Someone asked me the other day “Where did the nickname Warrior CIO come from?” In all actuality, it was given to me by a close associate that works as an executive recruiter. Apparently while interviewing a potential candidate for me to hire, the candidate asked him what kind of CIO I was. My friend’s response was “He’s a Warrior CIO. This guy still codes, trains, and gets in the trenches. So don’t try to BS him.”

Later when I got the story from the candidate, who I hired by the way, I asked my friend what he meant by the term “Warrior CIO”. He told me that in his line of work he runs into many “Spreadsheet CIOs”, his term not mine. “You know, guys that know how to manipulate an Excel spreadsheet and run the numbers, but disconnected from the tech.” Apparently he wasn’t the only one that had this viewpoint. In an article on ZDNet, the late Steve Jobs places the blame for Microsoft’s current faltering business strategy on the “Salesman CEO”, Steve Ballmer. ZDNet Article

Until my friend mentioned it, I never really thought much about it. So I reached out to my circle of friends and colleagues about it, and they agreed. Some even commented they didn’t know how I could do all that I do, and still find time to tune SQL, design applications, etc. So the name has kinda stuck.

So now I have decided to create a blog to share my experiences, stories, tools, and perspectives about managing Enterprise IT to the world at large.