5 QUESTIONS

5 QUESTIONS ON STRATEGY

CHUNG CHOW

WITH BARRY RIVELIS, CIO, PACIFIC BLUE CROSS Barry Rivelis is a translator, a broker of information, a strategic CIO. He is the chief strategy and information officer at Pacific Blue Cross, where he also serves as senior vice-president. He was the inaugural winner of BIV’s CIO of the Year award, and here he shares his insights on strategy.

1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A STRATEGIC CIO?

CIOs have traditionally been seen to focus exclusively on technology. However, I view the role as that of a translator who translates between the business and the technical organization. More importantly, a CIO translates how technology can deliver overall organizational improvement and performance. Technology cannot be viewed just through the lens of technology. It has to be linked directly to your overall organizational direction.

2. HOW HAVE YOU HONED YOUR STRATEGIC THINKING?

I am an experiential learner and throughout my career I have strived to put myself in situations that challenge the status quo and force me to look at things differently. I have been fortunate to work for, alongside and lead amazing individuals who have pushed me to think about not only what we need to do differently, but also what we need to stop. Strategy is about understanding the environment you’re in and making choices. I have also been gifted with an ability take multiple concepts and ideas and distil them into consumable concepts. It is something I have used throughout my career.

3. HOW DO YOU APPROACH A CHALLENGE?

The size and scope of a challenge can at times be daunting. I try to break it down into consumable and actionable pieces. Those pieces are divided into elements that lead you to your optimum solution. What I have found, however, is that you don’t arrive at the ultimate outcome by following a straight line,