Chris Schmidt

Cloud adoption has evolved beyond mere migration. It now encompasses crucial aspects like cost optimization, resilience, and compliance. Understanding your specific cloud requirements is key in today's IT landscape. #technologymanagement

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👁️‍🗨️ Leading Like a Tetrachromat: A New Lens on IT Leadership Last night, I found myself deep in a social media rabbit hole 😵‍💫 — you know how one post leads to another. This time, it led to something unexpectedly enlightening: a test for tetrachromacy. For context, tetrachromats have four types of cone cells in their eyes, allowing them to perceive millions more color variations than the average person 🤓. It sounds like something out of a Marvel comic — and yet, here I was, taking the test seriously (as ambitious people tend to do). It was not easy. And when I got a score of zero, I thought I had failed. Turns out, zero is a perfect score. I am, apparently, a perfect tetrachromat. Basically, a superhero with elevated color vision (enter obvious joke here 🦸‍♀️) That realization sparked💥a deeper reflection. I’m often asked: What does an IT Area Lead (ITAL) actually do? And suddenly, the answer was clear — it’s a lot like that test. As an ITAL, you need to: 🗣️ Detect the slightest variations in performance, costs, risk, and architecture. Compare solutions until you're 100% confident in a decision that could impact the service chain and clients. 🗣️ Maintain IT hygiene, ensure your tech stack is aligned, and prevent disruption. 🗣️ Zoom in on details, but also step back to see the full spectrum — just like I did with the hues in the test. And it’s not just about technology. It’s about people. Building inclusive, high-performing teams requires attention, investment, and care. I believe in 1-on-1 conversations, coaching, and motivation — because harmony in a team, like harmony in a color spectrum, doesn’t happen by accident. So yes, I lead like a tetrachromat. I look for what others might miss. I strive for clarity, balance, and depth — in systems, in strategy, and in people. Curious to hear: what’s your lens on leadership? P.S.- Tetrachromats do not like yellow according to the site and I do not own any clothes in yellow. This must be something real 😅 💫 for those interested, you can take the test: https://lnkd.in/ev33Td_q The image is AI generated. #Leadership #ITStrategy #DigitalTransformation #TechLeadership #LifeAtING

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Warning: If you're thinking of starting a cloud transformation project without a solid plan, this post is for YOU! I've witnessed firsthand the chaos that ensues when organizations dive into cloud migrations with little more than wishful thinking and no clear strategy. Let me break it down: Why Planning is Crucial: Avoiding Cost Overruns: A well‑structured plan can save you thousands! Without one, unexpected costs can spiral out of control. Minimizing Downtime: Migrating to the cloud doesn't have to mean halting operations. With a proper timeline and phased approach, you keep business as usual. Setting Clear Objectives: What do you want to achieve? Increased speed? Better security? More scalability? Laying this out beforehand will guide your entire migration process. Engaging Stakeholders Early: Buy‑in from leadership and team members is vital. The last thing you want is resistance halfway through the project! Post‑Migration Strategy: The work doesn’t stop once you’ve migrated! Establish metrics to evaluate success and areas for improvement. I remember leading a complex migration ,where we initially underestimated the time required for stakeholder alignment. Once we restructured our timeline and communication plan, everything fell into place! So here are three steps I recommend taking before kicking off your next cloud project: → Define Success Metrics: Identify what success looks like for your organization post‑migration. → Create an Engagement Plan: Outline how you'll communicate progress across all teams involved. → Develop Training Resources: Ensure that everyone knows how to leverage the new cloud capabilities effectively after migration! Ready to make your cloud journey smoother? Planning now can save headaches later! Share your thoughts below or tag someone who’s about to embark on their own cloud adventure!

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https://lnkd.in/gVQ8U8Ui Supply chain risks are critically important for organizations to consider and mitigate as part of their third party risk management programs.

