In September 2023, AVI Systems launched is first podcast endeavor, “Eyes on Impact: The Human Side of Tech.” Each episode of Eyes on Impact features host and CTO of AVI Systems Brad Sousa and his conversation with a technology leader. The crux of these conversations focuses not on the tech, but on how these leaders create human impact at the organization and in the world around them.
In Episode 5 of Eyes on Impact, Brad Sousa sits down with Rachel Lockett. Rachel is the award-winning Chief Information Offer at the Pohlad Companies and the author of The Technology Doesn’t Matter: Prioritizing the People in IT.
During their conversation, Brad and Rachel covered many topics, including the importance of a collaborative process when it comes to resources, the always popular question of return to office, and the role of people leadership for CIOs.
Rachel believes one reason IT projects fail to achieve their goals is that IT leaders put more emphasis on assessing and selecting solutions than they do on communication. Instead, she recommends that IT leaders focus more on getting management buy-in from the top down and understanding from a change management perspective where users are and where you need them to be. In short, success comes down to people and process issues.
Her book provides advice to both business and technology leaders for working together to focus on people and to achieve the business alignment we’re all looking for.
Listen to the entire conversation on the Eyes on Impact podcast, now available on your favorite streaming platform (e.g., Apple, Spotify).
