From Two Sides of the C-Suite: Why All Executives Face Similar Challenges

<p>Much like a snowflake, no two companies are alike. After all, something has to separate you from your competition — from mission statement, to products and services, to customers, nothing in the marketplace is exactly like the other. </p><p>But regardless of what industry you serve, more than likely you’re dealing with many of the same issues that your peers are. From all sides of the C-Suite, every executive is dealing with similar obstacles. Maybe that’s designing an infrastructure to support remote work, or navigating a treacherous journey to the cloud, or fixing a workplace culture. No matter what the  issue is, there are more similarities than we may think.</p><p>On a recent episode of <i>IT Visionaries,</i> special guest host, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/neeracha">Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh</a>, the Executive Vice President, Global Customer Success & Strategy at Salesforce, was joined by two industry experts representing very different parts of the marketplace. The result is a conversation which brings together two executives from two different roles for a look at what makes their challenges similar, but different. </p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonywells1">Tony Wells</a>, is the Chief Brand Officer of <a href="https://www.usaa.com/">USAA</a>, and Michael Smith, is the CIO of <a href="https://www.esteelauder.com/">Estée Lauder</a>, and on this episode, the two discuss why they believe that companies will inevitably embrace a hybrid work environment and how to bring employees back safely. They also touch on how to build a tech-first culture, and the need for IT and other departments to work together.</p><p><strong>Main Takeaways</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Deep Thinkers: </strong>Non-technology executives need to constantly be thinking about how current or future technology could be a disruptor to their current business model. It’s important for members of the C-suite to understand the challenges they face, but also to work together to attack those challenges. Working with the CIO on