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Proud of #Citizens! Bringing Black-owned businesses and their impact to communities into spotlight ❤️ #BlackHistoryMonth #WomenEntrepreneur At Citizens, we’re proud to spotlight Black‑owned businesses and the meaningful impact they have on their communities this #BlackHistoryMonth. Meet Danielle Hughes, founder of The Pose Experience and Detroit’s first mobile “selfie museum.” What began as a passion for helping people feel joyful and confident has grown into a space where everyone can feel seen and celebrated. For Danielle, entrepreneurship is about honoring the women who came before her, including her grandmother, and creating opportunities for others to shine. 👉 Explore her story: https://spr.ly/6042huZH2 #CitizensColleague

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I wear two hats at Cranium - CIO and CISO. I wanted to share some insights from the frontlines of AI. Checkout my blog below. The key insight: Traditional governance doesn’t work for the speed of AI. Instead, embed governance within your AI infrastructure for Secure-by-Default solutions with software that turns governance into action. #AI_TRiSM framework automated.

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AI promised supreme productivity, but it’s actually straining workloads for employees—time spent emailing has doubled, and focused work sessions fell by 9% | Fortune https://lnkd.in/e-fehYnC

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I like the way this article describes how enterprise IT is shifting to managing multiple innovation curves at once, with value created through how these changes intersect.

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The real shift here is from static strategies to adaptive systems that respond as customer context changes—at scale and with transparency. That’s what modern collections decisioning needs to support.

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Great conversations in cybersecurity often start with real stories. Emily O'Carroll, Field CISO at GuidePoint Security, will be joining the panel of "Cyber Journeys: Stories from Women in Tech" on Tuesday, April 21, sharing insights from more than 20 years in the field. From career pivots to leadership growth, this session creates space for honest conversation around: • Building confidence and self-advocacy • Navigating burnout and balance • Career progression and leadership development • Supporting women through shared challenges If you’re looking for perspective, connection, or simply to hear how others have navigated similar paths, this is a conversation worth your time. Tuesday, April 21 12:00pm-1:00pm EST | 9:00am-10:00am PDT Reach out to your GuidePoint representative for registration details. #WomenInCyber #CyberSecurityCareers #Leadership

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AI and Middle Management: What If People Chose Their Own Manager? (Views expressed are my own) Sunday’s read got me thinking again about the prediction that AI will thin out middle management. Some of it will. The layer that mostly forwards information, reformats updates and turns one meeting into three is going to struggle to justify itself. But saying managers are obsolete misses what the good ones actually do. Liz Wiseman’s work on Multipliers vs Diminishers is worth a re-read. Multipliers make the people around them smarter. They ask the question that unlocks a better answer, hand over real ownership, and somehow people end up performing a level above what they thought they could. You leave a conversation with them thinking more clearly. Diminishers are different. They hold decisions close, stay too involved in the detail, and over time the people around them contribute less than they could. Wiseman’s research put it at roughly twice the output from the same people, depending on which type they worked for. AI changes the maths. When individual contributors have powerful tools, a Diminisher becomes a much more expensive bottleneck. A Multiplier compounds the gain, because the team already has more leverage per person and a manager pulling more thinking out of them widens that further. So the question isn’t really whether to keep middle management. It’s which managers to keep, which to develop, and which to move on from. Retention budgets, hiring filters, internal mobility, all of that should probably be rebuilt around this distinction, not tenure or headcount managed or even location. And maybe it’s time to try something firms have always flinched at: letting people choose their own manager. If Multipliers genuinely produce twice the output, the internal market would surface them quickly. The discomfort that idea creates is probably a sign of how much current structures protect the wrong people. Cutting the layer indiscriminately will remove Multipliers along with Diminishers. That’s the more expensive mistake. #Leadership #Management #FutureOfWork #AI #Multipliers #LizWiseman #PeopleStrategy #TalentManagement #MiddleManagement #WorkplaceCulture

