Premier 100: Learning IT innovation lessons from NASCAR and hard-nosed bosses

Premier 100: Learning IT innovation lessons from NASCAR and hard-nosed bosses

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 | BusinessThink, IT Management | Journyx

When IT executive H. James Dallas attended his first NASCAR race about 10 years ago, he learned some fast lessons — not about driving stock cars at high speeds, but about fostering innovation within a technology organization.

At that first race in Richmond, Va., Dallas listened to radio communications between the drivers and their pit crews as they plotted race strategies. What he found, Dallas said in an opening keynote speech at Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference here today, is that NASCAR teams “are constantly striving to be innovative. They’re always looking for an edge.”

Corporate IT departments need to adopt the same kind of mentality, said Dallas, who now is CIO at Medtronic Inc., a maker of medical devices in Minneapolis.

And it has to start from the top: “CIOs have to get back to leading,” he said, noting that top IT executives need to be able to find creative, intelligent and passionate people within their organizations “and give them air cover so they can go out and be innovative.”