Name: Eric Goldfarb
Title/Employer: CIO and Executive VP,
BearingPoint Inc.
Age: 42
Education: BA, University of Michigan
Tenure in IT industry: 20 years
First ever tech job: Software developer for Domino's Pizza Inc.
What is your current role?
I direct BearingPoint's worldwide information technology team and oversee the company's capital technology investments, strategy, and services.
What's been your best job and why?
The poet Robert Frost wrote that "the difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week." I never have looked at the roles I have served as "jobs." My career has been 20 years of a single passion for what I do and a drive to make people and things better. I have always been in positions where I have had to use technology to increase the profitability of a company and create value for the client, for the shareholder and for the employees. In other words--I am in it.
What do you think is the number one non-IT skill IT professionals need today?
The ability to communicate and connect with your client as well as having the ability to work with people in order to assure results are delivered. Everything I do involves engaging, persuading and working with other people. You have to have the organization's best interest at heart and be motivated to make things better for your team members.
What do you credit your career success to (mentor, influence from colleagues, education, etc.)?
I have spent my career leading people. My success is a proxy of the teammates who helped me to be successful. Nothing is more gratifying to me than seeing them promoted and advance in their careers.
What's your favorite IT resource site and why?
The
BearingPoint Executive Insight Portal and the Gartner Portal. They both offer a knowledge base of thousands of consultants and analysts. I find that by utilizing relevant IT experience and institutional knowledge I can stay current on trends in our industry.
What is the best career advice you've ever received?
If you love what you do, you'll always do what you love. And if you're doing what you love, you're going to become very good at it.
What's the top advice you'd give to a new IT staffer?
Consider your first role in IT as an investment in your career. Look for an element of adventure in your new role. Put yourself in a position to facilitate significant change in an organization's approach to business and to implement the results that follow.
What would you advise someone looking to find the type of role you currently have?
The responsibility of the CIO continues to evolve along with the transformation of business and technology. Today, the CIO must be a leader, communicator, and the CEO's partner in building an organization that enables technology to support the company's business. The CIO must be fully integrated into the business of the company; highly valued CIOs are general managers that contribute to the organization more broadly than just IT. Technology skill is merely the table stakes. I think anyone who wants to succeed in the CIO role has to have a passion and a natural ability to lead people.
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What is the one career decision you would change if you could?
I have made some right turns when I should have taken left turns. I learned early on in my career to stay committed to my decisions, but stay flexible in my approach. It is the quickest way to learn, and at the same time get results.
If you had the choice to jump into any other job, tech or non-tech, what would it be?
The role I am in today. Each day I have that choice, and I have been lucky to have chosen exactly the right role for myself.
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