Hitting the ground running as a new CIO: An interview with Barclaycard’s Ian Buchanan

In a career as CIO or COO spanning more than 20 years and five diverse financial institutions, Ian Buchanan has developed an approach for the first 100 days that has served him well regardless of the corporate environment.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing. After rising through the ranks at Nomura to become the investment bank’s CIO, Ian Buchanan confesses that he didn’t realize he was stepping into a very different role “that was all about relationships and credibility,” where execution wasn’t all that counted. Buchanan eventually progressed to take a seat at Nomura’s executive table and won a reputation as a transformational leader. However, wizened by the experience, he took a more proactive tack when he later walked through the door at Alliance & Leicester, Santander, Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking, and, in October 2011, Barclaycard, where he is now COO. In a recent interview, Buchanan revealed his key insights. Among them: start before you start; listen, listen, listen; and get to the heart of the issues quickly.

Read the rest on the McKinsey website (December 2012) -- with Paul Willmott

The first 100 days of a new CIO: Nine steps for wiring in success

It’s critical to get a good start when stepping into the CIO role. Consider several measures when you shape your course.

The early months of a CIO’s tenure are an extremely important time to learn about a company’s culture and critical issues, shape an agenda for change, build relations with peers and senior leaders, and make decisions—on people, funding, and other matters—that will provide a solid foundation for the future.

By working over the years with many senior executives stepping into this role, we’ve learned about elements to cover, priorities to make, and mistakes to avoid. We have attempted to distill the most important topics to address during these critical first months. Of course, the particulars of each situation will have an impact on the priorities of each CIO. But we believe every new CIO will benefit from reviewing these elements and using them as a starting point to shape his or her own course of action.

Read the rest on the McKinsey website (December 2012) or in the Financial Times -- with Paul Willmott