If you’re not investigating how technology can drive your business, you’re in trouble. And doing that involves taking a long-term view of your company’s future despite Wall Street’s obsession with quarterly numbers.

So advises Virginia Gambale, managing partner of Azimuth Partners, LLC, and a former senior technology executive at several multinational firms. Gambale has also served on more than 20 public and private boards.

The reason for Gambale’s dramatic statement?

“Technology used to ‘enable’ your business. Now it truly ‘drives’ the business,” she says. And that requires
innovation and direction from the boardroom down—a flip from traditionally relying on the IT department to figure
out how to innovate with tech. Now, she contends, it’s the companies with forward-thinking board directors who live
with innovation and disruption in their day jobs that will empower companies to prevail.

Business growth in the 21st century is no longer defined by traditional standards or the 90-day shot clock of Wall Street. In the era of digital disruption, to remain competitive it is necessary that an organization respond to changing markets and evolve quickly. In fact, 31 percent of business leaders are flipping their business strategies based on digital technologies, according to a recent Forrester report.

“I was one of those CIOs [chief information officer] where the consultants would say, ‘Don’t say what you’re saying, because you’re saying that technology is the driver for the business model, and we’re saying it’s an enabler.’ And I’d say, ‘No, it’s really a driver.’ So I’m really happy that we’ve come into that … it’s the right thing to think about when you’re sitting at a board,” said Virginia Gambale (pictured), managing partner at Azimuth Partners LLC.

Read the full post.

CIOs should use the language of the board. In his regular guest post, Columbia University professor Arthur Langer interviews former Merrill Lynch CIO Virginia Gambale, who now serves on several boards, about the techniques CIOs should use when interacting with their boards. “’Encase yourself in corporate strategy,’ she says. ‘Stay away from talking about the plumbing, and no technical jargon, for sure,’” Langer writes.

Read the full article here: http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2012/05/10/the-morning-download-the-age-of-mobile-is-upon-us/

By Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

A career in music requires discipline, years of study, and a desire to perform. Trained early as a classical pianist, Virginia Gambale was well on her way. “My first ‘job’ [as a child] was to take apart a complex Fugue. I had to concentrate for hours at a time, and practice 10 hours a day . [As a result,] I was more mature and focused than any other kid in my grade.”

“I always had a left and right brain battling for dominance,” said Gambale, “so although I was always very strong in math and science, I was planning to pursue a career in music.” She studied at the Hartt Conservatory in Connecticut and spent most of her days in the City studying with the faculty from the New York schools.

Gambale continued, “But when I went to see a musician friend’s debut performance, I said to him that his life was set.” His response to her—‘you don’t understand. I live on Avenue A, bathroom is down the hall and I eat brown rice 3 times a day. Nothing about my life will change’—“hit me like a ton of bricks,” said Gambale. She decided that was not going to be her reality. She said, “I had always been a very independent child and had never wanted to have anyone support me. So independence and the ability to take care of myself was a driving factor.”

Read full article here: http://theglasshammer.com/2009/12/14/voice-of-experience-virginia-gambale-managing-partner-of-azimuth-partners-llc/.