CIOs Reveal Their Top 2022 Priorities | Federal Fallout Over 5G | Dallas Cowboys’ Tips For Virtual Meetings | And More

Plus: The Best Forbes CIO Stories Of 2021

Hi there, and welcome to our first newsletter of 2022, which also happens to be the 50th edition since we began publishing. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the new year and this publishing milestone.

Not that you have much time for celebrations now. Before and during the year-end break, I spoke with a number of top CIOs in the U.S. about their priorities for 2022 and it’s clear their lists are longer than ever. You can read more about what’s on them here, but I’ve highlighted below three areas that stood out for me.

One is taking advantage of emerging technologies to create even better experiences for customers and employees. I’m already getting tired of the hype around the metaverse, perhaps because I’ve been writing about AR and VR tech’s potential for so long and they never quite seem to break out. But when CIOs such as Suja Chandrasekaran of CommonSpirit, a leading healthcare business, say they’re taking immersive experiences seriously, it’s probably time for me to reconsider my jaundiced view. Chandrasekaran’s exploring the potential for VR tech in a range of areas, such as using it to help nurses get certifications and recertifications.

Several tech leaders I interviewed also predicted 2022 will be a big year for AI. Shankar Arumugavelu, the global CIO of Verizon, talked about his plans for “the industrialization of AI” at the telecoms giant, which will involve transforming proofs of concept and other experiments into fully fledged projects in areas such as predictive maintenance and software development. Other CIOs said they intend to use big data and AI to help power greater personalization of products and services this year.

Unsurprisingly, cybersecurity was also a common thread in most of the conversations I had—particularly growing threats associated with software supply chains. Vipin Gupta, who was recently promoted to a new role as chief innovation and digital officer at Toyota Financial Services, the nation’s largest auto finance business, told me that identifying concentrations of risk among the many cloud-based tech suppliers the company uses would be a top priority for his team over the next 12 months.

Layer on top of these all of the other priorities CIOs have, including dealing with the uncertainty sparked by a proliferation of omicron cases, and it looks like 2022 could be an even more hectic year than its predecessor. As this newsletter heads into its next “half century,” it will pursue its mission of delivering timely insights to help inspire you in the busy months that lie ahead.

Thanks for reading, and do let me know if you have any suggestions for themes to cover in future issues. You can contact me on Twitter here and LinkedIn here.

Technology & Innovation

Super-fast semiconductors: The laptop speed wars continue. Intel just unveiled new chips based on its 10 nanometer Alden Lake architecture that promise to deliver 5 gigahertz of silicon horsepower for your 2022 computing needs.

Saving energy through digitalization: Looking to manage your energy consumption more efficiently across offices, campuses or other facilities? Then it might be worth checking out a new energy-as-a-service offering from consulting firm Infosys and energy company bp (which likes to use lower case initials in its title to conserve your eyesight…)

Leadership & Strategy

How to ace virtual meetings, courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys: Thanks to—or perhaps that should be “no thanks to”—omicron, we’re all going to be doing a lot more virtual meetings in the first part of this year. So here’s some advice on how to get the best out of them from a rather surprising source.

How not to ace promoting your brand: OK, this one’s really for CMOs, but as it’s the start of the new year and our 50th issue, permit me the leeway to share this with you because I still can’t quite get my head around how Pabst Blue Ribbon let their social media account go rogue.

Talent & Careers

What Gen-Z and Millennial workers can learn from Betty White. The screen legend sadly passed away just shy of her 100th birthday, but Joseph Coughlin, the head of the MIT Age Lab, says her long and impressive career holds some important lessons that young workers can benefit from.

10 must-read career and leadership books: My colleague, Jena McGregor, has pulled together this list that can help both turbocharge your leadership skills and perhaps give you the inspiration you need to progress in your existing role or to transition to a new one.

"Many companies have ‘values’ that are often printed on the back of their badges…But that can be a blind spot for an organization when it’s not baked into daily interactions."

Wesley Story

CIO, Genesys

Across Forbes

• AI Startup Fractal Joins Unicorn Club After $360 Million Investment From TPG


• Matthew McConaughey Talks Wild Turkey Bourbon And Five Years Of Marketing ‘The Juice’


• The 10 Fastest-Growing Cryptocurrency Ecosystems In 2021