A business technology influencer at CTIO101.COM, Jon Grainger always had a fascination with computers and their possibilities but when at University he was diagnosed with Dyslexia, he discovered the simple “spell check” tool which revolutionized his personal standing in a world that confuses (and still does) the ability to spell and intelligence. He says,
“That was a simple but profound experience that led me to think about technology, and I just could not imagine any limit to it. So the breadcrumb trail began.”
Jon is an accomplished public speaker and presented at the London Law Expo, Europe’s largest legal technology conference. He has also presented in the USA delivering a keynote speech on Agile Legal Technology at ILTACON 2018 in Washington, DC. Jon received the prestigious CIO 100 Award in 2020 for his Work Anywhere deployment, which included a radical reworking of how traditional IT services are delivered.
For Jon, private acknowledgment is when he reconnects with someone from his 30-year alumni group and they immediately recognize a comment of mine and they say they’ve recalled and successfully used that advice.
Prior to getting his Computer Science degree and landing his first technology job, Jon spent time making furniture. He states,
“That’s another passion of mine, making things. So my career passion has been to make things using technology, and the tangible/physical nature and utility of furniture have led me to try and replicate this in the intangible world of business technology.”
Below are highlights of the interview:
How does your tech expertise assist companies in bettering their company management and processes?
My technology MTP (massively transformative purpose) is “Work Anywhere. Automate everything. Innovate”, which I invented in 2019 as an adaptation of “People, Process Technology”. Work Anywhere is the ability to be secure and productive in virtually any setting, and this was certainly very timely given the challenges presented by the global pandemic. Automate Everything is exactly what it says it is the continuous evaluation of what can (and should) be automated given the increase in business technology capabilities. Crucially, however, it is about creative, not reductive automation. We all need to do good in society, and automation, like any technology, does not inherently possess an ethical consciousness. So it’s incumbent on us to harness automation for the good of Mankind. Taking this approach then unlocks the final element of the triad-Innovate. Innovation is something that requires the space to think, evaluate, and then draw insights and connections. The capacity to do this is created by the other two triad elements.
In a nutshell, I take this as a framework that I can then modify, adjust, and articulate as a business technology strategy and a concrete set of business technology projects covering all elements of the business model canvas.
What are your responsibilities as the Chief Technology and Information Officer of the company?
I have many responsibilities similar to those of a CIO& CTO. I oversee IT strategy and infrastructure, manage budgets and staff, and ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR. I also cover technical leadership (technology innovation), and business technology transformation projects (for example, new product development). I build new products or services from scratch and adapt them quickly as market conditions change—and do so in ways aligned with the company’s strategy. Whilst I cover all elements of business technology there is probably a bigger emphasis on developing new ways to interface with our customers and clients and a relentless focus on how business technology can help improve core operations.
What have you failed at and how do you overcome challenges?
Implementing business technology is really about the art of managing failure. By default, left alone, all business technology projects will drift into failure. The art is to anticipate this and build it into your plans. I have learnt that the interactive nature of Agile is what most people grab onto at the start. However, if you start too soon, without a design, then the early optimism will be quickly replaced with an unrealistic roadmap and diminishing “sprint returns” (take that as the Agile equivalent of diminishing marginal returns). I think the other big lesson is that you must secure the full support and understanding of your engineering teams. They are more important than your business stakeholders as all managers have to hold the confidence of the changing room!
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you.
My intended career trajectory is to become a CEO and Business Technology Influencer. I find it interesting to note that of the current “C-Suite”, the cross-over from CTIO to CEO appears to occur the least. 5 years from now, all companies will rely on technology, particularly automation, to the extent that I believe it will be a CIO Renaissance period. In preparation for this, I made a lot of personal sacrifices to achieve an MBA from Warwick University (UK) so that I could meet the “business” at the crossroads. What I discovered was: tremendous respect for my C-suite colleagues and knowledge that a balance sheet is about as complicated as a Blockchain’s Immutable Ledger.
What advice would you give to the next generation of tech leaders?
Be authentic to your own vision. Years of consulting on the other side of the table led me to a bit of an existential crisis when I got my first CIO role. I realized that I needed to decide on what to do–whereas before I was providing CIOs with options and recommendations. It took me a while to adjust, but now I own my own vision, and that is, as Maslow would say, right up there at the top of the pyramid. The second bit of advice (and let’s face it, there’s quite a lot to get into) would be to recognize your mastery areas and develop those instead of any area of perceived weakness. It’s better to be the best person at doing one thing than to be average at everything else. There’s a famous saying: Jack of all trades, master of none. However, the really crucial point is to give yourself 10 years to deliberately try and do everything, then select your mastery. This will leave you with the widest set of opportunities later on down the road, and the ability to empathize with a very broad group of people which is essential when driving transformational business technology change.
What are your future plans to sustain the company and your success?
I am working on my new Venture CTIO101.COM which is a Podcast, YouTube, Website, and Business Technology Consulting providing a safe place for business technology professionals to pick up knowledge and insight for business technology projects that they may only do once or twice in their careers. I continue to pick up more public speaking engagements as I love the direct feedback and the engagement provides insights into new and emerging trends. Consulting enables me to help my customers achieve business technology parity and design a platform that enables all of these new ways of working to become business as usual. Work Anywhere, Automate Everything. Innovate REPEAT.
