The Fall of the CIO/CTO ushers in the Rise of the CSO?
Has anyone else noticed the proliferation of “Chief Strategy Officers” (CSO’s) within the mortgage industry as of late? It feels like every week, organizations are anointing highly skilled individuals to this rising role of influence and academia often times within operations that are failing to meet performance targets and investor expectations.
Couple this with an overall corporate distain and increasing lack of respect for the traditional CIO and CTO roles and we have a key question that faces us – “What is the real influence and role of the CSO within the mortgage industry?”
Does the rebirth of the CSO role of influence coincide with a real market and business need for transformation, operational compartmentalization, and organizational growth? Or does it signify the rebirth of classical CIO / CTO (i.e., internal consultancy, advisory, and technology) with a broader level of influence and enterprise integration? Or still further is it due to the grudging recognition that global sourcing of delivery supply chains now demands a broadly skilled individual that can orchestrate sustainable and adaptable revenue streams?
My personal opinion is mixed at best due to my belief that whatever the label provided to the individual we still haven’t to date addressed the real issues that continue to confront our industry, our personnel, our customers and our survival. And that is just for starters.
So what is your response to the rising CSO role and the declining (and sometimes revolving door) CIO / CTO positions? If you could create a new position within your firm what would it be called and what would be included in your responsibilities in an effort to address the challenges you are facing? How would you be rewarded and / or compensated?
Perhaps something like, “Chief Slayer of Dogmatic Corporate Waste” … on second thought, probably not!
Regards,
Mark Dangelo
- 204 reads
Search This Site
Most Read Items
Today's:
Poll
RSS Feeds
Comments
Thinking ahead
Back when I was editor of Real Estate Technology Insight, I gave a talk at a conference where I advocated the inclusion of a CSO into the executive suite. At the time, back in 2004, a lot of changes were just beginning to occur in our industry that would eventually lead to the chaos we are experiencing now.
At the time, I said that every company should have an executive that just served as a liaison between the company's internal department heads and outside vendors and even competitors. Without direct responsibility for day-to-day operations, this executive would be free to seek out synergies with other firms and help create partnerships that would benefit the company over the long term.
Sure, this visionary-leadership type of role has traditionally been relegated to the CEO, but I've found these busy execs are hard-pressed to deal with all of the work that hits their desk daily in this business. It's even worse now, when everyone is in crisis mode.
Unfortunately, and I think you alluded to this Mark, the CSO is a misunderstood role that is further hampered by a low contribution to the firm's bottom line, at least in the short term. This means, in terms that might be used in The Sopranos, they don't get much respect. This probably isn't a good time to start drawing lines between the Mob and the Mortgage Origination Business (MOB?), but in any case, without respect, these executives probably won't be in a position to do much.
Until then, companies will be forced to continue to reach out to outside consultants for advice, which has its own advantages and challenges.
=============
Rick Grant
Profile: http://www.rickgrant.net
rick@rickgrant.net
Post new comment