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A few years ago, I was speaking with an undergraduate class at Missouri State University when a student asked me: “What skills would truly differentiate us as we enter the job market?” Without hesitation, I pointed them toward what I call IBM Big Iron—Mainframes, Power, IBMi. Not because it’s flashy. Not because it’s trending but because it’s foundational. These platforms quietly power the backbone of industries like supply chain, retail, logistics, and financial services. While they may not dominate headlines, they absolutely dominate uptime, reliability, and scale. The most intriguing and compelling part is that generative AI is now proliferating on these very platforms. Instead of simply replacing them, AI assistants are helping a new generation of engineers modernize legacy code and bridge the skills gap left by retiring veterans. So, for those looking to stand out, the answer may not be to chase the newest trend. It's to find the intersection of the foundational and the innovative. It’s a career path built on core technologies that drive the world and are now at the center of the AI revolution. #CIO #Mainframe #Technology #DigitalTransformation #CareerAdvice #Leadership

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Discover how enhancements to OpsGPT®, Broadridge's cutting-edge AI-powered operations solution with new agentic capabilities, can help you revolutionize your global post-trade operations. Key benefits include accelerated fails resolution, inventory optimization, email integration automation and a simplified user experience. For all the details, check out the press release: http://spklr.io/6044B6b04

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Lean Teams, Higher Stakes: Why CISOs Must Rethink Incident Remediation Big companies are getting smaller, and their CEOs want everyone to know it. Wells Fargo has cut its workforce by 23% over five years, Bank of America has shed 88,000 employees since 2010, and Verizon's CEO recently boasted that headcount is "going down all the time." What was once a sign of corporate distress has become a badge of honor, with executives celebrating lean operations and AI-driven efficiency. But while C-suite leaders tout "doing more with less," CISOs are left with fewer resources, while every preventable security incident becomes exponentially costlier. With security teams already stretched thin and developer-to-security ratios reaching unsustainable levels, these workforce reductions push already distressed teams past their breaking point. Against this backdrop of workforce optimization, hardcoded secrets represent a particularly dangerous blind spot that can no longer be managed through manual processes and reactive firefighting. https://lnkd.in/e3nHJCJ4 Stay Connected to Sidharth Sharma, CPA, CISA, CISM, CFE, CDPSE for content related to Cyber Security. #CyberSecurity #JPMC #Technology #InfoSec #DataProtection #DataPrivacy #ThreatIntelligence #CyberThreats #NetworkSecurity #CyberDefense #SecurityAwareness #ITSecurity #SecuritySolutions #CyberResilience #DigitalSecurity #SecurityBestPractices #CyberRisk #SecurityOperations 

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Every time a new technology promises to change everything, we instinctively fill in the blanks, often faster than the evidence allows. We read a headline, hear a benchmark, or watch a demo, and suddenly the story we tell ourselves becomes the truth: this will replace us, this will save us, this will disrupt us. Deena Mousa’s essay “The Algorithm Will See You Now” is a timely reminder that between promise and practice lies a long stretch of human complexity, full of context, bias, and unintended consequences. Radiology, often seen as the perfect candidate for AI automation, shows how difficult it actually is to replace not just skill, but judgment, collaboration, and care. For those of us leading teams through transformation, this is more than a story about medicine or algorithms. It is a story about our assumptions, the ones we carry into conversations about automation, re-skilling, or workforce design. We tend to overestimate what will change tomorrow and underestimate how deeply the human layer will continue to matter. Before we redesign roles or redefine accountability, it is worth asking: Are we reacting to hype, fear, or genuine opportunity? What human strengths are we amplifying, not just replacing? How do we design systems that make our people more trusted, not less needed. Transformation begins when we slow down enough to examine our own certainty. In that pause, trust and better decisions take root. The future of work is not a contest between humans and algorithms. It is a test of leadership and our ability to see beyond our assumptions, to create environments where both intelligence and empathy can coexist. Because the algorithm may see the image, but we still need someone who sees the person. https://lnkd.in/gGtiktJE

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Fidelity’s new study finds that 72% of Americans expect to retire “on their own terms,” highlighting how workers are rethinking timing, financial readiness, and the role work will play as they transition. Employers have a clear opportunity to respond to evolving retirement expectations and employee engagement around future planning. For employers looking to align benefits and workforce strategies with these shifting views, contact Marsh McLennan Agency to learn how we can help translate these trends into practical employer support. #Finance #Retirement

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