I spent last week at a conference with higher education CIOs. One common theme was the desire to elevate the view of the CIO and Information Technology from operational to strategic. Here are some of the ideas we discussed throughout the week.

You Are Strategic

My first observation draws on my own experience, and I see it surface regularly with others. I started as a developer and followed a traditional path from individual contributor to “player-coach” manager to director to executive. Up until the director level, I was rewarded for being operational. The organization valued my ability to focus and get things done. To execute a plan.

I was so good at executing that I assumed I wasn’t good at strategy. I relied on other leaders to build the strategy and took pride in my ability to execute. I was embodying a fixed mindset. I assumed that I just wasn’t built for strategic thinking.

Years of experience operating in senior leadership roles helped me recognize I also had strategic gifts. I needed to open myself up to the possibility that I could operate strategically, embracing a growth mindset, which enabled me to start strengthening my strategic muscles.

If you tell yourself, “I am not strategic,” I encourage you to make this simple adjustment to your internal message.

“I am not strategic yet.”

Adding yet to the phrase shifts us from a fixed to a growth mindset and opens up the space for us to grow. If it works for you, try taking it further and declaring, “I am strategic.” These gifts already live inside you. You simply need to create a space that allows them to come to the surface.

Embodying Strategic

An important lesson my coach training at Newfield Network USA and BEabove Leadership taught me is the power of embodiment. We can shift our perspective through simple but purposeful shifts in how we hold our bodies and how we design the space around us.

I imagine you feel more tactical and operational when you are in your workspace, sitting in front of your computer. Staring at email doesn’t feel very strategic. Are there spaces in your office (or home office) that feel more strategic? It could be as simple as stepping away from the computer to another chair in your office or another room in the building. Here are some of the ways I leverage a shift in the environment to create a space for more strategic reflection:

• Whiteboards. When I move to a whiteboard, put a marker in my hand, and start writing, my brain works differently. I find it liberating to have a blank canvas that I can use to diagram things out. Don’t have access to a whiteboard? A stack of blank paper can also do the trick.
• Balconies. You may not have access to a physical balcony, but any window with a view will do. My home office is only one floor up, but that’s still enough to shift my perspective. I walk to the window and look out, and the higher physical perspective also creates a more strategic mindset. If you aren’t afraid of heights, look for a big-picture view.
• Field Trips. Give your brain some novelty by finding a new location to work from. Beyond the traditional coffee shop, you could visit your local library, a cozy bookstore, or a park if the weather cooperates. I’m always amazed at the different ideas that arise when I change my physical location.
• Nature. A walk in the woods can do wonders to stimulate creative thinking. Ideally, this is a space to get the creative juices flowing without worrying about capturing them. I trust that the really great ideas will still be around when I’m back at my computer. But sometimes, I may dictate a quick note to my phone to capture a thought. If I want to be lower-tech, I’ll bring a pocket notebook and jot things down by hand.

Strategic Time

A simple yet often overlooked tactic is ensuring you have time in your calendar set aside for strategy. I coach so many leaders who lament that their day is nonstop meetings from start to finish, with evenings spent “doing real work.” It should come as no surprise that these leaders don’t find any time for deliberate strategic thinking. Often, they feel like their time with me is the only time they can pull themselves out of the weeds.

If this sounds like you, I encourage you to remodel your calendar. Every leader should have multiple blocks of time set aside each week for undisturbed productive work, including strategic, reflective thought. In my prior role, we had “Zoom Out Wednesday.” The expectation was there would be no meetings before lunchtime on Wednesdays, giving everyone a break from the countless Zoom meetings. I also blocked two hours Monday morning and two hours Friday afternoon.

Strategic Relationships

Strategy is not a solo sport. As I sat with my Doctums colleagues in the booth last week and discussed 2025, the ideas began to flow organically. We came up with ideas we would not have come up with on our own. Or if we had, without someone else validating the concept, we would have been less likely to act up them.

Engaging with others also allows you to demonstrate your strategic talents. In higher education, the IT team is often literally in the basement of a building. They can be very much out of sight, out of mind. The CIO who wants to elevate the role of IT needs to get out of the basement and into the offices of the cabinet members. They need to go on tour. The ones having the most success have scheduled regular one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders across campus.

If you know someone who excels in strategy, ask them to mentor you. Use your time with them to work together on strategic topics. Ask them to guide your thinking, not to give you answers. Relationships like these are mutually beneficial. While you may feel like the mentor is doing you a favor, they’ll probably value the time as much as you do (I know I always did).

Strategic Wizards

In a previous post, I described what I’ve learned about two networks of the brain – the Task Positive Network (our Engineers) and the Default Mode Network (our Wizards). I won’t rehash that post here, but I want to highlight it because of an obvious parallel. Our Engineers align with operational thinking and our Wizards with strategic thinking.

Learn what practices engage your Wizards (for me, it’s my morning run), and use that time to put your Wizards to work on a strategic topic.

Putting It Into Practice

I’ve offered several techniques to help strengthen your strategic muscles. Which one will you implement first?

• Adopt a growth mindset. You are strategic.
• Embody strategic by finding environments that support strategic, creative thinking.
• Remodel your calendar to have time set aside for strategic thinking.
• Build relationships that support your strategic muscles.
• Put your Wizards to work by engaging your Default Mode Network to support strategic thinking.

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I am an executive coach and life coach with software executive roots in higher education and EdTech. I coach because I love to help others accelerate their growth as leaders and humans. I frequently write about #management, #leadership, #coaching, #neuroscience, and #arete.

If you would like to learn more, schedule time with me.

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