Change Moves at the Speed of Trust
Stephen Covey
Like many CIOs, I was constantly bombarded by new opportunities as the average tenure of a CIO was 4-5 years at this time. CIO jobs were opening all the time and the salaries were growing rapidly. As Eileen and I were looking forward to vesting in the Georgia system in 2020 and retiring at age 60, I would politely decline and offer to help them with candidates. Recruiters have hard jobs and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.
In December 2014, I received an inquiry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I had not heard of UAB. I politely declined. They persisted with a more personal note why I should apply. I declined again. They persisted. I did some research at this point and thought what would it hurt to learn more? I sent them my curriculum vitae and a cover letter expecting nothing other than an end to the persistent emails. I was surprised to learn I had been selected for the first round of interviews. At this point, I paused again as there now existed the possibility of my application becoming more public. I checked with the search firm to learn more and they did a great job detailing this was another turn around job where I would inherit a lot of audit findings, replace an interim CIO, and fix another fine mess that had been years (decades) in the making. The compensation package would be exceptional reflecting the exceptional demands of the position. Did I have another turn around in me requiring 80-100 hour work weeks?
I talked with Eileen and she was supportive given how political the University System of Georgia was with one demand – we would keep our beloved retirement house in Georgia. I did some more research and noted that the president had just received a vote of no confidence regarding the cancelling of the football program. There would be some risk in this application on both sides. I thought about it for a couple of days and decided to inform Chancellor Huckaby so there would be no surprises. He was surprised at the compensation package and in typical grace, wished me well in the application.
Alas, things were about to go off the rails except for the intervention of Alesia Jones and Alesia’s Gift. The second interview went very well and five finalists were announced. What was shocking is that a member of the selection committee was now a finalist – the interim CIO. I had never encountered such a situation and in my mind, it suggested that UAB was unhappy with the external candidates and was going to select the serving interim CIO. I called the head of HR to end my candidacy as the selection process was still relatively private. In an inspired and epic two hour telephone call, Alesia talked me out of resigning and assured me that I had a real chance at winning the position. I have subsequently referred to this intervention as Alesia’s Gift. Several interviews later, I was comfortable this would be a good fit for me and I had it in me to complete one more turn-around.
After I received a draft compensation package, I called my dad and wife in two separate telephone calls to discuss the compensation package and they both responded with almost the exact same words: “Curt, clearly they don’t know you. Don’t negotiate.” This was a package with a significant increase in pay, travel allowance, golden handcuffs, golden parachute, and incentive pay. Well, this is public sector so more of a copper handcuff and silver parachute but the thought counted. They really wanted a technology leader with a national reputation to fix things.
Always negotiate your startup compensation package.
They might say yes.
I did negotiate. I asked to extend the golden handcuff period and asked permission to continue teaching at Georgia State University (after hours and without UAB equipment) and continue my service with ABET advancing computer science education. I also asked that we delay my reporting date so that I could leave the University System of Georgia with grace and prepare intentionally for my first 100 days at UAB. All four requests were granted by the UAB President Ray Watts. Eileen and I hosted Alesia and her husband Darryll at Highlands Bar & Grill in partial thanks for Alesia’s Gift.
One of the smartest decisions I ever made was to thoughtfully prepare for my first 100 days at UAB and finish strategic projects gracefully at USG.
While I received a gift from Alesia, I gave one final gift to Merryll Penson, the executive director of library services at the University System of Georgia as I was leaving for UAB. To be specific, I was in the car about to drive to Alabama and I had one last meeting with the State Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, Sid Johnson III. Merryll had asked me to intervene personally with Sid to try to persuade him to approve a single statewide library management system. Merryll had been working on this for years and she knew I had a good personal and professional relationship with Sid. Sid and I met and we discussed the benefits of the initiative and all of the hard work of Merryll and her team. He agreed to approve it, I thanked him, send Merryll a quick note, and I got in my car and drove to Alabama. Merryll’s Gift would be my last gift to Georgia as their Vice Chancellor and CIO.
If you are progressing through this website sequentially, the next chapter is Recognition.