San Francisco recently hosted the Chief Innovation Officer Summit: a two-day event showcasing the latest, most promising opportunities and inspiring technology solutions for businesses.
Our CIO and Co-Founder, Monica Eaton-Cardone, was in attendance on behalf of Global Risk Technologies™ and our subsidiary Chargebacks911 to network with a global community of over 30,000 technology professionals and participate in the event’s panels, workshops, and presentati
ons.
One of the most engaging, witty and insightful presentation sessions was from Mike Fulkerson, CTO at Capital One, who was so spot-on with his insights that it felt like he had spent time in our company himself!
Many fast-growing FinTech companies such as ourselves can find it difficult to find that balance between conventional structure and palatable chaos. In order to succeed in today’s evolving marketplace, one must have an incredibly nimble team that breaks just about every rule of the traditional corporate world. Mike Fulkerson cut through this issue perfectly with his amusing definition defining this dichotomy as ‘the Hippies vs. Suits’.
“Hippy organisations,” explained Mike, “are those that bypass traditional command channels, operate without the hierarchy of an org board, and eliminate the requirement or endorsement of titles – while the Suits want firm structure, long-term planning and have a more traditional corporate approach.”
Mike is a realist in confronting the common issues of trying to endorse both of these philosophies under one roof. The advice he shared with CIO Summit at
tendees was invaluable in explaining how to overcome typical barriers in order to accomplish a unified goal.
At Global Risk Technologies™ and Chargebacks911, we inherently operate a very flat organisation, with stand-up meetings each morning where confronting the evolving org board seems to be a continuous process.
It was a breath of fresh air to find that these challenges are not uncommon – especially when an agile workplace is becoming a paramount ingredient and an even more relevant ratio to success.
Our own disruptive technology was borne out of necessity and our corporate culture continues to challenge more traditional viewpoints. At the end of the day, Mike underscored the reality we all live but often neglect to realize: be willing to challenge what you thought you knew and change what you think was right, in order to fully realise the potential of what you can become.
