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How a Decade-Old Game Helped Me Cope with Seasonal Depression | WIRED

During a bleary fall and winter, the open world of Skyrim gave me the motivation and joy I couldn’t find in the real world.
— Read on www.wired.com/story/skyrim-seasonal-depression/

About 10 to 15 percent of Maine’s population struggles with seasonal affective disorder, could we use a virtual primary and specialty care model and apply gamification staregies to reach more patients while balancing the warning signs of gaming disorder? As Martin’s Point next CIO, let me figure this out and reach the next generation of patients and provide care to our fellow Mainers and beyond.

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The CIO’s biggest challenge? It’s nothing to do with technology | ZDNet

CIOs need to rethink how they present themselves or they will be defined by others.
— Read on www.zdnet.com/article/the-cios-biggest-failing-is-still-holding-them-back-heres-what-they-need-to-change/

The new year is the traditional time for management gurus to start dispensing their wisdom to guide us through the next 12 months and this year has been no exception. 

Yet one thing I’ve noticed: CIOs are conspicuous by their absence from this horde. While there’s a lot of back-patting and self-congratulating from some business leaders, still IT chiefs tend to keep a much lower profile.

In many ways, the reticence of CIOs to talk big about what they do best is a reflection of the position they hold. More like a service provider than a business leader, CIOs have been expected to make sure – above all else – that the IT just works. 

SEE: Guide to Becoming a Digital Transformation Champion(TechRepublic Premium)

For all the well-intentioned talk from consultants like Deloitte and McKinsey about the need for modern CIOs to engage and innovate, the real proof-point of success for a tech chief is still a solid, secure and dependable technology infrastructure. 

Many CIOs are happy to let their work do their talking. If systems and services are online, then a large part of the job is done. 

This focus on operational stability has been truer than ever before in the past 12 months. CIOs have rightly pushed pioneering tech-led projects on to the back burner to focus on establishing cloud services and maintaining network uptime.

That was the correct focus, of course – the tireless efforts of IT chiefs and their teams meant businesses and their employees could carry on working in the extremely challenging conditions we have been experiencing. 

While the coronavirus pandemic continues to hold a tight grip on economies and societies, there is also hope that 2021 will eventually mark the start of a post-COVID era, with a radical change in the way we work and the locations we work from. 

For CIOs, this transition is another huge challenge to tackle. Boards are on the lookout for CIOs who can help shape the workplace of the future, says analyst Gartner, suggesting IT leaders are increasingly hired for their emotional intelligence not just their technical acumen.

Gartner’s research suggests CEOs want determined CIOs who make timely decisions while also displaying the emotional dexterity to be tactful and supportive to their colleagues and peers.

The analyst defines what those characteristics look like in a next-generation CIO: determination refers to a firmness of resoluteness and an ability to turn decisions into actions, despite how tough those calls might be; sensitivity, on the other hand, is the quality of feeling empathetic toward others’ difficulties and acting accordingly.

Future CIOs, in short, will think business first and technology very much second. They’ll focus on the issues their organisation faces – whether that is new working conditions, fresh customer demands or disrupted business models – and then work with their peers across the organisation to think about how technology might help provide a solution to these challenges.

Moving beyond digital change and towards this concentration on true business transformation means tech leaders will need to take a more proactive executive position. CIOs will need to work alongside their C-suite peers as trusted advisors, rather than just being IT managers who are best-known for delivering reliable services.

This transition in role and responsibility will be a bigger issue for some IT chiefs than others, especially those who still feel more comfortable tinkering in the data centre than talking in the board room. 

While there’s nothing wrong with showing a keen interest in the finer details of technology implementation, that’s not the kind of CIO the business needs. Gartner says the most in-demand leadership skills now and for the next 10 years are soft skills. 

The good news for CIOs is that the CEO’s desire to find determined yet sensitive leaders plays well into the tech chief’s core characteristics. While IT leaders might have been quiet in shouting about their successes traditionally, the past 12 months have shone a light on their quiet determination to get vital jobs done at a rapid pace.

As one CIO said to me recently, tech leaders are great at what they do; now is the time to just be a little bit more open about how they do it. CIOs must ensure they engage honestly and effectively about the challenges their team and the rest of the business faces. 

That’s something that resonates with Gartner, who says transparency is the most admired emotional dexterity leadership competency, followed by authentic communication and collaboration. 

Pioneering CIOs already use communications techniques to promote the work of the IT department and to create a two-way dialogue with the rest of the business. 

Some CIOs create regular newsletters to update the rest of the business on their team’s activities. This can also be used to prompt feedback on current issues and likely priorities.

Others run town-hall meetings that showcase the work of the IT department. These meetings often include a keynote speaker – such as the CEO or CFO – who reflects on the digital strategy being adopted by the business.

