George Prior

CIO at New Rocket

Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself

Dynamic hands-on IT Executive with 30+ years of experience helping 
organizations achieve their full potential. Adept in making key decisions and working with senior professionals to achieve goals and resolve business challenges leveraging IT. Experienced in managing employees and dedicated to successfully directing business operations. 

Specialties include: Cloud Strategies; Service Management; Leadership; 
Financial Management; Project Management, M&A with Integration; and 
Strategic Planning and Tactical Execution.

What has your journey to your position been like? What path have you taken?

I started accidentally in IT and was involved early before even the internet was mainstream.  Over the years I have worked in various roles and various industries and have always progressed forward in my career.

Most importantly I view myself as a business enabler to help my customers achieve business objectives and positive outcomes.

Has it always been your vision to reach the position you’re at? Was your current role part of your vision to become a tech leader?

Not really, it happened organically.

Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey?

In every organization I have been a part of I’ve had the privilege of having a mentor that has helped my career journey.

How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?

The role of technology leaders is will evolve in the next 5 years. Tech leaders will work more as business technology consultants and corporate leaders. They will need to be good at several aspects including communications, troubleshooting, technical writing, data analysis, business intelligence, IT decision-making, people management and leadership. Tech leaders will become business process enablers and strategists.

What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?

These are some of the skills I would expect.

Clarity: The ability to see through messes and contradictions to a future that others can’t yet see. Dilemma flipping: The ability to turn dilemmas into advantages and opportunities.

Immersive learning ability: The ability to immerse yourself in unfamiliar environments and learn from them in a first-person way.

Constructive depolarizing: The ability to calm tense situations where differences dominate and communication has broken down.

Quiet transparency: The ability to be open and authentic about what matters without being showy or unnecessarily loud.

Rapid prototyping: The ability to create quick, rough, inexpensive, and interactive prototypes of new ideas and concepts so that you can learn from them quickly and refine them.

Additionally, the following are skills that are always needed.

Critical thinking
Emotional intelligence
Be Humble
Fail fast

How do you keep current with new skills, technologies and personal development?

Staying current is an ongoing effort.  It involves research, trying new things and also sometimes failing — The reason I say failing is because not everything will work all the time.  You need to be comfortable in trying new things and sometimes taking a risk.  Personal development is an investment in yourself and how you can translate that into growth both professionally and personally.

What do you see as the next leap in technology that will impact your business or industry in particular?

Without a doubt AI is likely the game changer in the next 2 to 3 years if not sooner. The infusion of AI into everything will yield substantial shifts in all industries and professions.  It will allow for faster decision-making as well as improve productivity.

"Don’t be afraid to try different things and be open-minded."

If you were mentoring a leader of the future, what advice or guidance would you give to help them on their way?

Don’t be afraid to try different things and be open-minded.  Also failure while not ideal means you have tried to do something and sometimes not succeeding will help you prepare for the next change.  Be humble and practice good listening skills.  You can learn a lot from others.

Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?

I personally enjoy watching people grow and helping people be successful. For me, the most rewarding thing is seeing that the project, product our outcome achieves meaningful improvement for people and the business.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

Have Fusion Energy be viable now. Having clean energy would revolutionize everything and be a positive change.

A big thank you to George Prior from New Rocket for sharing his journey to date.

If you would like to gain more perspective from Tech Leaders and CIOs you can read some of our other interviews here.