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