Günther Ghijsels - CIO & CDO of Randstad Belgium - Entrepreneurship, Agile and Perfectionism

Summary: Günther Ghijsels is the CIO and CDO of Randstad Group Belgium. He is a member of the Executive Committee as of January 2018. He is also this year's finalist of the European CIO of The Year Awards 2020. In this episode of Leadership Deep Dive, Günther talks to Hendrik Deckers about his philosophy as a business-oriented CIO, his experience with Agile transformation of a company whose motto is "Striving for Perfection", about painful events that made him become a better leader and what future CIOs must learn to thrive in the ever-changing business landscape. Table of contents: 1:00 - Introduction 01:58 - Gunther's project: Customer segmentation (Signal? Signature?) 5:38 - How Gunther approached the development of the consultant app 7:43 - Where was the biggest challenge with change management? 10:14 - The next step for developing the program 11:10 - SAFe implementation - Scaled agile framework at Randstad Belgium 15:00 - Striving for Perfection vs. Agile 18:11 - Your role as a CIO/CDO - how it has changed, what is it now and where does it fit in the global organisation 23:03 - Your management style and strategy for IT 26:20 - How do you think your team perceive you as a leader? 27:15 - Your mentors 28:32 - Your MBTI profile 30:53 - How do you learn to say no? 32:42 - Personal mantras 33:14 - What challenges did you have to overcome in your life? 34:30 - Your advice to future CIOs 36:05 - What makes you happy? 40:20 - Your nearest future at Randstad 41:15 - Standarisation, discipline and entrepreneurial mindset 41:55 - How do you maintain entrepreneurship in a company of 39 000 employees? 42:52 - Your professional development in the nearest future 44:14 - Last remarks: Where is your digital transformation going? LEADERSHIP DEEP DIVE In the Leadership Deep Dive series we meet with the top CIOs in Europe. We are exploring what makes great digital leaders tick: how they lead and manage people, how they approach the intersection of business and technology, how they make decisions. What are their personality types and management styles? How do they manage the demands of their complex and challenging role? Subscribe to our channel to watch in-depth conversations with Digital Leaders! CIONET CIONET connects over 8000 ambitious digital leaders and businesses in 15 countries around the globe. Our community is built by CIOs from hundreds of global brands like Coca-Cola, Renault, Maersk, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Bulgari, Daimler, Randstad, GE, Roche, as well as leading local companies in EU, South America and Asia. https://www.cionet.com/