunch. Then,
lunch came and I didn't finish that until 4pm because Bob in Marketing had a crisis
that took him 3 hours and nineteen interruptions to tell me about…truth be told, he
could have told me about his crisis in about ten minutes, but you have heard me talk
about Bob before… Does this sound like the conversation you had with your spouse
yesterday? Does this conversation happen more times than you can count..?
Or perhaps this story…its like they expect Rome to be built in Q1 and then for us to
conquer the rest of Europe in Q2…and, we haven't discovered the wheel yet…
Would you really like to spend your time on true strategy and – for the first time –
really having that conversation with the CEO about what really matters to the
business…oh yeah, customers?
If you could have someone on your staff that could do the following (and, NO, this is
not another technology executive, or software program, or application development
platform):
• Effectively manage talent and keep your best players before they decide to
leave (you know what this leads to already…less turnover, bringing those
individuals that desperately want to be 'A' players into the realm of your 'A'
players).
• COMMUNICATE with all the functional stakeholders in the organization what
their strategy is to IT and visa versa…instead of thinking bits, bytes and tools,
really figure out what – honest to goodness – WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO
DO? What does this mean to customers, what does this mean to 'better,
faster, cheaper’….and what does this mean to those functional stakeholders?
• Really, bringing into alignment, sometimes for the very first time IT Budget
and follow up on capital expenditures, eliminating the 'whoopsies'…I-guess-
we-didn’t-think-about-this type of issues that come up when their are budget
overruns…
• Take care of those 'hassles' in your day…the stuff that just drains your energy
that if your strategy was clearly understood, you wouldn’t have to deal with
in the first place.
• Think process and progress, rather than 'tools', 'apps', and 'data'…what
problem are we trying to solve and is technology even the answer…?
Here is how it could be done...and, I am open to working with you on additional
things you want to get done:
• Honest to goodness tracking of budgeted spend vs. actuals, project spend
before initiatives even start, and figuring out what we are really trying to
do…does this project even make sense? And, be technology agnostic…the
answer to everything is not an iOS or Android app.

2. • Communicate strategy into digestible bits, from both the technology side of
the house to the business side of the house and from the business side of the
house to the technology side of the house.
• Convergence of resources to the projects that matter most…think 80/20 on
everything, and put in place project improvement controls so that projects
don't get out of hand….stop it before it even starts.
• As Steven Covey so eloquently stated…'First, seek to understand, then to be
understood'…. I will be the guy that makes sure the business side is
understood…how many times have you gotten a requirement from the
business side of the house only to, 50% of the way down the road, the
business side of the house say 'oh, that’s not what I wanted…' and then you
go back and forth and back and forth again trying to figure out where it went
wrong…no one – at that point – cares, what matters if fixing things and
making sure that things don't happen again…Bring things back to the trunk
of the tree and figure out what is really wanted…again, what are we really
trying to do. What business problem are we trying to solve, rather than 'I
need to get this project done by the 30th otherwise Bob's going to have my
tail…without figuring out why – really – Bob needed this to begin with…it
probably could have been handles by something that already existed.
• Work in that key 'strategy window' timeframe where you are thinking about
a project, an initiative, a key strategy and figure out what needs to happen for
it to be achieved, is it technology, maybe, maybe not…I will figure this out so
that you can focus on being the 'President', I will be your Chief of Staff.
• A Switzerland approach…technology agnostic, focus on process and strategy
implementation first, technology second…I won't think …Java, .net, COGNOS,
Microsoft Dynamics, I will think 'how does this effect process, strategy and
what we really want to do for our stakeholders and constituents?'
• Work with CTO's and Directors on their individual needs, while maintaining
good relationships with the business side of the house…I will be that
individual who takes your CIO strategy, and facilitates it between your CTO's
and Directors so that they can do what they need to do, and your business
side of the house can do what they want to do without spending 4 hours in an
IT meeting that no one really wants to be in in the first place.
• Report back to you on progress of your strategy of x, y and z, and continually
drive your strategic message and streamline our own processes in the
process.
• This will give you time to really work with peers in the business and outside
the business instead of continuously putting out fires.
• Work with the business side, and meet with them…get the idea of what needs
to be done, put more behind it, educate, move forward & execute.
• Treat IT as a Business Inside the Business….and convergence of it with
customers, both internal and external…and deal with it like a business, with
these key attributes…money, people, change management, communications,
stakeholder management.
What I bring to the table

3. • 17 years of experience in Sales, Marketing & Business Development roles
across startups, established technology firms and staff augmentation firms
• More years than you can shake a stick at with regards to talent management,
working with ‘challenging employees’, and truly finding, nurturing and
KEEPING A players before they even think of leaving. I have the know-how
to structure roles so that the people you want to stick around do, and the
people you don't want leave…plain and simple.
• Reduction of Resource Risk. I have PERSONALLY SPOKEN TO roughly 3,000
candidates over the last several years, I know what they are good at, and
what they aren't good at.
• Relationships – yes, honest to goodness relationships – with hundreds of
CIO's…these are not individuals that I just met for lunch one day, they are
individuals I have known – personally – for, in some cases, 10 years or more.
• The ability to speak technology to the business side of the house and
business to the technology side of the house so that the big stuff is digestible
into morsels.
• Communication…this is ALL I HAVE DONE to both technologists, CIO's, CFO's,
and CEO's for my entire career…I have been that primary customer-facing
individual communicating good news and bad for my entire career…this
brings to the table how to delicately tell someone something they don't want
to hear without throwing people under the buss and without loosing face.
Think of it as your Leo McGarry from West Wing or your Tom Hagen from The
Godfather, your Strategy Administrator. Your right hand guy to follow up on
progress and process to make sure that your strategies get implemented and take
you away from putting out fires…I will bring the hose and water and a big fire truck
if that’s what’s needed.
Tom Welke
Partner
rsm solutions, inc.
Toll Free: 877-RSM-0020 (877-776-0020)
Cell: 651-336-2937
tomwelke@rsmsolutionsinc.com
www.rsmsolutionsinc.com