The better way to assess whether a solution will give you a return on investment is to decide whether you can live without the solution altogether. Of course you must consider the cost – spending $5,000 to save $500 doesn’t make a lot of sense. On the other hand, if the solution will increase your revenue by $10,000 while saving you $500 then spending $5,000 can make sense.
If you make an investment that doesn’t pan out, do you keep going at your current spending rate hoping that the investment will pay off in time and risk running out of money altogether? Or do you scale back and lower your costs before you reach that point?
Another reason servant leadership is a strong fit for the millennial group is because they prefer to make decisions by consensus. As a leader you always have the ability and right to make final decisions. As a servant leader, you empower your team to make the decision with your guidance and oversight.
Here’s the good news: a CIO is a business person with technology expertise (not the other way around). A good CIO will focus on the business processes and the people well before discussing specific technologies.