To quote Henry Ford, “If I’d have asked people what they wanted they would have said a faster horse”. I like the sentiment of this quote however there is a danger that it can be perceived as arrogant and that’s a shame. Innovation and problem solving cannot be constrained by thinking in silos. Experience and history are essential attributes but without challenge can lead to limited ‘out of the box’ thinking and slower progress.
To combat this perception of arrogance a good leader needs to bring the audience along with their vision of change and to understand the characters and influencing factors in play. A good leader needs to gently nudge others down the path to enlightenment ( that may sound a little arrogant too, apologies ).
A balanced IT department is well placed to understand a business from end to end and therefore is in a unique position to recommend solutions and vision that are not constrained by history or experience. There’s nothing quite as sad as hearing “because we’ve always done it that way”. However, IT credibility needs to be earned. Exceptional service delivery needs to be a given, if you can’t manage the day job, how can you expect to manage the future ?
Perhaps Henry should have said something more along the lines of “People may want a faster horse but what they really need is Horse Power”