Whatever techniques they call upon, the key to success will be to stop worrying about infrastructure and to start embracing broader interest in IT. 

Laura Dawson, CIO at the London School of Economics, says she often thinks of that move away from traditional IT management as “shedding the cardigan”.

She says CIOs must take every opportunity to influence beyond their authority: “They must start being more confident and assertive and comfortable in the role.”

IT professionals looking to develop their leadership style must ensure that everyone everywhere knows how they and their teams will help the organisation to pursue its digital-led business transformation through 2021. 

You don’t need to be self-indulgent when it comes to self-promotion but you do need to make sure you’re determined to help the business meets its new objectives. CIOs have a good story to tell about the work they’ve done and the challenges ahead. And if you have a compelling story, you should be willing to tell it.

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Digitalization did not increase productivity as expected

Digitalization did not increase productivity as expected
— Read on phys.org/news/2021-01-digitalization-productivity.html

Credit: Aalto University

Big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0 and later, 5G and artificial intelligence were presented as drivers of productivity, and experts predicted that the productivity of industry and services will increase significantly thanks to digitalisation. For example, Accenture predicted that artificial intelligence alone would provide an annual 2% rise in value added potential in Finland.

In reality, huge sector-specific differences are seen in growth leaps.

“Although the productivity of work in Finnish industry has improved by 22 percent over the past decade, the increase in the production of machinery and equipment has been just 4 percent in ten years and 8 percent in construction,” says Research Professor Heikki Ailisto from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. On the other hand, productivity has increased in the information and communication sectors by 38% and in the financial and insurance sector by 35%. The differences between companies in the same sector are also extensive.

The productivity benefits of digitalisation vary dramatically by sector

The Digital Disruption of Industry Consortium has researched the impact of digitalisation on Finnish society. Researchers found that the differences in productivity within sectors can be explained as follows:

The information, communication and financial sector are pioneers in the utilization of digitalisation that have been able to increase their productivity. International studies confirm the view that these differences are due to the ability of different sectors to utilize digitalisation: Banking operations are easier to digitalise than a construction site. A report published by the OECD classifies the information and financing sectors are those that are furthest in overall digitalisation. The utilization of digitalisation is also essential for the competitiveness of companies in these sectors, as the sectors are also subject to international competition and their competitors utilize digitalisation.

As a whole, construction and the manufacture of machinery and equipment are not at the forefront of digitalisation, even though many companies have already done a great deal in this respect. In its report, the OECD classifies construction as a low-digitalisation sector. Construction is a typical domestic sector in which international competition does not create any pressure to increase efficiency. Labor costs in the labor-intensive construction sector have been influenced by the entry of cheap foreign labor into the market, which has reduced the pressure to develop productivity.

Although the manufacturing industry has engaged in automation for numerous decades and in the 2010s, the Industrial Internet and investments in Industry 4.0 were expected to significantly improve productivity, the sector is no more than average in digitalisation, according to assessments by the OECD and McKinsey.

Productivity development will determine Finland’s future well-being

Increasing the amount of work done in society, for example, by increasing the employment rate or immigration, will certainly increase the GDP. However, growth in the employment rate will likely occur in low-productivity sectors and may even require government subsidies, for example in the form of wage subsidies. In other words, the net impact on central government revenue will be small or, at worst, negative.

The development of Finland’s well-being and Finland’s prosperity will depend on the ability of industry and other sectors to get the same amount of work done with less labor, especially as the population ages. For this reason, increasing the productivity of work is a necessity. Productivity increases by increasing the value of production, i.e. the value of a product or service, or by improving production efficiency. Digitalisation can have an impact on both. The value of the product to the customer may increase, for example, by integrating services produced with digitalisation into the product. On the other hand, the increase of efficiency is often achieved by integrating digitalisation into the production process to streamline it or by automating routines.

“The time is now ripe for the digitalisation of the manufacturing industry and construction, and through this for increasing productivity,” says Professor of Practice Timo Seppälä from Aalto University.

Researchers recommend that decision-makers undertake the following measures to increase productivity:

Analyze projects financed with public funds that have aimed at promoting digitalisation from the perspective of productivity development. The Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities are a good means for the implementation of an impartial analysis.

The launch of development and research projects that will aim at an increase in efficiency in manufacturing industry and the construction sector through digitalisation utilizing the lessons learned from the analyses completed by means of the first recommendation.

Develop digital features and services that increase the value of products in research and development projects to increase the value of manufacturing and construction products.

As digitalisation requires new skills, in particular continuing education that will focus on teaching digitalisation and skills for the use, application and implementation of new technologies also to those already in working life.