CIO of the Year, John Halamka

Dr. John D. Halamka brought up some very unexpected points during his talk for the CIO of the Year presentation. As he stated, he was negative about the job, but also very realistic. I was shocked to learn that the turnover rate for the Chief Information Officer is an average of two years, due to the complexity and stress of the position. The job requires a complex skill set and high tolerance. This tolerance comes in handy because of the two main points of the job that Dr. Halamka addressed.

The first is that demands always exceed supply. This means that there will always be things that you cannot do for people that they hold as high priorities. It is for this reason that he holds the ability to say “no” as a very important skill. He even spent time during the presentation to teach the attendees how to say “no” properly. I thought that these points were very important. Among them were identify those who will lose in the situation, over-communicate the decision to the entire network or organization, acknowledge the loss to everyone, realize that consensus is not essential, be honest and consistent, and realize that you cannot please everyone. This particular part of the job would be the most difficult to me, as I sometimes have a hard time saying no if I can sympathize with the person asking the question.

The second point of the job that Dr. Halamka addressed was the fact that the only constant in the job was change. The company is expecting the CIO to know about all knew technologies and services, and be able to implement them immediately so that they work correctly. He talked a lot about how, even though it is impossible, down time in systems (especially systems used in health care such as those he runs) is unacceptable. This is part of what makes the job so stressful. The position is fast-paced, busy, and challenging.

As a person, Dr. Halamka was very interesting. He explained that he began his interest in technology very young, and is now in charge of many different medical facilities, including Harvard Medical School and the Care Group hospital system. This means that he is in charge of the technology for 40,000 people. He came upon this position after two Boston-area hospitals merged and needed a CIO to peacefully integrate their medical data. In addition, he wears a Kevlar suit, apparently for the fun of it, and has implanted himself with an RFID chip. Dr. Halamka was an engaging speaker who was very honest about his job and an interesting presenter.